Jess' Queer Games Journey

Ninja Pizza Girl

A femme looking person standing near a tall bare building with a single door. Dialogue reads 'I'm pathetic.'.

Including this one is really cheating, but I reviewed it upon its release. It’s a great serious game (especially for teens to play) but runners and I are not friends so I was too scared to go back and play it again, even for the purposes of this journey.

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Demi Lovato: Path to Fame

A femme looking person standing next to a brick wall. Dialogue reads 'In this story, you have the chance to date some characters. Do you have a gender you'd prefer they be?' and 'I'm interested in dating guys.' and 'I'm interested in dating girls.' and 'I don't have a preference.'.

I owned up to playing this in front of a room full of people at PAX last year. It was an embarrassing time. But you know what? I played through all three seasons of it.

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Choices: Stories You Play

Femme looking person standing in front of a grand house. Dialogue reads 'But we're still like ten minutes away from the dorm! I'm not gonna waste valuable time that could be spent kissing you.'.

Choices is actually a collection of stories, most (but not all) of which have optional queer love stories embedded in them. There are several genres to choose from, and some of the stories even include puzzle elements like solving riddles or remembering pieces of important information.

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Quantum Break

A masc looking person standing in an icy-looking room with shelves and plants.

I came across the queer content in Quantum Break accidentally, before it was included in the database. It’s just one comment in one document that many players might not even see, but it was still a nice touch. A positive response to a same-sex relationship without it being a big deal? Groundbreaking. The game is also gorgeous and a whole lot of thought has clearly been put into the narrative, so I’d probably recommend it even without that little detail.

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Undertale

Gender ambiguous person standing on a rug of leaves next to a star in a corridor. Doorway to the north with vines nearby. Text reads 'Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination.'.

Honestly, I finally played Undertale because I was sick of everyone assuming I already had. It didn’t take long to work out why. It’s hard to talk about it without spoiling some of the things that make it great, but I can say that never have I felt so unsure of what was coming next as I did while I was playing this game.

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