The Gay Girl's Guide To Gaming
The Best Video Games That Let You Play As A Lesbian/Bisexual Character
With all types of media, representation matters—and we’re finally living in an age where we can claim LGBTQ representation on the gaming screen. The best designed and most popular video games have historically been categorized as first-person shooters with male only protagonists, but now mainstream video game developers, like Bethesda, Bioware, EA and Ubisoft, are looking to include a more diverse audience. LGBTQ gaming has never been better, so get ready to dive in and become the sassy space queen or medieval monarch you were always meant to be!
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Are you into fiery dragons, elven magic, or medieval queers donning duel-wielding daggers? If your answer is yes, yes and yes, buckle up your Birkenstocks and download this game as soon as you can.
Dragon Age Inquisition - Inquisitor and Josephine (Bioware)
Dragon Age Inquisition hooked me like no other video game has done before. The medieval, fantastical world drew me in deeper and deeper until I contemplated answering to nothing but the title of “Inquisitor” for the rest of my actual real life. This game has got it all — fantastical beasts, brutal combat, a war room full of HBIC’s, lots of cities you can’t pronounce, and a whole rainbow of romance. So it’s easy to see why this is the winner of 2014’s Game of the Year award, GLAAD’s Media award in 2015, and more to the point, my favorite video game of all time.
Dragon Age Inquisition romance (Bioware)
The plot: A continuation of the previous games in the Dragon Age series, Inquisition begins with a bang—literally. A massive explosion creates a tear in the veil, the magical boundary between the physical and spiritual world. Enter lots of spirits and demons! A world of chaos and panic! You are the sole survivor of the blast, and emerge with a power that can aid in the effort to seal the veil. Dance, prance and ride a dragon around in the rest of this thrilling adventure, and don’t forget to be real gay along the way.
The character creation: The character creation process mirrors the common RPG (Role Player Game, for the newbies out there) practice of picking a race, class, and gender (limited to male or female so far, unfortunately). If you’re a sneaky rogue who likes to hide in the shadows or an axe-wielding giant, there’s a place for you in the realm of Thedas. Different combinations of races and classes award unique advantages in the game, so a lot depends on the way you as the Inquisitor want to play. The endless character customization is just one of the many reasons Inquisition is my personal favorite -- you get to customize your quests and queerness while you play.
Dorian, Dragon Age Inquisition (Bioware)
The romance: Dragon Age is highly companion-focused, meaning you’ll always explore with a tribe of friends. And trust me when I say, they’re all fabulous (looking at you, Dorian). All eight companions are romanceable options in the game, with the addition of a few other minor characters you encounter along the way. Every character you’ll meet in the world of Thedas has been designated with their own sexual orientation, which makes the game feel that much more realistic. You want a fiesty, trickster girlfriend? Sera’s your gal. More into that Virgo-rising, power bisexual kind of thing? See what happens when you jump into bed with Josephine. Feeling introverted today? Who needs romance anyway! Whatever your fancy, this cast of characters has some magic (literally) rolled up its sleeve.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Be gay! Do crimes… in space! When it comes to immersive video games, there’s really nothing like the expansive, futuristic feel of exploring SPACE in Mass Effect Andromeda. Think Star Wars meets The Expanse, but with a 4x queerness multiplier. This game has an especially rich variety of characters—lots of POC, alien nerds, cool aliens, varsity jocks, unfriendly black hotties, desperate wannabes, burnouts, the greatest people you will ever meet and the worst. Beware of the pyjaks.
Mass Effect: Andromeda - Pathfinder and Suvi (Ubisoft)
The Plot: Mass Effect Andromeda is a thrilling sci-fi drama and the fourth game in the Mass Effect series, so if this game is up your alley you have plenty more to explore. It’s year 2185 and your character is designated the Pathfinder, a leader of a project to colonize the galaxy and search for a new glamorous, galactic home for humanity. With your crew of offbeat specialists in tow, you set out to the stars on your mission, uncovering lots of harsh environments, hostile aliens, and mysteries along the way.
Mass Effect Andromeda romance (Ubisoft)
The character creation: Andromeda gives you the option of playing as either a male or female Pathfinder, with default characters Scott or Sara Ryder. They’re both kind of basic, but you bring your own pizazz to the character, right? Once you choose your gender, you can then customize the appearance of your opposite sex twin who becomes an essential part of your story. You can also customize your character’s appearance (because we all know even space lesbians have tattoos) and training specializations, like tactical operative, which lets you become invisible while smashing aliens in the face, or biotic badass, which is essentially gaydar if gaydar allowed you the power of picking up your enemies and hurling them through the air.
Mass Effect Andromeda (Ubisoft)
Romance Options: It’s steamy in space, ladies and gentlequeers. That slimy hand in the backseat of the car in Titanic has got nothing on the Nexus. That’s why Andromeda has lots of romanceable companions and characters, depending on the gender of your Pathfinder. You can romance ten companions, but whether or not these companions will be interested in you or not depends on your gender. There are three options for male Pathfinders, three for female Pathfinders, and four for Pathfinders of either gender. And there’s flirting. LOTS of flirting. You can romance humans or creatures of other species, so there’s a whole galaxy of galactic gal pals for you to discover. Though advancements in science and technology in space are abound, Andromeda hasn’t exactly discovered the idea of polyamory yet. So once you commit to a relationship with one companion, you effectively lock into friendships with the other characters. Guess three’s a crowd when you're in the confines of the multiverse, am I right ladies?
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia
Ever wondered what Ancient Greece would look like if it were left in the strong and capable hands of a power top? Leave it to the noteworthy developers of Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), who are known for designing, developing, and producing stories with “a multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations, and gender identities.” (Seriously, it says this exact phrase at the beginning of all their games and has done so for many years—which is the coolest.)
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - Kassandra and Kyra (Ubisoft)
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - Kassandra and Odessa (Ubisoft)
The Plot: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a stunning open-world game that lets you play as a mercenary for either the Spartans or the Athenians during a fictional history of the Peloponnesian War. The main mission of your chosen character is to reunite your painfully dysfunctional family decades after a tragedy (you know, that one time when your father threw your infant sibling off a cliff and left them for dead before disappearing for decades). But if the main campaign isn’t quite for you, the sheer amount of other quests available keeps this game interesting. Hunt down religious creeps from the Cult of the Kosmos, join a meetup group of dead famous philosophers, set out to the seas for naval combat, or just hang around and hunt mythical creatures to put some extra drachmae in your pocket.
The Character Creation: Odyssey gives you the option to play as either Alexios, a grunty male Fabio, or his sister Kassandra, a chiseled, ass-kicking beauty. You can’t customize either of their appearances, but since they’re basically designed as virtual Greek Gods, it’s something that’s pretty easy to live with. There is no difference in build-out between either player, so it’s really just about who you want to be while slashing and sneaking your way through Greek villages. (Hint, it’s Kassandra, but was that ever really in question?)
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - Kassandra (Ubisoft)
Romance Options: Romance in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is an option, but think of your dating options as the Tinder of Greece. "Relationships" are formed via flirting with romanceable companions throughout the game, but there isn’t an ability to form an actual partnership with a companion. So take your dreams of U-hauling Kassandra and a greek goddess and toss them right out the window because you won’t find more than few quick swipe-right’s in this story. Kassandra may be a woman of no attachments, but that doesn’t stop your girl from a string of steamy one night stands with all of ancient Greece.
Fallout 4
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Fallout 4 begins after Trump’s America has decimated the earth and everything in it. MAGA’s hellfire rained down on humanity and nuked life as we know it to death. Nuclear winter has come.
Fallout 4 - Sole Survivor and Piper (Bethesda)
The Plot: It’s year 2287. Your character has just awoken from a cryopod to discover that it’s mercury retrograde, and their child has been kidnapped and everything is a messy wasteland. Have you ever wanted a giant nuclear cockroach (or cockaroach, whatever Natasha Lyonne) chasing you down the door? Get your Raid fantasy itch scratched with your Deliverer. When you finally escape your vault and emerge into the post-nuclear wilderness, your character begins a two-part mission to locate their missing son, and help humanity rebuild all while trying to dodge radiation poisoning, wasteland raiders and creepy (or cute? Wife says cute) mutants.
Fallout 4 - Sole Survivor and Cait (Bethesda)
The Character Creation: Fallout begins very hetero, (like ugh, what doesn’t) allowing you to customize your character and the appearance of your opposite sex spouse. You can choose your character’s gender between male or female and customize their appearance, but be prepared that all women look like a 1950’s housewife and all men look like Al Pacino. From there, you can start to allocate your character’s skill points into categories like intelligence, charisma, and strength which will influence how your character succeeds at interactions in the game. If you’re a Dungeons and Dragons queer, think of these skill points as ability modifiers that allow you a higher success roll.
Romance options: Admittedly, a post-nuclear apocalyptic wasteland is not my fantasy choice for exploring the romances that an open world has to offer, but alas, even cryogenic survivors of nuclear fallout could use some admirers in the apocalypse. Regardless of your character’s gender, you can romance seven of your thirteen potential companions—from female to male, robot to ghoul. One thing to note about your romanceable companions is that they are only into you if you know how to impress them, so in other words, your actions influence how your companions feel about you. Bring your drip or risk getting rejected by one of Piper’s classic letdowns. If you start making selfish moves or decide to help out the villains of the wasteland, some companions will ditch you while others are into that bad-girl vibe. If you spend the night in a bed next to your companion, you get an XP gain which allows you to level up faster and spend more points on your skills. You can romance as many companions at a time as you want, so it’s to your benefit to sleep around! Because turns out once all of humanity has been turned to dust, three really isn’t such a crowd.
Hopefully these 4 games will keep you busy for a while, and thankfully we keep getting more queer games coming our way! So stay tuned for our upcoming reviews for new games in 2020. If y’all want to add something you’d like us to cover, feel free to drop a comment below.
