Hi, I'm Robin, one of the sensitivity readers, nonbinary, and Editor for Mare.
(For obvious reasons, the content below will contain discussions on trigger warnings and triggering content)
Mare is, as stated on the web page, a horror game, and specifically a horror game that deals with trauma. As such, traumatizing material is bound to come up, but Z and all of us involved in the process took a lot of thought in how to portray it without pulling punches but without being too heavy handed. For those of us who were Trans on the dev team, we unanimously agreed to this depiction, finding it cathartic to see an honest portrayal.
However, for various reasons, I also understand that this sort of depiction is not cathartic to everyone and that is why multiple content warnings are provided before the player ever downloads the title to remind you that Mare IS a horror game and it deals primarily with traumatic material.
Given that you mentioned you were watching a friend play though the title, I don't know if perhaps they skipped over the trigger warnings at the beginning or if perhaps it might help in the future to include a breakdown of each trigger and its extent, such as:
Transphobia:
- Transphobic slurs
- Depictions of violence
I am sorry to hear that your friend's playthrough put you in a position of distress.
If they did not read the content warnings to you beforehand, I hope that is something that the two of you can check going forward in order to find games that you both can safely enjoy together.
If they did, then perhaps you are not at a point in your life where you find these sorts of tales cathartic and that's okay. There are plenty of other horror games out there, and I wish you luck on curating your content going forward to find media that you can comfortably consume. I know it can be tricky.