Summary
Sometimes, you can see LGBTQIA+ representation coming, but other times, it’s not the blatant marketing technique we’re so used to seeing during Pride Month. Whether the characters are in the game’s spotlight or not, it’s important to spot and support their appearance in popular games. Of course,there is always performative inclusion to look out for, but visibility is vital.
Whilelots of games, like Undertale, have a gender-neutral protagonistfor the sake of inclusive player experience, it’s often the characters around the player that we spot this representation in. No matter what genre of games you like to play, there’s always thehope that those games will be inclusive and progressivein their own ways.
This game has a plethora of LGBTQIA+ characters, and perhapsthe most popular examples are Caitlyn and Vi, the two queer women that stole everyone’s hearts in Netflix’s Arcane series. They areconfirmed queerin a few different ways,by the writers and through some of their in-game dialogue. There’s definitely something going on between them, and, of course, there’s plenty of tension in Arcane.
League of Legends champion interactions are often flirty, but it’s so wholesome that any betweenCaitlyn and Vi are canon, with the potential for even more in the future. Besides, they both gave off gay vibes anyway.
There aren’t enough words to describehow adorable Gregg and Angus are as a couple. What’s even better is how casually their relationship is brought up in-game. It’s even explained thatGregg and Angus both struggle with homophobic family members, and despite that,they’re still working towards a future together. Gregg is the lovable ball of hyper, fiery passion that balances out Angus’s calm and rational expertly.
The domestic queer representation in this game is something rare to see, so it was a pleasant surprise when these two were introduced, not as action heroes or tragic plotlines, but as two gay men trying their best to exist. Like we all are!
Asexual representation in video games is close to non-existent, a fact that The Outer Worlds couldn’t let stand.Parvati Holcomb’s sexualityis portrayed so sweetly, it’s one of the most positive gaming representations ace people have, no doubt. She opens up about herself in her personal quest as a companion, where she reveals that many people often found her “cold” in her past, which is a stereotype asexual people constantly have to fight.
Parvati is such a sweet character, a talented mechanic, anda canonically asexual character written by an asexual narrative designer. Not only that, but her complex characterization and journey with her sexuality makes her beloved by so many. She’s perfection.
Guild Wars 2 has some of the best lesbian representation out there, even if the relationships can be a little rocky. Or toxic, in Caithe and Faolain’s case. It’s a spectrum of healthy versus unhealthy, and thehealthiest relationship in possibly the entire game is between Kasmeer Meade and Marjory Delaqua. In every extension of the game, even the base game, these two have been consistent and dedicated to each other.
Their love is a part of the main story that just makes so much sense, yetthe reveal back in the days of Scarlet Briar’s invasion on Lion’s Archhad the community in a chokehold. Their relationship still does, to be fair.
6Life Is Strange
The reveal that Chloe alone was queer was enough to make any closeted bisexual faint. Chloe and Max together? Well, there weredefinitely some tears shed in the fandom when people reached that part of the game. Ironically, Chloe, not Max, is the constant across both Life is Strange games, and from the first game, everyone was already ready to yell “now kiss!” when Rachel and Chloe started getting closer.
And somehow, that reveal got exactly the same amount of positive uproar as the first reveal. You can’t blame them, though. Every instance of confirmed queerness warrants that reaction even today.
Ellie and Dina getting together was more expected than Ellie’s first crush, Riley. When you play through those first parts of The Last of Us again, you will notice little glances and looks between them for a little too long that you might have missed the first time through. Beyond Ellie, though, there’sthe tragic story of Bill and Frank that absolutely broke the internet’s collective mental well-being.
The Last of Us always has a way of tugging on our heartstrings, and the LGBTQIA+ representation to be found is no exception. Seeing Ellie’s growth is one of the best parts of the series, and especially when it’scanon representation done correctly.
While Detroit: Become Human doesn’t lack representation,there’s a lesbian couple’s appearancethat you might not remember from the game. When Connor goes to the Eden Club investigating the murder of a man there, he findstwo Traci units, deviant, and one is badly damaged. Both manage to escape an abusive and violent patron before you see them in-game.
It’s unfortunate that their relationship is revealed in so much tragedy and distress, sincethe two of them love each other to the extent of not being able to live without each other, so the fact that they can escape gives you hope that they find happiness.
While the relationship between Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright Jakobs isfocused on far more in the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC, there are still hints of it in the base game. The two gunslingers are both assets to thevault hunters, and even though their personalities and even fighting styles match each other, only eagle-eyed players can initially spot all the details of their relationship etched into the game.
One of the more obvious is Hammerlock’s nickname for Jakobs, “Winny”. It’s adorable, and shows his love for Wainwright far before his actual proposal does. Andthat proposal is “Marry me?” written on a gun. Peak gunslinger romance.
Hollow Knight does subtle nods to the LGBTQIA+ community like no other, butyou really have to look if you want to find these quests and interactionsin-game. One of the relationships between named characters is the one between Cloth and Nola, even though they’re never technically seen together because, spoiler alert, Nola is dead.Cloth is obsessed with going out in a blaze of glory to join Nola, which is surprisingly not the most tragic romance story here.
The grey mourner is another example of a tragic queer character, found behind breakable walls in the Resting Grounds with a quest about her lover. You have tobring a specific flower to the traitor’s daughter’s grave, where it’s revealed the two women were in love in life.
Of all the series to have queer characters, somehow nobody expected the horror game based around deadly animatronic mascots. The vast majority of the animatronics' genders correspond to the child’s spirit inhabiting their suits. One character who doesn’t conform to any one gender isMangle, a pink and white colored animal implied to once be a dog whose official gender is referred to often as ‘yes’.
They are referred to as ‘it’, ‘she’, ‘he’, and ‘them’ interchangeably throughout the canon game materials. Another character,Lefty, has a more ambiguous gender association, withtheir body being male-presenting and the voice associated with them being feminine. Even in horror games, LGBTQIA+ people thrive.
