A sample pack of queer games to celebrate Pride
It's still Pride Month, so let's round up some great games with queer themes
As we work our way towards the end of June, I think it’s important to wring every last drop out of Pride month as possible. For some, it’s a weird time to be loud, publicly, and unapologetically queer. Seeking comfort and community from governments or corporations is a losing proposition; we can only empower each other. Even when things are bleak, there are still artists and developers out there creating experiences that provide comfort and help us feel seen.
So, here’s a round-up of games for Pride, including everything from big budget RPGs to small teams and solo developers creating messy stories with tragic ends.
Proximate
Proximate has one of the most creative premises for a game that I’ve ever encountered: you are a contractor, equipped with an AI visor. The visor doesn’t allow you to actually see things; instead, it gives you an idea of your orientation, the room you’re in, and what you are looking at. It’s an intentionally opaque and sometimes frustrating way to navigate the world, and it’s not helped by the occasional call from your loathsome manager.
Created by Cain Maddox, Proximate tells a story of a deep sea laboratory where, surprise surprise, scientists have been meddling with the forbidden and things went terribly wrong. Amidst the dead bodies, there are chat logs and text dumps that share a heartbreaking story. This is not a saccharine take on the beauty of queer love; it’s ugly and messy and so authentic I’m not ashamed to admit I cried at one point.
Heaven Will Be Mine
The mecha genre has always been concerned with the body; pilots strap themselves into a large machine of war, becoming something greater than themselves. Heaven Will Be Mine is unapologetically inspired by classics like Neon Genesis Evangelion, but paves its own way. “Giant robots may not make any sense,” the game’s description on Steam acknowledges. “Celestial cities across the solar system are silly dreams. They are, however, extremely awesome.” Over the course of the game, players get to pick the faction that will determine humanity’s fate — and also, who they want to kiss, which is equally important.
You may also want to check out Extreme Meatpunks Forever, another take on gay disasters piloting giant mechs.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
It’s hard to believe now, with this trilogy being universally beloved and recommended as one of BioWare’s best, but the Mass Effect games kicked up quite a storm of controversy at release. This video showcases a shockingly young Geoff Keighley defending the game from hosts on Fox News, who are furious about “full digital character nudity” and gay sex scenes. Originally released as a trilogy, the games are now packaged together under the Legendary Edition.
Mass Effect is an excellent RPG starring Commander Shepard, a human who finds themselves embroiled in a massive action saga after accidentally touching ancient technology and uncovering signs of an incoming apocalypse. Shepard tracks down clues, fights off armies of robots and mercenaries, makes moral decisions, and, if they so choose, can smooch one of their party members during their off hours.
Romances are gender-locked, but modders have done the work to make sure you can smooch the sexy raptor man as a male Shepard, if you so choose. At the time of writing, the Legendary edition is available for five bucks on a steep sale, so if you haven’t played these games yet, now is the perfect time.
If you’re not a fan of sci-fi and you prefer fantasy, the Dragon Age series — also made by BioWare in their prime — and Baldur’s Gate 3 make for excellent alternatives.
Ladykiller in a Bind
Ten years after its release, Ladykiller in a Bind remains one of the most clever and carefully composed adult games on Steam. The Beast is, through a series of wild and implausible circumstances, forced into posing as her twin brother on a cruise ship full of his classmates. What follows is a game of social manipulation, avoiding suspicion, and bondage. It’s up to you whether you want to focus on flawlessly maintaining your impression — failure to do so can end up with you tossed in the brig, after all — or choose to just seduce as many of your brother’s classmates as possible during those six nights. There’s also a safe for work mode where everyone is wearing Christmas sweaters, and if you don’t think that’s delightful, I don’t know what to tell you.
Co-creator Christine Love also released Get in the Car, Loser!, a lesbian road trip RPG that mixes classic JRPG aesthetics with bright, neon colors and summer vibes.
Radiator 2
Robert Yang is a prolific developer who is best known for creating small, experimental titles about gay men and their sexuality. Radiator 2: Anniversary Edition is a free package of three of those games: Hurt Me Plenty, Succulent, and Stick Shift. At first glance, these games are goofy — spanking buffs, slurping popsicles, and jerking off a car — but there’s something to be said about so boldly taking a perspective that is rarely explored in gaming. These short, weird games are undeniably gay as hell, and that’s why you’re here.
Butterfly Soup
Butterfly Soup is a 2017 visual novel by Brianna Lei, following four Asian girls growing up in Oakland during the 2000s. They’re baseball players, they’re gay, and they’re struggling with their parents, with society, and with their own self-image. Despite the heavy subject matter, this is a funny game, with deftly written dialogue and use of memes that, thanks to this being a period piece, haven’t curdled into being cringe. Butterfly Soup is three or four hours long and it’s free to play; there’s also a sequel available.
Lei is currently working on The Crane Rider’s Tale, a gorgeous looking mystery game inspired by Chinese folktales and medieval paintings.
Celeste
Celeste was originally released in 2018, and it’s still considered one of the best platformers of all time. You play as Madeline, a young woman who is climbing Celeste Mountain, in a journey of discovery and overcoming self-doubt. It’s a punishing, precise platformer that also includes a ton of accessibility options, allowing you to give yourself a much larger window for success.
The protagonist, Madeline, is also trans. This isn’t an explicit part of the story; there isn’t a scene where Madeline comes out or openly discusses that part of her identity. However, some players picked up on that vibe, and asked developer Maddy Thorson about it. She would eventually confirm that both she and Madeline were trans in a very thoughtful blog post.
Tell Me Why
Dontnod is perhaps best known for the Life is Strange series, and specifically the games that focus around best friends Chloe and Max. But if you prefer a more focused experience, Tell Me Why is a similarly structured narrative title with a standalone story about two siblings uncovering a mystery in small town Alaska. Tyler and Alyson are twins with a supernatural bond that allows them to relive parts of their past. It’s a dynamic that’s slightly complicated by the fact that Tyler is a trans man, and he has faced significant social pushback as a result.
Tell Me Why is slowly paced; it takes its time setting up the dynamics between the siblings and their deceased mother, and slowly sews clues as to the circumstances around her death. For players who are patient enough to work through the exposition and start solving the central mysteries, there’s a bittersweet story with some crushing consequences to uncover. Tell Me Why is free during Pride Month, and if you enjoy narrative games with branching choices, it’s a solid pick.
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas is a sprawling open world RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, where you play as Courier Six — an unlucky bastard who was jumped, robbed, and executed. You survive the ordeal, and emerge into the Mojave Wasteland to find a perilous region with a precarious balance of power between a few factions.
New Vegas does allow you to play a queer protagonist, and two of your potential companions are gay. The writing around this is surprisingly deft, especially for a game released in 2010. The representation, branching choices, and emphasis on player freedom has all coalesced into an incredible RPG experience. It’s also one that has been adopted by the trans community in a way that Bethesda’s Fallout titles haven’t enjoyed. It’s a meme that trans women adore Fallout: New Vegas, and you know what? That’s great; I’m happy for them. Much like Ultrakill, New Vegas has just been lucky enough to earn that specific fanbase.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
I struggle with rhythm games; it’s a flaw of mine that I simply cannot keep to a beat. But I was still transfixed by Sayonara Wild Hearts, a video game that’s structured like an album, packed with wildly stylish setpieces: dance battles soaked in neon lights, motorcycle chases through crowded city streets, tarot imagery in urban landscapes. It also happens to be a pretty gay game. This isn’t a super narrative heavy experience — it’s a pop album, not a doctoral thesis — but the protagonist is explicitly a bisexual woman. Much ink has been spilled about the queer themes and aesthetics of the game, and those do a lot of work to make the world of Wild Hearts feel vibrant and brilliant.
Hades
The Hades games are critically acclaimed, commercially successful, and nearly universally praised. Both games have you playing as a child of Hades — Zagreus in the first game, and Melinoë in the sequel — who is faced with an impossible task. Zagreus seeks to escape the underworld, while Melinoë is attempting to liberate it. Both games boast a crisp combat system with a variety of weapons, satisfying roguelike progression that unfolds over dozens or hundreds of runs, and a great cast of memorable characters.
They also offer queer romance, which is appropriate for the Greek pantheon. Both siblings are polyamorous and bisexual, which means there are no agonizing choices to be made. These romances make up a relatively small part of the game — the bulk of your time will be spent in combat — but they’re very well-written and in some cases, honestly quite sweet.
