The arrival of fresh queer representation brings forth an opportunity to explore video games as an alternate means of escape from reality for those uninterested in books, movies, or TV series.
The video game industry has seen an increase in the number of games that explore LGBT+ themes and characters in recent years. Often referred to as queer games, these games enable players to immerse themselves in storylines and gameplay that depict the experiences and lives of queer individuals.
Queer video games may be traced back to the early days of gaming. Moonmist, a 1986 video game, featuring a same-sex relationship between two characters. However, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that LGBT+ video games gained popularity. Fahrenheit (previously known as Indigo Prophecy) was one of the first games to gain critical recognition for its representation of a lesbian relationship. In the game, the player controls a female character who falls in love with another female character. The game was praised for its complex depiction of the relationship and for treating it with the same care and attention that heterosexual partnerships are given in other games.
