From erotic dating sims to dream daddies, here are 10 queer games that press our buttons

If you’re a gamer, you know all about Baldur’s Gate 3, the expansive Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game (RPG) that just released. There’s been much talk about all the queer content in this complex and challenging game—including its surprisingly hot fantasy sex scenes—but if you aren’t looking for a 200-hour gaming experience, these smaller games are sure to sate your “gayming” appetite. 

Read on for 10 queer games to play right now.

Coming Out On Top

In Coming Out On Top, you play as Mark, a newly out college kid who suddenly finds himself the most eligible twunk on campus. In this choose-your-own-adventure dating sim, you can meet and romance a number of hotties, from your sexy science professor to a closted dumb jock to your sweet but himbo-esque roommate. Coming Out On Top is highly explicit, with sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination. But it’s also a really positive, sweet story about coming out and learning what it means to be gay, with terrific art.

Available on Steam.

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Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star

Trigger warning for anyone who’s been in a toxic relationship! Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star is a dark visual novel about Nuki, a young man who enters into an intense relationship with Sune, a deeply unwell guy with borderline personality disorder. As Sune manipulates Nuki through threats of self-harm, isolation and wildly erratic behavior, it’s up to you as the player to decide whether to try to push through and make things work. This is a dark, disturbing game, but the art and writing are superb and who among us hasn’t met that one unhinged person who needs to work out his own stuff before messing with someone else?

Available on consoles and PC.

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Tell Me Why

This three-episode mystery adventure follows twins Tyler (who is trans and voiced by trans actor August Aiden Black) and Alyson (Erica Lindbeck) as they return home to Alaska to sell their childhood home and learn the truth about their mother’s death. Tyler must deal with coming home to a conservative town that doesn’t really understand him, while also dealing with troubling memories that may or may not be real. Tell Me Why also features a sweet romance between Tyler and another guy that culminates in a cute ice-fishing date.

Available on Xbox and PC.

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Life Is Strange

Life Is Strange is a series of coming-of-age adventures in which teens have to cope with real-life issues while also dealing with strange new supernatural abilities, like time travel and telekinesis. Each Life Is Strange game is also super queer, from teen girls falling in love while solving murder mysteries to bisexual boys on the run from the law. Life Is Strange currently consists of the original game, its prequel Before the Storm, Life Is Strange 2 and Life Is Strange: True Colors.

Available on consoles and PC.

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Gone Home

This first-person exploration game starts off as a possibly haunted house story but quickly evolves into a tale of a young woman who finds herself in the midst of the riot grrrl culture of the ’90s. Gone Home is an incredible, tight experience surrounding family mysteries, long-buried trauma and really, really good music.

Available on consoles and PC.

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Night In The Woods

Who doesn’t love an anthropomorphic existential crisis that might coincide with the end of the world? Night In The Woods is for every queer teen who grew up and felt stuck in their small, rural hometown and longed for something more. When Mae, a college dropout (and cat!), returns home after a campus meltdown, she reconnects with friends including Gregg, a gay rebel without a cause (and fox!) who is in a long-term relationship with the caring and slightly older Angus, who works at the video store (and is a bear!). Mae, Gregg and her other friends discover a dark secret lurking underneath their small town, but what makes the game special is the interactions she has with her chosen family.

Available on consoles and PC.

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Sayonara Wild Hearts

Getting over a breakup can be hard, but what if you turned into a magical girl, a la Sailor Moon, and got to ride the cosmos to mend your broken heart? Sayonara Wild Hearts is an arcade-style, fast-paced running game set to an incredible original score by Daniel Olsén and Jonathan Eng. Its lead character, “The Fool,” is a queer woman who gets her groove back over the course of the adventure.

Available on consoles and PC.

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Dream Daddy

Think of Dream Daddy as a PG-rated Coming Out On Top. In this dating sim, you play as a new dad on a whole block of dads and get to date them. There’s no explicit sex scenes, but the sweetness and romance is palpable, as are the dad jokes and the cheeky storytelling. The game also has a great theme song by Baths.

Available on consoles and PC.

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Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle Of Flesh

Okay, first things first: Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle Of Flesh is the oldest game on this list and also the most esoteric. The puzzles defy logic and you may need a guide, but this horror game—which features live-action performances in the most mid-90s way possible—actually has a nicely nuanced depiction of gay and bisexual men. Curtis, the story’s hero, may be going insane and is either a murderer or psychotic or both, but his bisexuality isn’t really an issue.

Available on PC.

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The Missing: J.J. Macfield And The Island Of Memories

In this intriguing platformer, you play as a young woman who is searching for her best friend on a mysterious island. You have a strange, painful ability to kill yourself and regenerate, while using your spare body parts as tools to solve creepy puzzles. There’s an extremely beautiful queer story told within this horrific tale that we won’t spoil here, but this one’s not for the faint of heart.

Available on consoles and PC.

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