This collection is part of my directory of other people's creations on itch.io, Curated Collections of LGBTQIA, where you can find more collections about other topics, and on specific sorts of transgender identities. I personally select and review each creation in them, even if they are different than my own views or experiences as a queer person myself.
Content: Rated PG-13 for sexual humor in dialog, as typical in a comedy movie with that rating. Content warning for needles: this short story is all about getting a shot. The characters describe the shot in detail and their anxieties about it, but it's not shown in images. There's also some dialog about food.
Medium: A computer game that simulates a video chat call with fictional characters. It can run in your web browser. It has voice acting.
Length: One play through is about ten minutes. You can choose a few different dialog options, but there is only one story-line and ending. (The ending is a loop, it's not glitched.)
Story: You just came home from the pharmacy, and you're anxious about injecting yourself with your medicine. You call up your friends and they talk you through it.
Queer themes: Transgender men taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT, Testosterone) by self-injection. Queer community.
Vibe: The exact feeling of getting cheered on by your best buddies who know when to goof around and when to support you. Anxiety, trans joy, and laughing out loud.
Content: Rated PG.
Medium: A visual novel created in Ren'py. There are a few meaningful choices, so you can replay to see other events. The ending gives a percentage of how much of the script you've unlocked.
About: This is the story of Casbah's first week living with their partner Marta... in an abandoned morgue.
Queer themes: You and your partner are both nonbinary.
Vibe: Very queer and punk. Tough as well as cozy. They love each other so much. I teared up a few times.
Content: Rated PG.
Medium: A computer game that can run in your web browser. A short story in a visual novel style.
Duration: Each play through can be about five minutes. You have some meaningful choices. You have to play through it several times to reveal the whole story.
Story: Your friend asks you for advice about someone he likes.
Queer themes: Bisexual men. Self discovery. Homophobia. Being closeted.
Content: Rated PG-13. Contains references to alcohol, homophobia, and racial tension.
Medium: Computer game.
Genre and subject: Visual novel. Romance.
Length: Each play-through is about 15 minutes. There is a lot of replay value because you have many meaningful choices in each move, which can guide you to nine different endings.
Story: You're a woman spending a night out at the bar. Drink with an old friend and a stranger, and text your girlfriend. This game is all about carefully choosing your words and your tone. For each of your own lines of dialog, you choose parts of sentences, and put them together into what you want to say.
Queer themes: Your girlfriend is a lesbian. Your ex is a man.
Vibe: Tense, flirty, or funny.
Content: Rated G. Friendly for all ages.
Medium: A computer game of the type called kinetic fiction or a visual novel, because it's mainly dialog with character portraits. This one is a prototype, so it feels like only the first chapter of a story, but it demonstrates what it's supposed to do, and it's fully playable without any problems.
Duration: One play through is about ten minutes. There aren't major decisions or other endings, but you can replay it to experiment with other gender expressions for your character to see how you feel about them as a player.
Story: You help your friends plan a wedding.
Queer themes: A game where you can choose your gender expression, including nonbinary options. The purpose of this game is to be a sandbox where you can safely try out different names, pronouns, and other words for yourself, to see how you feel about being called by them in real life.
Vibe: Encouraging, friendly, companionable, hopeful, cozy, cheerful.
Content: Unrated.
Medium: A huge and extremely complex visual novel created with Ren'py. Ten hours long, with replay value, because it has many meaningful choices.
Story: A high fantasy political mystery.
Relevance: Tagged as "bi." The woman protagonist has many options for romantic, platonic, and polyamorous relationships.
Content: Rated PG. It's about communal bathing, but it's portrayed in a way that's okay for audiences of all ages, so far as I've seen. (I haven't seen all the endings yet.)
Medium: Computer game. A short visual novel.
Genre and subject: Fiction. Romance.
Length: A play through is about fifteen minutes long. Replay it several times and make different choices to get all the endings. There is a fast forward button to make your replays easier.
Story: Your best friend invites you to her birthday party. It's at a Japanese bath house. You're a little scared to go. For one thing, you have a crush on her! For another thing, the rules in the bath house might not allow you.
Queer themes: Transgender woman protagonist. Women loving women. Bureaucratic discrimination against transgender people.
Vibe: Wholesome, tender, cute, wistful.
Content: Rated PG-13. Warnings for alcohol, drugs, body horror, scary moments, trauma, grief, kink, fantasy racism, and gross-out humor about spoiled food and unsanitary things.
Medium: Computer game. Mostly a visual novel with a few puzzles.
Duration: Hours for each play through. You have to play the game over from the beginning to get the other endings.
About: Science fiction with some elements of comedy and horror. The first truly artificially intelligent robot asks you (a failing journalist) to help investigate the disappearance of their creator.
