The best gay games have long been marketed to a narrow group of mostly teenaged white heterosexual males. But gay gamers are a diverse community that includes people of all identities and backgrounds. Here are some of the best LGBTQ+ best gay games. From sexy pixel romance to sapphic love stories, these games are both fun and meaningful.
Celeste, an ultra-difficult indie platformer about Madeline climbing a mountain while confronting her literal inner demons, became a phenomenon with its brilliant level design, unique dash mechanic, and iconic music. It also resonated with players thanks to its layered narrative, including transgender representation.
Creator Maddy Thorson identifies as non-binary and composer Lena Raine is transgender, so it's not surprising that their best gay game LGBT would be inclusive of queer people. Unlike many best gaygames, Celeste doesn't explicitly tell you that Madeline is trans but instead shows you through her actions and the way she arranges her items in her room.
This action-RPG best gay game series was one of the first triple-A games to let you choose a gender for your player character and feature multiple LGBTQ romance options. It's a testament to the growing acceptance of diverse identity in best LGBT games.
Whether they're exploring LGBTQ romance options or including queer side characters, the best gay LGBT games are providing virtual spaces for gamers to reflect on their own identities and create communities with other like-minded players. This has never been more evident than in this year's gay best game releases, with LGBTQ games generating huge excitement on discussion boards and Kickstarter campaigns.
Overwatch is a hero shooter, but it stands out from other titles of its genre in how inclusive it has been to LGBT and gay characters. In addition to Soldier: 76 and Tracer, the team has added Symmetra to the canon and fans have quickly turned her into a gay icon.
This pixel art indie is all about childhood trauma and fallible memory as it explores trans character Alison's complex relationship with her trans twin brother Tyler. Using a key gay gameplay mechanic of telepathy, Dontnod has crafted an emotionally rich best gay game that explores trans identity while exploring the power of family ties.
Miles Morales rewrites Spider-Man history by giving the character's identity as queer a central role. The best gaygame's narrative highlights how he must juggle his domestic, romantic and superhero responsibilities with equal emotional weight and urgency.
This best gay game features violence that may be disturbing to younger players including a villain being blown up (only the body parts disintegrate) and a main character's brother being stabbed repeatedly (he bleeds heavily but doesn't die). Other scenes feature people shooting at each other and characters committing crimes. Language: This best game with gays uses slang and some profanity, including "sh-t", "d-mn" and "oh my God".
The best gay game online features an array of POC and deaf characters as well as queer characters such as the nonbinary Zagreus and asexual Dusa. It also explores polyamory with the option to romance multiple characters of different genders.
The Life is Strange series has made a name for itself with a variety of diverse features, including POC characters, deaf characters and the use of ASL. It also features LGBTQ characters, including Summer, a transgender woman in a canonical same-sex relationship with Chloe.
The best free gay game has been praised for the nuances of its representation, but some players are frustrated that it still promotes the "bury your gays" trope. It doesn't explicitly state that same-sex relationships are doomed, but players could miss the subtext when playing the "good" ending.
Many best gay games are making strides in LGBTQ representation by exploring romance routes for players that are not heterosexual, or including queer side characters. Some gay best games, like Baldur's Gate 3, even have options for players to choose nonbinary or asexual gender identity during character creation.
Aside from being a fantastically crafted horror gay game that unpacks the agony and life-affirming force of young queer love, Gone Home is notable for being one of the first best gay games to treat homosexuality as normal. Unlike BioWare's rehashed Mass Effect series, which features a variety of unapologetically queer side characters but whose sexuality is largely treated as an optional questline, Gone Home treats the character's homosexuality as part of her personality.
As the years pass, best gay games have continued to make strides toward LGBTQ representation. From providing multiple options for player character sexuality to allowing players to explore non-binary gender identity, to embracing sapphic romance options, these are the best LGBTQ+ and gay best games out there. A few games on this list even have a feature that allows players to customize their own gender at the beginning of the bestgaygame.