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Post by Nachtkern on Jun 22, 2022 16:07:53 GMT 1
My dearly beloved housemate astraldreams doesn't watch any cartoons but he does play video games. So in his honor I am also making a thread to recommend video games with LGBT+ themes or characters in it! As with the other thread, there are some rules to stick to, but after reading them you can go ahead and post your recommendations!
And that's it for all the rules! You don't have to stick to a template, but if you want one, you can use this one:
[b]Title:[/b]
[b]Platform:[/b] (PC/Switch/PS4/phone/etc)
[b]Genre/Audience:[/b]
[b]Link:[/b] (wikipedia/GameFAQs/steam page/etc)
- (a description of what the game is about, what the gameplay is like, and if/what LGBT themes it has)
- (an explanation why you are recommending it)
- (optional: any content warnings or additional headsup)
And that's everything! Have fun recommending and (hopefully) browsing through the recommendations of others! I'll add some of my own in a little bit, too. |
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Post by Nachtkern on Jun 22, 2022 16:46:43 GMT 1
Title: Seduce Me the Otome Platform: Steam (free) Genre/Audience: dating sim, visual novel, otome Link: store.steampowered.com/app/367120/Seduce_Me_the_Otome/In Seduce Me the Otome, you play as a young lady who inherits her grandfather's gigantic mansion, and when she moves in, suddenly finds herself cohabiting with five mysterious, yet handsome young men, eager to serve her... who turn out to be incubi, and feed off of sexual energy only the protagonist can provide them. You may choose to unravel the secrets that brought these boys to your doorstep, and pursue a passionate romance with one of these otherwordly lovers... or, you could completely ignore any and all of that, and just go date one of the girls that the protagonist goes to school with. This game has 6 male romance options, and 3 female romance options. I will say that this isn't a good game, and that there are many other VNs that you could play that have better romance options, better story, better art... but I personally had fun with it, in part because it was kind of corny and not very well-made, and I recommend playing it with a friend to really get the most out of the experience. The game is free, but has a paid sequel (that I haven't tried, and don't really have an interest in). The game includes fade-to-black bedroom scenes (with the incubi), but they are completely optional. It also has some genre-typical edgyness and awkwardness to it; it's possible to get bad endings in which the main character dies, there is some fighting and violence, partial and implied nudity, and off the top of my head, a whole bunch of demon political drama. Nothing explicit is shown on screen, but the game is at minimum 13+.
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Post by astraldreams on Jun 22, 2022 17:20:34 GMT 1
*Cracks knuckles*. My time has come. I know you've played some(most?) of these games before, or at least heard of them (from me, if no one else LOL), so this is also recs to anyone else who comes across this thread^^
Title: Celeste Genre: Narrative-driven 2D Platformer Difficulty: It's not an easy game by far, many of the rooms have very tight and precise movement, with more optional challenges as well! But each challenge is only a very short chunk, and instant respawns allow you to keep going without really any setback, so it's more of an endurance/practice game than one you need to inherently be good at. Still, if tight platforming or quick reflexes aren't your thing, this probably isn't for you. There is an easy/assist mode, but I haven't played that myself and can't speak for how much it actually simplifies the experience. Prize: 19.99€
Premise and LGBT themes: Celeste follows the story of Madeline, a young adult who is attempting to reach the top of Celeste Mountain. In her travels, she meets a cast of various other characters who all help or hinder her in certain ways- and the most difficult challenge will be surviving her own inner demons. It's a story about coming to terms with your past, discovering yourself, who you are, and your place in the world, and overcoming anxieties, depression, and other difficulties. The game itself is not explicitly about LGBT-themes specifically, but has a lot of moments that ring true from an LGBT perspective as well- more importantly, the creator has since come out as a trans woman and stated Madeline's story represents a lot of the things she herself has dealt with. So while not yet explicitly named in the story itself, it was written with those themes in mind, and the main character is at the very least word-of-god transgender herself. Why the rec?: Celeste is a lovely game, both in story and gameplay. Madeline's journey is told is told in a very sincere and touching way, all the other characters are incredibly charming as well, and I love the writing- it is both funny and made me genuienly tear up in places. Stories about finding your place in the world, overcoming hardships, and optimism are dear to my heart in general, and this is one of the best I've seen.
As for the game aspect of it all- 2D platformers are one of my favourite genres, especially with tight and fast-paced gameplay! The game does a really good job of ramping up the difficulty over time, as well as introducing new features that expand the gameplay without altering its core or creating artificial difficulty- every new development feels natural and smooth. The fast respawns keep its difficulty from becoming frustrating, and the extra challenges are implemented very well! Coming back to earlier segments with advanced skills to see what you missed, or finish up extra challenges you missed before, is super fun.
Finally, I love the music and soundeffects, and the visuals are gorgeous. I'm a sucker for pixel art in general, and this one does it really well! All the characters look distinctive despite the lack of details, and the environments are beautiful- it really sells the scale of this mountain as well. Overall, just gorgeous to look at and listen to!
An average playthrough of the main story takes about 8 hours, but if you're determined to find every secret and play all extra levels that can expand to about 40 hours or more- well worth the money. Plus, it stays just as fun on re-plays.
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, death, grieving, scopophobia. While the story is ultimately about overcoming hardships and ends on an optimistic note, it's still about depression and anxiety and can be heavy at times, especially in the latter half. Some puzzles/gameplay elements rely on color or sound cues, and so far there is no colorblind mode or visual indicators. There is frequent flashing, screenshake, and eyestrain, some of which can be adjusted/turned off in the settings, but not all.
 Title: Murder by Numbers Genre: Puzzle / Visual Novel / Picross Difficulty: Pretty easy. During the VN segments you need to occasionally come to the correct conclusions about characters or items, but unlike in games like Ace Attorney there is no penalty for getting it wrong, you just get to try again. The main gameplay is doing picross puzzles, so the difficulty there depends on how good you are at those. Most of them are fairly small, the largest is 30x30 IIRC, and the game does a good job of introducing you to the concept. Also, there's hints/assist mode (I have not used those, so I don't know how helpful they are). Platforms: PC ( Steam) Prize: 12.49€
Premise and LGBT themes: The two main characters are Honor Mizrahi, an actor / amateur detective, and SCOUT, a little amnesiac robot with a talent for finding hidden objects. The two of them pair up to find SCOUT's missing past and along the way end up solving a bunch of murders all over Los Angeles. The main gameplay consists of investigating locations (and finding items by solving picross puzzles), talking to suspects, and making conclusions based on those. Think Ace Attorney. Neither of the main characters are canonically LGBT (well- there is some talk about SCOUT's (lack of) gender and pronoun preference, but he is a robot, so I am hesitant to count it) and the game isn't focused on those themes, but they are fairly consistent throughout. Honor's best friend K.C. is a gay man who talks about it fairly openly (and does not fall into a cliche "gay best friend" stereotype), one of the cases is set in a gay bar, and there's a fair amount of talk around it. It's not what the story is about or related to the main plot/themes, but it's also not something that can be ignored in the background.
(Also, this part is my personal headcanon, but the way Honor talks about people being gay / transgender made me feel like she at the very least put a lot of thought into the possibility wrt herself, even if nothing is ever said in-game.)
Why the rec?: I love robots, I love murder mysteries, and I love picross. When I originally heard about this game I had no idea of any LGBT themes, but unexpectedly seeing them was really nice! The story overall is pretty good, I like the way it all unfolds, and the individual cases where fun and satisfying to figure out as well! The characters are all very likable (or intentionally unlikable) and well-written, and I just overall had a really fun time with it! I played all of it in one go/over the course of a few days, and I can see myself going back to replay it in the future. Don't play this just for the LGBT themes, but do play this if you like visual novels, puzzles, robots, or all of the above. Also SCOUT is very cute.
The average playtime to finish the story is around 20hrs, with some bonus puzzles and content giving a bit more to do once that's finished.
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Murder, death (incl. past parental), suicide, mentions of past abuse (between romantic partners), mentions of homophobia + hatecrimes (as something that exists in the general world- no instances happens in the actual game). Occasionally SCOUT will remember things from his past, and the transition to those scenes is pretty flashing/eyestrain, with no way to turn it off.
It's Undertale. You know it. Snas, etc.
Jokes aside and in case someone actually hasn't heard about this game before:
Title: Undertale Genre: Story-driven RPG with bullet-hell segments. Difficulty: The main difficulty comes from the combat, where enemies attack with bullet-hell and you need to dodge it to avoid damage. It's not overly fast or spammy, but certain fights (especially) bosses are still challenging. As for puzzles, most of them are fairly simply and also give you unlimited tries. There are also five hundred thousand guides on everything online if you do struggle with them though. Platforms: PC ( Steam), Switch, Xbox 1, PS4/PS Vita. Prize: 9.99€
Premise and LGBT themes: A long time ago, there was a war between Monsters and Humans, that ended with all monsters being trapped to live under Mt. Ebott. Now, many years later, a young child falls down into mountain and has to find their way out, while making friends (or not) with all the inhabitants of this world and maybe even save them. The game's main selling point is the fact that while it has traditional RPG combat, you don't actually have to kill anyone to proceed through the story, and figuring out how to spare each new kind of enemy is a fun little puzzle. There's three main paths/endings (with one of the paths being split up into a few minorly different endings), and it's both a fun game to play multiple times to see all different things there are to see, or to just play once and leave it as a contained experience.
The main character, as well as multiple major and minor NPCs, are non-binary and / or trans, two major NPCs are WLW (and one of them specified as bi) and get into a relationship, and there are a few more minor / background gay relationships. While the game and plot itself aren't about the LGBT experience, the themes are consistent throughout the show, and the creator has also gone out of his way to correct people or publications who get things wrong (especially the nonbinary-ness of characters). While almost all characters are monsters, they are just normal people (and the protagonist themself is a human), so this is not really a case of only non-human characters being LGBT because they're not humans.
Why the rec?: The story is really well done and even now, over 6 years after I first played it, I still think about it frequently. I wasn't expecting much all of a deep story going on, and boy was I wrong. There is so much. Watching it all unfurl and twist in ways I never expected has without exageration been one of the best story experiences I've ever had in my life, and if I could experience only one media again without knowing what will happen, I would probably choose Undertale. Games that quite literally rewired by brain. All of the characters are very lovable and charming, the character + monster designs are all really cool, and the writing itself is also just really funny! Most important though, it's just an incredibly heartfelt game. It's undoubtedly about the power of friendship and love (not just romantic), and it just feels very genuine about it all. This being said, the story does explore some dark themes (to a greater or lesser extent, depending on your choices and the route you're in), so please be aware of that going in! It's a net optimistic and positive game, but it's not just lighthearted funnytimes.
Another thing I really like about Undertale is the way it plays with the genre and medium it's in- it's been called a subversion of RPGs and while I don't necessarily know if I'd use that term, it certainly utilizes game mechanics and expectations in a very fun way! It's by no means unique in this (especially not anymore now), but it is one of the best implementations of this kinda stuff I've seen.
A main story playthrough takes about 6hrs, and all main routes about 10hrs, with more or less depending on how much you replay or how fast you get past certain bosses.
Just... please play Undertale. It's worth it, I prommy.
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Body horror/horror, unethical science, death (incl. child death + familial death), suicide (mentioned/implied). Some fights have a lot of eyestrain/flashing, with no way to turn it off.
So! This post is at about 2000 words now, and I've been writing this for like 3 hours, so I'm going to call it here for now. Look forward to more gamerecs in the future, though! I have a list of 7 other games I want to talk about, and I may think of others as time goes on as well. Have a nice day, and happy gaming :3
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Post by astraldreams on Jun 23, 2022 20:58:34 GMT 1
Title: Deltarune Genre: Storyfocused RPG with bullet hell elements Difficulty: Much like Undertale, the main difficulty comes from how good you are at bullet-hell to avoid damage, but the combat has a bit more layers to it. The puzzles are once again fairly straightforward and retryable. Platforms: PC, Switch, Xbox1, PS4 Price: Free, for now (first two chapters)
This game isn't fully released yet, but there's already a pretty large amount of content out! The first and second chapters were released individually, but presumably the rest of the game will drop in a full release some time in the future!
Premise and LGBT themes: This is a game by the same creator as Undertale, and a partner(?) game to it. How exactly or if at all it relates to Undertale is still unclear, but it has been stated the intended experience is for people to play Undertale first. You play as Kris, the only human in a monster town, who one day finds themself in an alternate world where they are apparently a legendary hero of prophecy and need to defeat evil together with their new companions, Ralsei and Susie (a prince of this new world and one of Kris' classmates respectively). It's less basic than I'm making it sound, I swear LOL. Undertale's gimmick of being able to spare any enemy is still present, but the combat has been upgraded a bit to be more 'classical RPG-y' and there's party members now! It gives it a bit more depth, but is still fairly straightforward- this isn't a tactical or strategy game at all. The game (at least so far) is not specifically about LGBT themes (but there are strong themes of growing up alienated from your peers in different ways and finding companionship in others like you, which can be very appealing to LGBT audiences I think), but LGBT characters are still integral to the plot. The main character (as well as some NPCs) is nonbinary, Susie has a crush on a girl from her class (which is requitted, and gets explored more throughout the story), and there's other background LGBT characters. Much like in Undertale it's just treated like a regular part of the world! Like I mentioned, the game and story aren't close to being finished yet, so more may happen as well^^ This is written as of CH2's release.
Why the rec?: It's funny as fuck, especially Chapter 2. Literally one of the funniest games I've played in my life. It's also just cool to see more games by Toby Fox! While Deltarune and Undertale may not be directly related (or maybe they are. It is unclear.) they have a very similar kind of charm, and if you enjoyed Undertale you'll probably also like Deltarune. I really like the story set up so far, and am more than excited to see where it'll go- if his previous work is any indication, it'll be really good (and it already is really good)! In terms of LGBT themes, it also feels they will be a larger factor than in Undertale (especially since focusing on more teenaged protagonists), so if that's something you're looking for, there you go. Also, it feels like it'll do even more than Undertale in terms of playing with its own medium, and I think that's always cool. Content Warnings / Accessibility: Death (incl child), murder, manipulation, gaslighting, ( < these are mostly dependent on your own actions / avoidable, especially the latter two), talk of apocalypses, mild horror, unreality, scopophobia. Again, keep in mind that this is only 2/7 chapters in- I can't speak for the future of the game, but generally I would assume a similiar level of intensity of things as in Undertale. There is occasional flashing, and no way to turn it off.
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Post by astraldreams on Jun 24, 2022 11:44:04 GMT 1
Title: We Know The Devil Genre: Horror / Visual Novel Difficulty: None Platforms: PC ( itch.io, Steam), Switch Price: 5.69€ (And 75% sale until July 7th for 2.50€!) Premise and LGBT themes: This is a story about being an LGBT teenager at christian summer camp, about the dynamics that can form in a three person friendgroup, and (maybe) killing the devil. It follows three different main characters (Venus, Neptune, and Jupiter), and you as a player get to choose which pairs story you'd like to see- and which one will get excluded. There are three endings + one true ending, depending on your choices. The LGBT themes are both explicitly named and central to the story (well- the game's writing style is vague and abstract, so "explicit" may not actually be the most accurate term; what I mean is that there is no room for other interpretation, and this is what the game is about).
Why the rec?: It's just a really good game, man. I love the way the story is told, both in its format of choosing different pairs, and just in the language and atmosphere it uses- it's very, very evocative and sets a great tone. It's both one of my favourite LGBT focused games, and one of my favourite visual novels I've ever played! It's a fairly short game (only about 2 hours at most), but well worth the price.
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Heavy religious themes, homophobia, psychological horror, unreality, unsettling music & sound effects, body horror, emetophobia, drowning, scopophobia, underage drinking.
Honorary shoutout to another game by the same developers, Heaven Will Be Mine! I haven't gotten around to playing it just yet, so I can't give a detailed recommendation, but I've heard it's very good too!
Title: A Normal Lost Phone Genre: Storyfocused, some puzzles Difficulty: Some of the puzzles can be a bit hard if you don't get the right idea, but overall very straightforward. Platforms: Mobile, PC ( itch.io, Steam), Switch Price: 2.99€ / PWYW
Premise and LGBT themes: You found a lost phone and in trying to find out who it belonged to, you slowly uncover the story and learn more about its owner, Sam, by reading through chats, looking at apps, and more. The narrative unfolds non-lineary until eventually everything clicks into place. This game is explicitly about LGBT people and their experiences.
Why the rec?: This isn't really my sort of game at all, but it was very well made, and slowly uncovering more about the story was fun! I'm a big fan of non-linear storytelling, and if you are too, definitely give this a shot. I think the creators really cared about the story they were telling! It's also a fairly short and contained experience (about one and a half hours), so you can just see for yourself^^
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Homophobia, transphobia, depression.
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Post by astraldreams on Jun 26, 2022 12:44:41 GMT 1
Title: Hollow Knight Genre: Metroidvania Difficulty: This is a fairly challenging game, mostly in combat, but there's some tough platforming segments too. There's also optional extra challenging stuff like a boss rush and a really precise platforming challenge. I personally think it's just the right amount of difficulty to be fun, and I also know some friends who are really bad at games still had fun with and beat it, but it's not a casual game by far. Platforms: PC ( Steam), Switch, PS4, Xbox 1 Prize: 14.99€ (and on Steam it's currently on 50% sale until July 7th!) Premise and LGBT themes: You play as a little bug exploring the underground bug kingdom of Hallownest- a once vast and bustling kingdom, that is now slowly dying and being infected by an unknown plague. Along the way you meet old inhabitants, explorers as yourself, and a bunch of other NPCs and slowly uncover the story of what actually happened here in the past. Despite how the premise may sound it's not a grimdark (or even all that dark in general) game at all- sure, it deals with some heavy topics, but it's not depressing or overwhelming in its tone. It's just a little game about bugs! This isn't a game about LGBT themes, but there are two canon gay relationships (one in-game, and one talked about happening pre-game), which although minor and optional, are central to their sidequests. Also, the protagonist and a few NPCs are non-binary, though in this case it definitely is mostly because they are just not human (but still very nice! I like them). Overall, not an LGBT game, but absolutely an LGBT positive game- it just treats it as a normal and casual part of the world!
Why the rec?: Its focus on exploration, getting lost, and then finding your way again is phenomenal- genuienly one of my favourite parts of the game, and something I wish I could experience blind again at least once. The combat is simple in controls but hard to master, the platforming is fun and intuitive, and the atmosphere is fantastic. All the different areas in the kingdom feel distinct and have their own charm to them, the artstyle lends itself incredibly well to the game, the sounddesign is very clear and evocative, and the music is great- one of my favourite game soundtracks ever! All of the NPCs have their own charm to them and are very fun to talk to, and really bring this dying kingdom to life- it feels like a very genuinely lived-in place and seeing the leftovers of it scattered all about is effective. There's not a lot of lore (or even story) that is specifically spelled out or delivered in long cutscenes, it really is all about experiencing and uncovering more of it as you go along.
The beginning of the game starts of more streamlined (but not in a noticable or handhold-y way) and then pretty much fully opens up about 15% into the game- you can go pretty much anywhere (though some places will of course still be locked behind new skills that need to be found), and really experience the game however you want. It's a very common occurence for me to go "well, I will just quickly do [X]" and then I find myself on the other side of the map, because along the way I also wanted to do [Y], found out about [Z], tried to finish up [C], and all the while I still haven't actually touched [X] at all. It's all about the exploration! Despite being a dying world, no corner of it is empty (except for one or two- and that only adds to the experience) and there's something to do everywhere- even now after almost three years I still find some hidden areas I had no idea about LMAO. And finally, there is just so much to do. The game comes with four free DLC expansions that all add onto the game in different ways, and even just streamlining the main story is a lot of content. How Long To Beat says about 26 hours, but I can pretty confidently say it can easily take longer than that- like I mentioned it's all about the exploration, so really it depends on how willing you are to get lost in the world. It took me around 70hrs to get my first ending, and overall since then I've probably put about 300+ hours into 100%ing the game and doing extra challenge modes. But, even if you're not quite as intense as me, there's still plenty of content that is absolutely worth it's prize. TL;DR: It's really charming and I have put 300+ hours into it and there's still content I haven't beaten. It's just a really good game. And if you're looking at this like "well I've played classic metroidvanias and I didn't like it", I'd still give this game a go? I certainly wasn't a fan of the genre (or even really aware of it), but I love the way it's done in Hollow Knight (distinctive to the point where now people are throwing around the term "Hollow Knight-like metroidvania") and it's given me a new appreciation of the genre!
Content Warnings / Accessibility: Death (incl. child death, mass death), cartoon-y violence & injury, apocalyptic themes, plague, bugs and spiders, bodyhorror (in the form of fucked up insects). |
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Post by lentlsoup on Jun 27, 2022 1:58:47 GMT 1
Title: Heaven Will Be Mine Platform: PC + Steam Genre/Audience: Sci-Fi, Visual Novel
Orion gave a shout out to this game but said he couldnt give a more detailed recommendation since he hasn't played it yet. I have though!
Premise and LGBT Themes: This game is a spiritual + thematic sequel to We Know The Devil (which orion recommended a couple posts above). Where wktd focused on repressed lgbt teens, hwbm focuses on adult women who are already out as lgbt, navigating messy relationships and finding their place in a world that doesn't care about them. The game is about 3 women (named Saturn, Pluto, and Luna-Terra) who are a part of 3 different opposing factions of a space war, battling with mechs to decide the future of humanity. You can choose which character's perspective to follow at the beginning of a new playthrough. Choices in the game happen when 2 of the 3 characters interact, and the decisions play into a factions favour and determine which faction will win the war. The game is not deceptive about the choices to be clear, it's not as if you won't know which decision is the favourable outcome to the protag youre playing as, and it will say outright which choice favours which faction. But the objective of the game isn't to have your protag win the war, but to explore the relationships between characters and their respective situations. So you could choose to ignore your job and decide to make out with the enemy instead if you really want to. Win for your ideals or lose for love, your choice! Has three endings corresponding to which faction wins, along with 9 small bonus scenes depending on the combination of which character youre playing as + which faction wins.
Why the rec?: This game is sooooo cool. It has kind of the same writing style as wktd so like orion mentioned, its vague and abstract but sets a great tone and expresses feeling and mood in a really evocative way. The worldbuilding and culture is very interestingly crafted; some of the language/phrasing makes it intentionally hard to understand concretely on an initial playthrough but its no less fascinating for it and informs the characters personalities and struggles in a seamless way. The characters are fantastic on their own and even better in relation to each other and seeing their interactions and how their relationships develop alongside the conflict happening in the background feels super gripping. Also 2 of the girls are exes and I love their tense relationship drama (multiplied by the fact theyre fighting each other in mechs. in space. in a war.)
Content warnings: Homophobia + transphobia, unreality, descriptions of injury + violence, discussion of past abuse/grooming, sexual themes (but no written depictions beyond references and heavy flirting), some of the UI is a little eyestrain-y
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Post by lentlsoup on Jun 27, 2022 2:57:09 GMT 1
Title: Shovel Knight - Shovel of Hope Platform: Literally Everything (PC, steam, switch, 3ds, vita, ps3, ps4, xbox, wiiU) Genre/Audience: Platforming Adventure Link: steam (shovel of hope), switch (shovel of hope), steam (treasure trove), switch (treasure trove) Premise and LGBT Themes: The story follows the titular Shovel Knight, going on a quest to find and save his partner Shield Knight whom he lost some time ago on an adventure gone wrong. Along the way he must defeat the evil Enchantress and her army of knights named the Order of No Quarter who have taken over the land while he was grieving and now stand in the way of his goal. Simple but sweet! There are no actual LGBT themes in text, but the game includes a very cool bonus feature: A body swap option where you can change the genders of every major character (on an individual basis, or you could change All of them) and thus you could make the protags gay if you wish. I'm usually not a fan of genderbends but this one has a nice twist to it that i absolutely love: the character sprites/portraits and character's pronouns can be changed separately from each other! That means you can have Shovel Knight with a female portrait/sprite but still have him keep using he/him pronouns, or keep Shovel Knight's original male sprite/portrait and have her use she/her pronouns, or in either case you can give them they/them pronouns. And it's like this for every character, you can mix and match the entire main casts pronouns and portraits to any combination you desire! You could make them all he/him lesbians if you really wanted to. Some character's names are gendered and their names are changed depending on which pronouns you set for them to match; notably King Knight changes to Queen Knight if using she/her, or Monarch Knight if using they/them. It's really neat! I should say though that any changes you make using the body swap mode are non-canon, and the other campaigns in the shovel knight series don't have this option and use the character's canon gender and pronouns (which is why this is a recommendation of shovel of hope specifically, instead of the treasure trove compilation that has all 4 main campaigns.) Still, it doesn't make this feature any less cool or fun! Why the Rec?: Aside from the body swap feature mentioned above, shovel knight is just really really fun. The NES-inspired sprite art is crisp and charming, the platforming is just the right amount of challenging, there's a lot of secrets and collectibles to uncover, it's just a great gem of a game all around! You can tell that the devs poured a lot of love into making the game, and wanted to show their love of the retro platformer games it takes inspiration from. I think it shows clear as day. I talk more about treasure trove as a whole in this post from the indie game rec thread, but shovel of hope is the core of it, and has a lot of charm and heart.
Content Warnings: Maybe cartoon violence and some flashing, but other than that, virtually none!
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Post by lentlsoup on Jun 27, 2022 6:18:29 GMT 1
Title: The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories Switch, PS4, Xbox, Steam Genre/Audience: Puzzle Platformer, Horror
Premise and LGBT themes: J.J. and her friend Emily are best friends on the cusp of a budding romantic relationship, who one day have a camping trip on an island. J.J. wakes up in the middle of the night during their trip to find that Emily is suddenly missing, and journeys deeper and deeper into the island to find her. While searching, the island becomes nightmarish labyrinth, and J.J. finds that she cannot die and regenerates from any mortal wound she receives, no matter how gruesome. She must constantly mutilate herself and use her inexplicable newfound immortality to solve deadly puzzles on the island and find her way to Emily, all while trying to figure out what is happening on the island and why she suddenly has this new ability. The game is quite explicit of its lgbt themes; the protagonist is a lesbian and as the game progresses you can read more and more of J.J.'s old text messages that highlight her struggles of being lgbt and how her identity strains her relationship with her mother and peers. There's a bit more to it than that, but explaining further would lead to heavy spoilers.
Why the Rec?: This game has a great atmosphere, and is very true to itself and genuine. Its harsh and brutal but also raw and heartfelt. As mentioned above, the main gameplay mechanic has J.J. injure herself and use her dismembered body parts to solve puzzles, then regenerate as if nothing happened. It's gruesome but at no point does the extreme violence feel gratuitous, as it is heavily censored. All blood is white instead of red, and when J.J. is mutilated her character model becomes a silhouette. The more and more of her body that's cut down, the more pixelated and hard to make out it becomes. This really adds a special touch to the chilling atmosphere, moreso than it would have if the gore was shown outright. It serves the purpose of getting the feeling of the pain and brutality across without being extremely explicit. It's hard to get into details without outright spoiling parts of the story, but the violence isn't just for show and has a narrative purpose. And the payoff for all the brutality is cathartic and very much worth it.
Content Warnings: You can probably already tell from what I've already said about it, but I cannot stress enough that this game is not for everyone. Even beyond the body horror and gore coming from the main gameplay mechanic, It deals with themes of self harm, suicide (incl. onscreen depictions), as well as blatant homophobia + transphobia. And the self-mutilation, while censored visually, is paired with a lot of screams + groans of pain that sound uncomfortably realistic. I highly recommend this game to anyone who can handle it, but definitely mind the content warnings if you decide to play it.
(Also not so much a cw but having to do with the gameplay itself, the game was made on a bit of a budget and it kind of shows LOL. some of the puzzles and platforming are made a little more difficult than intended because of some jank with the controls, but its nothing major.)
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Post by bird on Jun 30, 2022 15:05:55 GMT 1
Title: Night in the Woods Genre: Adventure, platforming (light) Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch,Xbox One
Content Warning: Discussion of past struggle with addiction, very cartoon-ish violence (not so much in its context but more so because of the art style), discussion of homophobia, discussion abuse, discussion of dissociative episode, cults,kidnapping
Premise and LGBT+ themes: You play as Mae Borowski, a college drop-out coming back to her hometown of Possum Springs, a former mining town that's slowly crumbling down. She hopes to find some form of stability again, go back to her old life when things felt somewhat easier, reconnect with her friends. But everything has changed. Even her old friends. You walk through the town, talk to the locals, and try to find a place for yourself once again. But while you do so, you realize strange things might be happening, hidden in plain sight...
While the game isn't only about LGBT+ themes, and explore a lot more things, such as Mae's mental health and the difficulty that comes with growing up in a small town, it's still a big part of the game. Two of the main characters, Angus and Gregg are in a relationship from the very beginning of the game, and while talking to them they also talk about the difficulties that come with being the only openly and visible gay people in such a small town. Mae herself express that she's attracted to every gender (while not clearly labelling her identity she does clearly state that she's not straight). The other themes that the game explore are still very poignant to LGBT+ people playing this game, especially those who've grown up in a small town like the cast.
Why the Rec?: Night in the Woods is one of those game that had a deep impact on me when I played it. The writing isn't poetic, but it's poignant and raw, and feels so real. I first played it when I was finishing highschool, and as I grow older the game feels more and more relatable. It's a game about moving on, about growing up, about weird and messy feelings you can't quite name, and it's a game about why all of those things suck, but in the end we still grow. We still move on. We still feel happy. It's honestly incredible. I also absolutely adore the ambiance it's able to create both in its setting and its art style. Possum Spring has a very particular feel to it that I can't quite explain, but it really makes you feel that strange nostalgia that comes with visiting your hometown.
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Post by bird on Jun 30, 2022 16:24:44 GMT 1
Title: Tacoma Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4 Genre: Adventure, "Walking Simulator" (kinda), Narrative Driven
Premise and LGBT themes: You play as Amitjyoti Ferrier a near silent protagonist, tasked to figure out what happened on the now abandonned space station of Tacoma. This space station has a very specific security system, that is powered by its augmented reality system. Basically, it allows you to see conversations that happened on the ship and basic models of the people who had these conversations. You walk through the station, finding fragments of those conversations throughout your playthrough, chat logs, and other informations, all allowing you to piece together what happened on Tacoma.
The LGBT aspect of this game are minor, but appreciated. Two of the main characters, Natali and Roberta, are in a sapphic relationship and have been happily married for two years. Another main character, Andrew, mentions multiple time having a husband outside of the station. This are minor aspects of the characters, but still an appreciated piece of representation in my opinion. They're treated as a simple part of the world, and their relationship are just as important as the straight relationship of their peers.
Why the Rec?: Tacoma is simply a really nice narrative experience! I really enjoyed slowly piecing together all of the parts of the mystery of this space station. In the end you're most of a spectator to the story rather than an active actor, but the way the game allows you and encorage you to walk in the middle of the conversation to be able to hear everyone, to rewind multiple, to be attentive to your surrounding... Well it allows you to be involved! But what I particularly liked about this game is how much it drips of ambiance. There's something deeply captivating about exploring this empty space station, and I love how they designed it. Seeing all of the little pieces that made the main characters lives on this station was also really cool!
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Post by astraldreams on Jul 7, 2022 13:59:05 GMT 1
Title: Starbot Genre: RPGmaker walking sim IG? Not quite sure what to call it LOL. Difficulty: None Platforms: PC ( itch.io) Price: PWYW (min. 0€) Premise and LGBT themes: You play as a little freshly activated / work in progress robot who befriends a star, explores different satelites, and fetches different parts for their creators (so they can continue building on them). It's a tribute to The Little Prince, and has a very light and melancholic atmosphere. It's less a game, and more just an experience; an exploration of life and mortality and decay and growth.
The mechanic and engineer who built the robot are each other's wives, and while that's not the focus of the game, it's still very much a part of it and very sweet. Why the rec?: This game has simply has had an iron grip on my brain ever since I first played it. It's a very short and sweet experience, and I just absolutely recommend it, especially if you like space, stars, and / or The Little Prince. Content Warnings / Accessibility: Themes of mortality and death throughout, somber + heavy but not grimdark tones.
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