When I play video games, I’m always looking for a good representation of gay people. Often enough, the games recommended to me are what I call “subtle” queer games. These are games like Skyrim or Stardew Valley, which are called “player-sexual”, where you can date and marry a man or a woman, regardless of the gender of your character. While it’s nice to have this option and counts as a small win, you can still only choose a cis character to marry, and must choose a man or a woman when creating characters. You can also only be married to one person at a time.
After getting tired of just playing these “subtly queer” games, I decided to get out there and find as many queer games as I could. What follows is a list of some of the best games I could find. These games cross genres, developers, and platforms, so there’s something here for everyone to love.
No list of queer video games would be complete without The Last of Us. A zombie game with a twist, we follow Ellie as she seeks revenge after peace is destroyed in a community of survivors. While at first glance this is a zombie apocalypse game like any other, The Last of Us stands out for its incredible character-driven story. It is an exploration of grief, trauma and guilt of the bereaved.
It is also the first blockbuster video game to feature a lesbian protagonist. Overall, this is a great game for those who have played before but have never seen queerness in their game.
The great thing about Life is Strange is that the main character is bisexual and that’s just a fact. While the player can pursue whoever he wants in the game, the main character is Alex always bisexual. It can’t hurt that the game itself is just so much fun to play. In the game, Alex is a young woman who can experience the emotions of others and tries to make sense of her brother’s death. The story is beautiful, bittersweet and unforgettable. Every time you play it, you feel completely immersed in the characters and their perceptions and reactions to the world around them. It’s really unlike any other mystery game out today.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is BioWare’s first game to feature a trans character, and many believe it has positively influenced other major game companies to include more queer representations in their games. The best thing about this character, Krem, is that it’s not obvious they are trans, and it’s just a small facet of his identity. Rather than making a big deal out of it, the story takes a close look at Krem’s transness. This is great for a game that revolves around killing dragon demons and solving civil unrest. In a world where dragons can flow through a chasm in the sky, why can’t a character be trans?
Inkenfell is a game that enjoys the simple pleasure of being queer. Set in a magical school that feels both familiar and brand new, you start driving Maritte Hildegaard, a girl without magic who attends Inkenfell to find her missing sister. As the game progresses, you’ll meet fascinating NPCs, fight intense magical battles and unravel the mystery surrounding Safina’s disappearance. With tons of weird characters, this game is fun and cheerful at the same time without feeling shallow or like a rainbow capitalist money grab. This is a great game for those who want to enter the world of single player combat RPGs in a way with simple gameplay mechanics and fantastic story.
Tell Me Why, one of the first games with a trans protagonist, introduces us to twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan. The twins have a supernatural bond that allows them to communicate in a truly unique way. After being separated for a while, they are reunited and use this strange power they share to uncover the truth about their childhood. What I especially like about this game is that the fact that Tyler is trans is again not a major plot point. So often queer characters need to have a great coming out story, whether their queerness is used as plot point or for shock value. But in Tell Me Why, Tyler is just trans, and that’s all. The other thing I love is that they cast a trans voice actor to play Tyler, so the game is authentic both in the story it tells, but also in the casting.
While this list only includes five games, there are many more and even more in development. As a queer gamer, I can’t wait for lists like this to become obsolete, because all the great games have queerness in them in a proud and authentic way.
Have fun gaming!
0 Comments