Guilty Gear Strive fans are loving a new non-binary character voiced by a trans woman
Kayleigh McKee will voice Testament, releasing next week as DLC
Guilty Gear Strive's next DLC character has been confirmed as non-binary and is being portrayed by a trans woman, and the game's fanbase is loving it.
Over the past weekend, Arc System Works revealed that long-time Guilty Gear character Testament would be making their debut in Strive later this month as the fifth DLC character. As revealed by the official Guilty Gear Strive website, Testament now goes by they/them pronouns, a change from when they've appeared in Guilty Gear games in the past.
Shortly thereafter, Guilty Gear fans realized that it would be Kayleigh McKee, a trans actor and illustrator, who would be voicing Testament in Strive. The response from the fanbase has been nothing but celebration since the announcement, with tweets just like the one seen below doing the rounds over the last day or so, celebrating that Arc System Works is matching a non-binary character with a trans actor.
TESTAMENT'S VOICED BY A TRANS WOMANARCSYS SAID TRANS RIGHTS *AND TRANS EMPLOYMENT* BAYBEEEEE#GGST #TESTAMENT #STRIVE pic.twitter.com/4QJqMM59O1March 21, 2022
For their part, McKee has received plenty of tweets of support since the announcement, thanking dozens of fans for their support. One interesting note is that McKee's website says they specialize in both masculine and feminine voiceovers, which could be why Arc System Works recruited the actor for the role of Testament.
Cat's out of the bag~!✨ I voice Testament in #GuiltyGearStrive! They have been SO fun to portray and I love them dearly 🖤❤️ I also voice their two little Succubi!Big shoutouts to my games agent @ErinHuckeCESD for the help and to @ArcSystemWorksU for trusting me with them! pic.twitter.com/TChCzmC6sMMarch 21, 2022
It's not long until we'll be able to play Testament for ourselves. The latest Guilty Gear Strive fighter is stepping into the ring next week on Monday, March 28, and will be available either bundled in with the game's Fighter Pass, or separately as a standalone purchase.
Check out our best fighting games guide to see where Guilty Gear ranks among the best ever made.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.