I'm a miserable human being who can't relate to others and is constantly lost inside of my own head, and find myself longing for a world of wonder and passion and truth while I am forced to dwell painfully in one that is mundane and insensible and cruel, teetering on the edge of ruin. Turning to substances provides escape and comfort but no relief from the constantly surmounting pressure, and the love of a woman is a thing foreign to me at this point in my life.

I don't think I've ever related to any character I've played as. Which is interesting to me now that I think that I've played video games since I was young. I don't recall if I've ever related to any character in any video game for that matter. Sure I've been able to related to certain characters in books and manga, but never a video game. I suppose it goes hand in hand when most video games are power fantasies or puzzles.

Oh, nevermind, I've related to Ruka from Steins Gate which is a video game sorta (though I'd consider it more of a novel in the visual sense)

In Splatoon 3, there is a black octoling trombonist that's part of a band.

As a black trombonist, I squealed in joy when I first saw them.

As a white dude? probably when I was six, with just about every game. As someone with a crippling mental illness? Maybe Dark Souls? The whole game is about persevering in a grey, terrible world that just gets worse the further you go in to it. And the only reason to keep going is because, for whatever reason, you want to. A whole theme is that the people who gave up are still there, they're the undead creatures you fight along the way. The handful of people who are still struggling on have their reasons, but many of them give up or lose their way before the end. You can't permanently die, and aside from a few bullshit monsters you don't really lose much of anything when you're killed. The only way to lose the game is to give up. That's basically my life.

Depression quest and Senua's Sacrifice also count. I couldn't get more than a few steps in to Depression Quest because it was way, way too real. I didn't even try with Senua's Sacrifice. Wouldn't have been able to handle it.

i've related to aspects of characters from media, but never the whole thing

From first glance I thought this referred to full body awareness in FPS games

I first saw myself in a game when I played Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm