News The mainstream FPS only knows one kind of Latina

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I cried when I first saw Sombra at the 2016 BlizzCon opening keynote. I remembered feeling uncomfortable as a child when I saw Tetra transform into Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker; I saw how the change was framed as an upgrade from an unremarkable brown pirate to an ethereal pale princess worth Herculean and Hyrulian efforts alike to save. Any pride I could’ve had in a heroine whose skin resembled mine was taken from me. I could find comfort in neither my skin colour nor my ethnicity as a brown Latina, for there were no Latina characters I knew of.

But in 2020 this, too, feels like it has been taken from me. Sombra sadly didn’t kick off a wave of varied Latina characters. She ultimately served as the blueprint this industry refuses to discard. Today, it’s painfully clear the AAA FPS genre, dominated by games like Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Valorant, knows one extremely limited kind of Latina. Since Sombra, these games’ Latina characters – Loba, Raze, and Reyna – are mired in racist and sexist tropes, like hypersexualisation, stereotypical writing, and Latinx prejudices.

The top three roles non-Latinos see Latinos play are: criminal or gang member, gardener or landscaper, and maid or housekeeper. Loba is defined by her sexuality, and thus othered from the other women in Apex Legends. Her character trailer ends with the narrator saying, “The Apex Games have never looked so good.” She is marketed as the introduction of style and class; of having a glamorous appearance “matched only by her lethality.” Her name is a form of Spanish slang for “an attractive woman.” She has an incredibly low-cut top in which her cleavage is emphasised. The camera in trailers makes a point of showing the fullness of her backside. She wears impractical heels on the battlefield. Her walking animation is even so overly coquettish that, when contrasted with other characters in the game, it feels reminiscent of Catwoman’s exaggerated animation in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Despite Sombra and Reyna being Mexican, Raze being Brazillian, and Loba’s heritage being unspecified, all four have practically the same Ambiguously Hispanic accent that has been decided by (often white or non-Latinx) voice acting directors.

Similar demands are put upon Valorant’s Raze and Reyna. During the game’s beta, Raze stuck out as the most sexualized woman on the roster. Compared to Sage, Jett, and Viper, who wear practical clothing, Raze’s midriff is exposed and her pants accentuate her hips. She was the only one who wore sultry makeup until Reyna’s addition. Reyna doesn’t fare much better. Her outfit emphasises her chest and tantalisingly exposes her right thigh. In the Valorant launch art, she’s posed in a manner that emphasises her backside.

The mainstream FPS only knows one kind of Latina

I cried when I first saw Sombra at the 2016 BlizzCon opening keynote. I remembered feeling uncomfortable as a child whe…

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