A​ transgender woman, a sufferer of severe mental illness​, and the parents of a child with cancer transform their experiences into intensely personal video games.

Games You Can’t Win explores “empathy” gaming, a new video game movement in which developers are sharing some of their most intimate or traumatic personal experiences through artful, documentary-style video games. Using a combination of intimate verité footage and video capture from the games, the short film tells the stories of three developer and the personal experiences that inspired their game.