CAP’s top 10 all time favorite games for Pride Month
Here’s my list of my top 10 all time favorite games for Pride Month. This isn’t your traditional list of LGTBQ+ games for Pride. Most of the games are pretty old and aren’t considered queer by design, but for me, they’re undeniably tied to my own queer experience.
These are the games I played while figuring myself out—before I even had the words for what I was feeling. Some offered escapism, others gave me a glimpse into gender expression, or even just let me imagine a life where being different was totally normal.
Let me know what games are tied to your own queer experience in the comments and let’s all share in the found love!
1. The Sims
MAKE EM KISS BABY! We’re living on the EDGE right now… This was the exhilarating feeling of playing any Sims game growing up. Experimentation without having to actually do anything. Crack for kids in the closet.
2. Tomb Raider II
The first female video game protagonist I fell in love with. To be honest, I could never get past the first level. There was something so hypnotic about the way Lara’s ponytail moved when swimming underwater. I would just do laps in the Croft Manor pool for hours instead of actually playing the game. I wanted to be her so bad!
3. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
NiGHTS is a genderless being, according to the game’s director, and that ambiguity haunted me in the best way. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but there was something freeing about a character that defied labels. The surreal visuals, the dreamlike world, it all felt like a queered version of reality, where identity could shapeshift with ease. I didn’t realize it then, but this was my intro to gender fluidity. Also, the game was an absolute acid trip.
4. Tony Hawk’s Underground
I was super attracted to the make skater I created when I was younger. I didn’t know if I wanted to f*ck him or be him (tale as old as time), but I kept my mouth shut and just kept doing my little ollies…
5. Final Fantasy X-2
I used to beg my cousin to play this game whenever I’d visit my uncle’s house just so I could watch the intro over and over again. The way that Final Fantasy worked in pop culture trends from 2004 into the game speaks to me on a cellular level. The Britney Spears-esque pop performance of what could truly be the best video game song of all time (“Real Emotion”) or the trio girl dynamic shared between the protagonists that screams Charlies Angels; this game was a gay awakening in more ways than one!
6. Hannah Montana: Music Jam
Yes, I’m dead serious. I asked my step dad to buy this game for me as a “joke” but I wasn’t laughing. I was dead serious about being Miley Stewart. I had things to do, shows to perform, outfits to cycle between, different wigs to try on.
7. Saints Row 2
No one talks about how queer-coded character customization was back then. Saints Row 2 let me create a gang leader who could wear stilettos, have a buzz cut, and throw hands – all in the same mission. I constantly switched my character’s gender and wardrobe just to see what I could get away with. It was wild, chaotic, and super affirming. In a world that told me to pick one box, Saints Row said: “Why not wear them all?”
8. Æon Flux
You can just feel the serve from the 2 megapixels holding this screenshot from this 2005 PS2 game. My abuelo used to take me to Blockbuster after school on Fridays to rent a game for the weekend. Out of all the games I got with him, this one I remember the most. It was one of those early moments where I felt this magnetic pull toward femininity that didn’t feel soft or maternal, but powerful. Side bar, it also served as heavy inspo for a music video I made last year to a song about eating ass!
9. Boogie Superstar
A karaoke-dance hybrid on the Nintendo Wii that let you create your own diva and compete your way to chart-topping glory. I would chug my fancy grapefruit soda from Whole Foods, dim the lights, and go off in my game room. I wasn’t playing, I was preparing. This game taught me about stage presence.
10. Sonic Adventure DX
This game wasn’t necessarily queer-coded, but it was there for me in the moments that mattered. Whenever I felt isolated, different, or like I didn’t belong, Sonic Adventure DX was my escape. The soundtrack, the cityscapes. Sometimes queerness is about survival, and sometimes survival looks like revisiting the same game 100 times just to feel like yourself again.
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