Gaming is a huge industry — and like many huge industries, it’s becoming more and more queer-inclusive. Video games have begun including LGBTQ+ characters and moments in fun and surprising ways — while playing a game has always been fun, these queer aspects are bringing the experience to a whole new level.
Here are 20 of our favorite LGBTQ+ video game moments and characters that show that gaming is for everybody!
1. Vivian in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004/2024)
![vivian lgbtq+ video game](https://lgbtqnation-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2024/06/pmttyd-doopliss-vs-mario.png)
Vivian is one of the Three Shadows, a villain team in Paper Mario, but she later defects after her older sister, Beldam, keeps insulting her. In the original 2004 game, Vivian was sometimes depicted as transgender and sometimes not, but in the 2024 remake, her trans identity became an official part of the popular franchise’s canon.
2. Soldier 76 in Overwatch (2019)
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3. Sims 4 letting players choose to make queer sims (2022)
4. Gay Romance in Mass Effect 3 (2012)
5. Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (2017)
Dating simulators have long been popular in Japan, but it’s only been in the last decade and change that they’ve become popular in the United States and elsewhere. Dream Daddy courts dad-lovers by allowing players to romance a number of hot dads all while raising your own daughter. There are seven dads to choose from, each with their own unique endings.
6. Krem in Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014)
Krem in Dragon Age: Inquisition is canonically trans. He cracks jokes about binding and opens up about being assigned female at birth. One of the other characters is sure to correct you if you misgender Krem.
7. C.J. and Flick in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)
8. Mediterranea Inferno (2023)
9. Gamers figure out how an AIDS enzyme works (2011)
10. Caper in the Castro (1989)
11. Spider-Man Celebrates Pride (2018)
12. Goodbye Volcano High (2023)
In Goodbye Volcano High, you explore the story of Fang, a non-binary dinosaur in high school. High school is stressful enough, but even worse, in this game, the extinction event that kills all the dinosaurs is right around the corner.
13. Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
14. Newfound Courage (2018)
15. Coming Out on Top (2017)
16. Tell Me Why (2020)
Tell Me Why is a story about transgender man Tyler and his twin sister Alyson trying to figure out the truth of their mother’s death. They also have to sell their childhood home in a conservative small Alaskan town.
17. Birdo in Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
18. Life Is Strange (2015)
The Life Is Strange series of games all feature loads of gay characters. The series is about teens whose supernatural abilities get in the way of dealing with normal teen angst-type stuff, plus bigger problems, like murder mysteries and fleeing the police. Geez, being a teen sure is tough.
19. Sayonara Wild Hearts (2019)
The “pop album video game” Sayonara Wild Hearts is a rhythm game about a woman who becomes a magical girl following a breakup. The score is by Daniel Olsén and Jonathan Eng.
20. Yearning: A Gay Story (2019)
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