Fez

Fez is a game where you play an adorable little guy called Gomez who wears a fez. This guy does cute animations such as jumping, climbing, and running. But these actions do not make a character. I feel as though Gomez could be replaced by any other character and the game would still be the same because he's so bland. This blandness is represented by his purely white, plain design on which a fez is perched on. This is not to say that Gomez is a bad character, but one that the player can overlay themselves on.

It's clear that Gomez has a story of being part of a long line of people that have had the fez. In doing this, theoretically the game is telling you that he could be replaced by any of the former fez wearers within the family tree. Gomez is the vessel of a concept which is explored by means of gameplay and thus action rather than heavy characterisation through dialogue and dress etc.

I found myself "oscillating between identifying with the character as an extension of self, and relating to it as a separate, fictional entity". This made me feel that achievement I made in the game were very much my own, but very rarely I was reminded that I was playing as another being with his own story and life. I think playing around with how a player relates to a character is a good thing because there's pros and cons to both with no real right answer.