This collection contains some of my personal highlights of Bara content on Itch — though, to be honest, I use "Bara" very loosely here. I mean it in the sense of "containing gay content and masculine-presenting characters to a significant, appreciable degree."
You'll find works where all characters neatly fit "Bara", while some others will have only a part of the cast matching it. They can be action-heavy games, slow visual novels, books, comics, zines and all kinds of things. Some will have lots of on-screen sex, others might only be suggestive or fully safe for work. Some may be light-hearted, others literary or experimental. There's a lot of diversity and I'm actively trying to showcase that. As much as possible I'll try to describe the game and, quite importantly, who it appeals to.
If you like what you see, consider giving a good rating to some of these games. It really helps the devs feel appreciated. And if you'd like to thank me for my work curating this list, check out the game I work on, Minotaur Hotel and follow us for more news on our projects!
Kings of Hell just came out with a major content update, adding new chapters and characters. That's a game I recommended before, and I now repeat that recommendation and urge everyone to try out the new update. In case you haven't tried it before, here are my thoughts:
Kings of Hell is a 3D beat 'em up absolutely oozing with gay energy. It's no doubt one of the most impressive bara games right now with its very high level of polish and mechanical refinement, which you don't see every day in gay games. It even comes with online multiplayer -- now you can do it through Steam.
It brings designs that are definitely rife with homoerotic touches, showing a variety of body types for every taste under the sun, while never crossing the threshold of outright nudity and porn... Though I would be remiss if I didn't bring up that a while ago the developers buffed some of the characters' crotch bulges, which I find extraordinarily elevated and in excellent taste. Like a modern day Farnese Herakles. While mainstream gaming companies are nerfing their male protagonists' asses, these folks are doing God's work.
Lastly, I think it's also worth celebrating the online multiplayer aspect. People have no idea how much effort goes into adding multiplayer to games like these, and I think it's really extraordinary that I can play something so gay, so well-produced, with such incredibly "please sit on me" asses, with my friends.
I widely and highly recommend Kings of Hell. It really is an unique game, I don't think you'll regret it. And to wrap it up, independent and unbiased player Redbar indicated "I need Bune to sit on my face", and so will you!
Kings of Hell is no doubt one of the most impressive bara games right now. It's made with a very high level of polish and mechanical refinement, which you don't see every day in gay games. It also goes for designs that are definitely rife with homoerotic touches, while never crossing the threshold of outright nudity and porn. Now, to quote a friend helped me with this review:
Take the role of one of four new age demons as they fight the current Barons of Hell and their minions to earn the right for the title, King of Hell. You can also invite your friends for some competitive co-operation as you play through the chapters of fast paced combat and devilishly strong grapples to beat your opponents to a pulp in ever colorful arenas.
And be on the lookout for unlockables as they shed some light on the characters you meet, and grant you the ability to view some pin-ups/art of the cast.
I widely and highly recommend Kings of Hell. It really is an unique game, I don't think you'll regret it.
By Your Hands, by ChellayTiger (from Barachoda Bloom) and Nemo0690 (Orc Breeding and Minotaur Hotel), is the sort of game better experienced blind. The less you know the better, and I highly recommend it, but knowing that won't be enough...
In my opinion, a particular highlight of By Yours Hands is how it weaves together multiples aspects of storytelling in a single whole — each scene and action progresses characterization, plotting, backstory and the game's eroticism. Some might say there's nothing special about that, but that's not true — it takes a lot of thought juggling so many things at the same time, always keeping itself thematically consistent.
At the same time, it's a narrative that's very comfortable with its own sexuality. There are plenty of gay furry visual novels that are quite averse to talking about or showing sex, but it's evidently not the case here. Like I said, it's all woven together very nicely.
Another point worth highlighting is that it explores the worldbuilding of a setting with furry characters with a lot of depth, and I think many will like the debate around what the literal food chain would be like.
Like I said, I highly recommend By Your Hands. And if you are into musk, this is a must play. Do give it a try.
Strange Flesh is an award-winning beat 'em up, holding the distinction of a Gold Medal at the Melbourne Queer Games Festival. It's an extremely polished game both in its mechanics and in its art, and utterly unashamed of exploring its erotic themes.
This is a game about repressed desires and the ways in which they accumulate, take form and make themselves expressed. This thematic approach is pervasive in all aspects of the game, and an indicator of how much artistic sense went into its design.
Strange Flesh was on its release, and still is, one of the most polished gay games made yet. It has aged very well and deserves your attention.
I highly recommend this game for people who appreciates kinks on the BDSM side of things, but I would go as far as saying it's a must-play for everyone who enjoys gay games due to its importance to the genre.
Reamus, a young cougar from overseas, is living a simple life as an antiquarian's assistant when he's turned into a magic-user — a pervader as they are called — and thrust into a life threatening plot.
Pervader is the best example around of gay content exploring a dark, ominous fantastical setting. Its world building is solid and will be particularly enticing for readers who enjoy stories such as Lord of the Rings.
"This Halloween? We're Exploring the Haunted Brothel" is like a furry bara Paper Mario. In this game you'll explore the eponymous Haunted Brothel with your two protagonists, Jasper and Varahn.
While the art and adult content is certainly worth it, what makes this game really remarkable to me is its comedic writing, attention to detail and, most importantly, the sweet, tender and heartwarming moments between the two main characters — how they constantly display affection for each other even in the kinkiest of circumstances and check for safe consent.
This tenderness makes the whole package come together in a way that's both sexual and heartfelt. Really worth your time, but do keep in mind the game is early in development.
I highly recommend this game for anyone looking for some enthusiastically consensual adult content.
Killigan's Treasure is one of the most mechanically refined Ren'py visual novels. It plays as a mix of a visual novel and a RPG, both sides working together to give you an epic adventure.
You'll play as Killigan, a bovine (in-universe called a Bovolian) on a quest to follow a magical treasure map. Along the way he'll meet a cast of dateable characters, make friends and unravel greater mysteries about what's going on in the continent of Canavar.
A fantasy story that will take you through richly-constructed lands with their unique characters, all with great art, writing and some combat throw in. Your choices affect Killigan; will you play him as a barbarian or as a diplomat?
Frankly, it's one of visual novels I highly recommend for everyone.
Orc Breeding is an unapologetic and uncompromising exploration on the themes and tropes of orc eroticism. You'll find sexually-liberated tribes engaging in as much love as they do warfare. And it goes straight to the point, as this is a collection of short stories.
I highly recommend if you love kinky erotica. It really is a work tailored to people who love orc stories for the full raw, sexual context that comes with them, and it's damn well written.
Grove is an uncompromisingly kinky NSFW RPG. You play as the titular Grove, a mercenary from an expansionist empire venturing into dangerous, unexplored territory. Many of his kind have gone missing in this area, a place that almost seems to challenge the psychological repressions they carry.
Mechanically, it's a game where fights devolve into grappling matches and sexual encounters, where losing rewards players with adult scenes. If you like seeing your protagonist being the submissive partner for all sorts of kinky stuff, you'll like this game.
And, as the story progresses, the production values increase, and so does the depth of the story. It's a very surprising experience that many will enjoy, if this particular kind of adult content is up your alley.
Grove is one of the game I highly recommend, if what I described seems up your alley.
"Walter just failed his Physics final, and it's probably because Professor Suarez is, as his friends put it, a complete asshole."
Outclassed tells a short story about a young hyena and a chance encounter with his asshole of a professor. Shenanigans ensue.
Highly recommend it if you want a short, horny story with a dominant boar.
Small on Top is, quite possibly, the project in this list with the most honest name. It's a light-hearted, Undertale-esque 18+ RPG that focuses on and explores all the eroticism behind, well, small guys topping bigger men.
Spedumon's single-minded dedication to a specific erotic subject is engaging and captivating. I highly recommend it who like big, manly men bottoming.
Password is by far one of the more inventive furry visual novels around today, and a complete project to boot. You can download this game for free right now and experience the whole story from start to finish, without needing to wait for updates, and that's something very few furry VNs can provide.
Password revolves around Dave, a hyena who's going on vacations to a luxurious mansion with his friends. This should be a great moment of celebration but things go awry, terribly so, and it's up to you figure out how to stop it.
This is a mystery story that requires active engagement from you. Think, analyse, pay attention, take notes, piece things together.
Full disclosure: you should not go in expecting NSFW content, the plot takes precedence over any romance and the character designs are not Bara in the traditional sense. But it's a gem of a furry visual novel and its cast is composed of masculine-presenting young gay men. It's worth your time and I highly recommend it.
Nerus is a mystery and romance visual novel inspired from the likes of Umineko: When They Cry and The House in Fata Morgana.
It focuses on presenting and developing an intriguing universe populated by "shapeshifters" — beings which, as the name implies, can change their form but carry mysteries that go well beyond their appearances.
While the romance in Nerus is strong and compelling, its strength as a narrative is in its long-lasting mysteries. It's the kind of story which will have you piecing together details for days or weeks.
Step into the hooves of Flax, recent university graduate and professional awkward stallion. After four hard years of study, you are finally free and ready to start doing whatever you want—starting with the surprise holiday gifted to you by a friend.
Travel to the beautiful African-inspired holiday town of Paardenrust, rich in history, natural splendour, and gorgeous males. Meet the inhabitants, get to know them, and decide if there's any you'd like to know even better. Spend your leisure time exploring the ancient manor house, enjoying the many activities in the town and surrounds, or simply wooing one of the many handsome residents. What more could you want from a holiday?
Lord of the Manor is an unapologetically horny visual novel that cares as much about its story as it does about helping you get off. Indulge your imagination in a unique world, and discover what waits in the pants of every eminently ravageable character.
Mutant Alley is a short, 3D erotic game where you have a sexual encounter with a T-rex in a dingy alley. There are other similar games providing a straightforward sexual experience, but Mutant Alley distinguishes itself a bit by the quality of its 3D model (very nice work there), subject matter (dinosaurs are seriously underrated) and, I'd say, polish. It looks good, it works well. It's a very specialized, niche product, but I recommend it if any of this sounds attractive.
If you want another opinion, you can check a review by Chapomon here.
The sequel to Mutant Alley!
FIFO is a story of blue collar men seeking affection while working on a "fly in, fly out" mining facility in Australia. Written in a heavy dialect, the sense of place is heavy in this work-- stiflingly hot air of an Australian summer can be felt as the main trio of men navigate their feelings in an environment not exactly friendly to tenderness.
At time of writing, it is the current apex of the Brokowski-Style of making raunchy pornography, and then surprising you with soulful verisimilitude and arresting character studies. The page layouts, always bold and expressive, are a treat to look at, and on top of setting the stage, the use of dialect and slang gives a very fun musicality to all the dialogue.
This work is now also published and available as a physical book from FurPlanet.
"You have just traveled to Bangladesh for a work-related project. As it turns out, Bangladesh happens to be your country of heritage. You rush into the place you'll be staying for several months when you bump into someone familiar. It's your childhood friend who you haven't seen in person for at least a decade. The two of you reconnect a day later, and he asks you to do one thing. Make more friends. You're more interested in finding more men to bang, but as you learn more about the country's inhabitants, you start to wonder if he has a point."
Burrows is a furry visual novel offering a rare mix of romance, mystery, and horror, as well as four unique routes with a wide array of choices each.
Grey is a possum who was ready to end his life when he suddenly gets thrown into a game of cosmic scale, alongside four other men, who he quickly befriends. He must choose to dive into one out of four different time periods with the implicit mission of saving one of his new friends. Eech route in Burrows is a historical drama filled with suspense, mystery, and the potential for a very erotic romance.
This game does deal with heavy topics such as depression and suicide, and includes depictions graphic gore, so it's not for the faint of heart. If that isn't an issue to you, I highly recommend it.
I'm in no position to review my own game, so instead I called for a friend, Roddorod, to do it for me. This is what he wrote:
"Minotaur Hotel is an award-winning visual novel with management sim elements, extremely rich in both narrative and meaningful choices.
You receive a deed to an abandoned hotel. There, you meet Asterion, the minotaur of the legend. You will work to return the hotel and its host to their former glory and meet a diverse cast of recruitable mythical beings. And maybe you and Asterion will become more than coworkers.
The game's intricate choice system and wide arrange of unlockables make it a perfect choice for those looking for a replayable experience or a deep lore to unravel."
In the same sense that Minotaur Hotel is inspired by epic literature and Autobiography of Red, and proceeds to do something wild with it, Harvest Lab does the same with Minotaur Hotel itself. It's a story that takes inspirations, premises, themes, and runs with it to make its own independent narrative. In that sense, calling it a "fan fiction" would be misleading, it's more than that.
Harvest Lab is a book and it tells the story of a distant future in the setting of Minotaur Hotel. We follow the story of Juan, a hydra. Each head has its own identity: Juan Manuel, Juan Claudio and Juan Iván.
They cannot leave the Hotel, and struggle as some of their closest human friends do leave it. In this context they meet Tony, a man who seems quite content with staying there indefinitely. Things go from there.
Harvest Lab gives a peculiar mix, going from a literary experience to intense sex. And these two do mix together.
I highly recommend it, particularly if you've read Minotaur Hotel before. But I'd still recommend it even if you didn't — it's a damn good story.
Anír Soma (A Man's Body) is a short interactive fan fiction based on Minotaur Hotel, where you and Asterion explore each other's bodies.
The premise is simple, but effective and honest. Speaking as a writer, it meant and means a lot to me that someone would take the characters I write and craft such a heartfelt story. It has heart and it has the homoeroticism that I hold in high regard. Heart and sexuality can and should coexist.
As such, I highly recommend Anír Soma for everyone who enjoys Minotaur Hotel.
The safe for work version of Minotaur Hotel, designed for readers who may not feel comfortable carrying adult content in their devices.
This version does not show sexual content on-screen or nudity, but still retains the mature themes of the original version.
While technically safe for work, this game is still not recommended for underaged readers.
Strokkur is a slice-of-life visual novel that flirts with gay tropes involving bathhouses and socially-acceptable public nudity. You’ll follow Kevin Muller, an expat boar adjusting to the more open cultural mores of his host country.
Alswalden has a firmly established culture of social bathing to such an extreme that most homes lack a dedicated shower or bath. This poses a problem for Kevin, whose lack of hygiene has become noticeable in his new workplace. With help from his boss Andrej and some local friends, he slowly comes to terms with his body image and anxieties.
Due to setting most of the action in its titular bathhouse, Strokkur presents a lot of fanservice of varying body types, from the hulking wolf Jakob to the lithe tanuki Andrej. Folk wanting a short, heartfelt story with a couple sexy interludes will appreciate the focused narrative, and I highly recommend it.
Anamnesis is an epic fantasy/romance visual novel set in the magical land of Aurelia, where mountains fly and the skies are lush with memory. Thatcher, an aging ram, has been a farmer in the rural province of Plataea for many decades, but the coming year sees him cast from his home on a quest to understand the strange heirloom left behind by his long dead wife.
Though his best years are behind him, Thatcher is still a ram, and he prefers the company of both men and women. The cast of love interests includes his long-suffering housekeeper Alma, the itinerant scholar Timothy, and more. The steamier moments don't shy away from portraying the multiple facets of his sexuality.
Unlike most VNs, the direction of the main plot is not driven by the choice of love interest. Instead, as Thatcher, your choices will determine the way in which he recalls events from his past, which parts he clings to and which parts he is willing to let go. If you're interested in a deep, emotional story with deep world-building and a fantastical setting, you could do worse than Anamnesis.
Robin Morningwood is a hybrid of RPG and point-and-click where you explore the town of Whellcum — and get acquainted with its large cast of horny men.
By far, its main attraction is the amount of animated content. While most other gay games are content with having one or two handful of sprites for each main character, Morningwood gives everyone and everything animations, be it idling in battle or while having on-screen sex. This makes it a very unique game, as far the current selection of gay content goes.
It can be grindy, however, which might turn off some. Still, I think it's worth checking out and seeing if it's up your alley.