I knew even before playing A God Who Lives In Your Head that it was going to be an intimate experience for me. Growing up queer and trans in the deep south, it’s inevitable that I’ll have religious trauma - a terrible thing that many other people, whether LGBT+ or not, have experienced as well. I was instantly drawn to the idea of a game discussing this difficult topic. A God Who… isn’t your average ‘game’ though; it’s instead a self-described interactive zine, made up of surreal collages and eerie audio, both equally beautiful and haunting.
I love ‘weird art’ like this so much. Abstract self-expression, a kaleidoscopic version of reality. A God Who… is a perfect example of this at its best. Its autobiographical story is told through a series of poems, the writing indescribably brilliant throughout. I appreciated that it never became too flowery or difficult to understand (this writer has autism) - yet the religious anecdotes were always so emotionally engaging and hard-hitting.
Although Yuen Hoang’s Baptist upbringing doesn’t relate exactly to my own, I understand firsthand how much this sort of shit can affect you. I strangely found a lot of comfort in A God Who…, being told by the creator that I wasn’t alone in what I’d been through. I’m sure many others who have played it feel the same way. I think that’s really powerful. I admire Hoang’s willingness to talk about these difficult things in an artistic setting - not to mention their incredible storytelling abilities and creativity.
Besides the amazing story, though, what makes this piece most captivating are its beautiful, bizarre visuals. Each page is crafted in an eccentric collage technique; all sorts of cut-outs, items, and patterns are fitted together in a perfectly messy way. I absolutely love when artists experiment with these real-world art styles in their games. Beeswing applies similar methods, and both it and A God Who… feel like living, breathing works of art to me.
The collage style isn’t just unique to look at, though; it’s the perfect format for the kind of simple interactivity present here. This extra layer of engagement makes the art and stories all the more impactful, as you directly play a small part in the narrative of each page. Small spoilers, but possibly my favorite example is the entire page dedicated to baptism. As opposed to the more chaotic style we’ve seen so far, this page is simply a single text box with a scuba diver as its scroll bar, set against a backdrop of water. As you scroll down to learn about the author’s discomfort with baptism, you must pull the scuba diver deeper into the water.
The artworks’ accompanying soundscapes are eerily beautiful as well - not only in a technical sense, but also in terms of the themes they represent. Their inclusion adds so much to the atmosphere and worldbuilding, to that point that it genuinely feels like they inform their own part of each page’s story. To go back to my previous spoilery example, the page about baptism is accompanied by the sound of an underwater current, which is interrupted by the occasional bell-like ding to temporarily pull your attention.
Everything about A God Who… just feels so intentional, down to the tiniest details like that. It's a handcrafted, personal experience with so much character, not to mention the unique subject matter. I found myself emotional multiple times throughout my ~ten minutes with it.
It may not be something that everyone can relate to as easily as I did - but I definitely think it’s worth trying either way, because you’ll still get to interact with a really fantastic art piece. The story it has to tell, and the ways in which it tells it, are worth seeing no matter who you are.
I will most definitely be checking out Yuen Hoang's other works in the future!

Visuals: 5.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall Game Score: 5/5

“no matter what you do
god still lives in your head
because to save your soul
they removed some part of you
and replaced it with the holy spirit”