While the industry has taken marginal steps toward inclusion, queer characters still tend to crop up as sidekicks and subplots rather than as protagonists.īut Gray sees something very different in the passionate response from Dream Daddy fans: an audience that has gone dismally underserved by an industry that has failed to either see it or acknowledge it, and one that is ready to show up in force when offered a full-course meal rather than just scraps.

The game and the community surrounding the game was so positive and loving that it encouraged them to be themselves.”ĭream Daddy's success belies a long-held assumption of the mainstream gaming world: that making games about LGBT people is an inherently niche endeavor, one that limits your potential audience and sales. “Someone actually messaged me today and said that this game encouraged them to come out as non-binary to their parents. “The most moving comes from people who are trans or nonbinary people feeling really included in this experience,” Gray says. Like the rest of the dads, he is who he is-and he is allowed to be, without controversy. One of the dads, Damien, is transgender as well, though you can easily play through the game without realizing it there's no neon sign pointing at his gender identity, only subtle hints as you get to know him better. When you create your own character, you also have the option to make him a trans dad if you wish, complete with the ability to choose chest binders.

'We can have narratives that are about queer people that are not necessarily about being queer. “We were determined to not make any of the dads' individual paths about their sexuality or have their sexuality be their defining trait,' Gray says. They simply follow their hearts, and any obstacles they face are a result of emotional and personal complications, not struggles with their identities. Some of the dads have had relationships with women before, some with men, but there's no agonizing about their sexual orientation and no more mention of it than there would be in a traditionally heterosexual romance. Some of the dads have had relationships with women, some with men, but there's no agonizing about their sexual orientation and no more mention of it than there would be in a traditionally heterosexual romance.ĭream Daddy is an unabashedly queer game, but not performatively so it's far more interested in being than announcing. It’s a subversion of dating sims that is not just the best dating sim I’ve ever played but also one of the best games of the year. The result is something as sincere and funny as it is heart-rending, a self-aware, deeply humanistic game whose witty script makes even the most groan-worthy dad puns seem to sparkle. You meet six other dads who just happen to live in the same suburban cul-de-sac, and with a little help from a Facebook analogue called Dadbook, the dating begins. Although the two of you have been on your own for a while, the death of your spouse-you can specify if they were male or female-clearly still weighs on your mind. The game casts you in the role of a single father who has just moved to a new town with his teenage daughter. You don't just date dads in Dream Daddy, though you are one.

Not bad for a tiny game, created by two people, that upends so many notions about what works in a game-and about gamers themselves. A month ago, if most people had tried to predict what kind of videogame would become the game of the summer, very few of them would have guessed 'queer dating simulator.' Yet, Dream Daddy did just that, with a pair of stunning usurpals: Not only did it replace beloved first-person shooter Overwatch as the most-discussed videogame on Tumblr for the first time in more than nine months, but it shot to the top of Steam's global sales chart, unseating battle-royal phenomenon PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

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