Can you be gay in Beacon Pines?
Hiding Spot’s Beacon Pines is a 2-D adventure game set within the pages of a book that’s still in the process of being written. It was nominated for an IndieCade award last year. The player collaborates with the narrator by using different answers to in-game questions to try to find a way through this cute but creepy story without having it all end in disaster.
To do so, they follow a young goat-boy named Luka who has lost both of his parents and is now living with his estranged grandmother who has moved back to Beacon Pines to be with him. Luka and his friend Rollo explore the town and get into mischief, ultimately causing them to start uncovering the dark secrets of their quiet little town and the fertilizer company that put it on the map.
Though the entire cast of this game consists of anthropomorphic animals, there’s a lot of diversity to be found. There are a variety of different sizes and shapes among the animals, as well as genders and sexualities. But, can you be gay in this game?
Can you be gay in Beacon Pines?
The short answer is no. There aren’t any romance or dating mechanics in Beacon Pines, so there also aren’t really any opportunities for romance. The game is more focused on giving players insights into Luka’s friendships with the other kids around town, and his relationships with the adults and authority figures around him.
That said, there are still representations of LGBTQ+ folks in this game. Beck, the young cat girl who has just moved to town, has two mothers who feature pretty prominently in the later part of the main plot. We get to see both of Beck’s moms at various points throughout the game, and they become key players later on.