Bojin – An Ordinary Man

Queer stories are many and varied, but we still have a long way to go before we discover the real variety they offer. Sure, we’re getting to see more of them than ever before, but too often they remain locked in the same dilemmas and the same struggles. As usual, it’s the world of indie games that is looking to change that, as we’ve experienced with a number of excellent past titles. The people at VNDI, a Ukrainian developer consisting of queer artists, are now looking to add to this portfolio with their debut game, Bonjin – An Ordinary Man.

This visual novel that was released earlier this year tells the story of a transgender couple. Both are transitioning to their true selves, but for one of them, this seems to come with a lot more struggles. You play as one half of the couple, unable to find a way to help your partner deal with things more easily. They seem hell-bent on becoming a real man, and what they see as masculinity doesn’t feel all that healthy.

This is something that becomes apparent very early on, during the first scene of the game, in fact, when both our protagonists are still pre-transition. Your partner brings you chocolates when you are ill, but when it starts raining, they refuse to accept an umbrella from you. Needing one would apparently be a sign of weakness, and weakness is something for women only, according to them.

We quickly move forward in time to find our main characters further along in their transitioning process, with both of them becoming themselves more and more. But for your partner, this is not enough. He feels like he’s not a real man and struggles with the confrontation with cis men everywhere he goes. But as the story goes on, it feels like his vision of masculinity borders on the toxic variety more and more.

In the meantime, you are a trans woman yourself, although the game doesn’t seem to take that much time to deal with how you’re dealing with that transition. Bonjin remains very focused on your partner’s struggles and your inability to change his mind or even truly be there for him. No matter what you say, he’ll respond with something toxic and then brush it off as ‘jokes’.

All of this comes to a head by the end of the game, which has multiple endings, depending on which choices you made during the very few times you got to choose. Getting the different endings won’t take too much of your time, as my single playthrough of the game lasted for only about 45 minutes. And that runtime feels like the game’s biggest pitfall.

The world is not exactly very kind right now to transgender people, which only adds to the issues they are faced with daily. Bonjin also features a number of different time skips within its short runtime, taking away the opportunity to really get to know all of the people involved. At one time during the game, you’re at an art event that was organised by a friend of yours. This friend probably has about five lines of dialogue, while the other trans person you meet there only has three.

I don’t want to be too harsh on this game, but things like that make this feel like a little bit of a missed opportunity, as I would have loved to have explored more of the issues it was bringing up. Bonjin is an important game, whose narrative is necessary to tell. Within the queer community, there can be internalised sexism, homophobia and transphobia, purely because of how the world treats these people. Your partner’s words here reflect that, as his views on women are, well, terrible. It’s incredibly hard to become your true self while having to deal with a world that keeps telling you that you need to be this way or that way.

And in a game that takes a bit longer to tell its story, more nuance to this discussion would’ve come to light. It would’ve been so interesting to hear more about our own experiences and how we relate to cis women and other transgender people. It kind of feels assumed that you are just very pro-feminism, with all of what that entails. That’s not a bad thing per se; not everything needs to be put into words, but just a little more of our own personality would’ve added so many new layers to a game that’s telling such a worthwhile story.

The visuals of the game are a bit of a mixed bag too. There is some wonderful character art, but it just doesn’t feel like there is a single identity to this game. That being said, this feels really well made for a developer’s first visual novel. It does what a visual novel needs to do perfectly, even if a little bit more interaction and dialogue options would’ve been nice.

If it feels like I’m being very critical of this game, it’s only because I see a whole lot of potential, and I want to be constructive with my criticism. There is clear talent within VNDI, from the writing to the art design, and I can’t wait to see what else the team comes up with. They offer a unique perspective on things, being both Ukrainian and queer, having to deal with issues most of us never face during our lifetimes. So do give this game a try, and please keep your eye on them.