Howdy! All this week, as you might need seen, Eurogamer has been celebrating Pleasure with one other sequence of options exploring the intersection of queer tradition and gaming. As ever, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have so many fantastic folks share their tales on the location – an enormous because of Keza MacDonald, Dom Peppiatt, Ed Nightingale, Caelyn Ellis, Ashly Burch, and everybody who helped out behind the scenes – and we have now gathered up all of this yr’s options right into a conveniently digestible record in your leisurely weekend perusal under.
As ever, Eurogamer will proceed celebrating the achievements of – and highlighting the problems affecting – the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood in gaming all year long, and we’ll be again with one other week of Pleasure celebrations in 2026. We hope you’ve got loved this, our sixth annual Pleasure Week, and in the event you’ve missed out on any of our earlier yr’s festivities, you’ll be able to compensate for every part over on our Pleasure Week hub. Till subsequent time!
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How far have we actually come since The Sims? A brief, candy historical past of being bi in video games – by Keza MacDonald
Picture credit score: Eurogamer
On Monday, The Guardian’s gaming editor Keza MacDonald kicked off our Pleasure Week celebrations with a short historical past of bisexuality in video video games, having a look how the trade’s strategy to illustration has modified over time – from playersexuality to the studios tackling extra particularly queer tales throughout the likes of Life is Unusual, Hades, and past.
“When queer illustration in video games actually began taking off within the mid-2010s,” Keza wrote, “it started with lesbian tales and romances. Earlier than 2014, after I was in my mid-twenties, I had by no means performed as a teenaged woman in a online game, not to mention a queer one; then got here The Final of Us: Left Behind, with its heart-wrenching depiction of a younger Ellie’s formative relationship along with her greatest pal. 2013’s Gone Residence additionally depicted a relationship between two teenaged women, although from the surface – its denouement hit onerous for me, as a result of at the moment I nearly did not dare to hope {that a} sport is likely to be telling a narrative like this, about queer women in love.”
You’ll be able to learn Keza’s full article right here.
“The center has no bounds”: A research of polyamory in video games, the way it’s carried out nicely, and the place we should always go subsequent – by Dom Peppiatt
Picture credit score: Eurogamer
All people’s favorite tousle-haired prince of the underworld Zagreus additionally made an look in Tuesday’s Pleasure Week function, wherein Eurogamer’s deputy editorial director Dom Peppiatt explored polyamory in video games; as builders try towards extra authentically queer tales, Dom noticed, it is heartening that well-written poly choices – from Hades and Date All the things to I Was a Teenage Exocolonist – are more and more coming to the fore.
“Given the dearth of poly illustration throughout widespread media as a complete, I’m truly fairly stunned with how nicely video games deal with it,” Dom wrote. “It looks like quite a lot of video games are literally higher poised to watch and discover non-traditional relationship constructions than many TV exhibits or films. Maybe it is as a result of there is a increased degree of company in video games, and that participant alternative naturally lends itself to divining the proper relationship – or relationships – as a mechanic in an interactive media comprised nearly totally of, you guessed it, overlapping mechanics.”
You’ll be able to learn Dom’s full article right here.
Last Fantasy 14’s queer neighborhood and the significance of chosen household – by Ed Nightingale
Picture credit score: Eurogamer
As we hit the midpoint of Pleasure Week on Wednesday, Eurogamer’s deputy information editor Ed Nightingale returned to the world of Last Fantasy, a sequence with a permanent attraction for a lot of queer gamers all over the world. Extra particularly, Ed took a better have a look at Sq. Enix’s long-running MMO, Last Fantasy 14, discovering a thriving neighborhood of queer gamers who’ve discovered important connections, friendships, even households of kinds, in an uncommonly welcoming sport.
“As a lifelong Last Fantasy fan,” Ed wrote, “I – like many queer gamers – have at all times been fascinated by the sequence’ distinct fantasy realms and its vibrant casts of spiky-haired, magical, often cross-dressing, and generally splendidly non-human characters… That is why, after I was fortunate sufficient to attend the Last Fantasy 14 Fan Fest occasions in 2023, I used to be struck by the variety and kindness of the sport’s neighborhood [where] gamers have met queer mates, found an in-game world the place they are often themselves, and located a selected household.”
You’ll be able to learn Ed’s full article right here.
Video games may be a lot greater than an escape: they will encourage you to take motion – by Caelyn Ellis
Picture credit score: Eurogamer/SoulMuppet Publishing
On Thursday, long-time Eurogamer contributor Caelyn Ellis (now a daily author on the tabletop-focused publication Rascal Information) set free a rallying cry for motion in these difficult occasions. As Caelyn found, whereas the prospect of preventing again in opposition to seemingly inconceivable odds would possibly sound intimidating, it seems video games have maybe been equipping us with the instruments to just do that – and grow to be real-life heroes – all alongside.
“Connecting the dots between the real-world political organisation portrayed in Mad As Hell and the kind of fantasy adventuring shenanigans present in a extra conventional RPG resulted in minor epiphany,” Caelyn wrote. “Proper now, queer folks, notably trans folks, are underneath assault. We’d like greater than allies; we want accomplices, defenders and, on the threat of sounding a little bit trite, we want heroes. Heroes such as you already know the best way to be… I am asking you to take this additional and let video games encourage you to take motion.”
You’ll be able to learn Caelyn’s full article right here.
Podcast particular: Ashly Burch on the significance of queer roles, psychological well being, and genuine illustration in gaming
Picture credit score: Eurogamer
And for our closing Pleasure Week function of 2025, we chatted with actor and author Ashly Burch for a really particular version of the Eurogamer podcast. Making their second Pleasure Week look, Dom Peppiatt hosted a wide-ranging dialogue of queerness and gaming, pertaining to every part from Burch’s most iconic (and notably queer) roles – together with the Horizon sequence’ Aloy and Borderlands’ Tiny Tina – to how illustration of 1 group generally is a profit to all. Within the spirit of Pleasure, this particular episode of the podcast is freely out there to all.
“I believe my favorite factor about this speak was the way in which that, again and again, it turned evident that queerness isn’t just a ‘one-size-fits-all’ factor,” Dom wrote of their intro to the podcast. “That Burch’s understanding of pansexuality is as legitimate and necessary as my understanding of bisexuality. There are a number of situations of our chat naturally dovetailing with one thing we talked about earlier; how illustration of 1 group generally is a profit to all, how we – as queer folks – can declare characters of our personal similar to another marginalised group can, and the way necessary it’s to make use of our platforms to teach, promote, and persist.”
You’ll be able to take heed to the podcast in a wide range of totally different types right here.
