This video game tells players when they’re acting gay

Role-playing games are all about freedom of choice as you embark on a grand adventure. The newly released Dragon’s Dogma 2 is no different — but if you showcase any homosexual tendencies, the game is quick to call it out.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, you play as a fantasy hero called the Arisen, and along the way you curate a crew of allies called pawns who help you in battle. You can have up to four pawns, who you recruit along your journey. But if you’re playing as a man and happen to pick up only other men as pawns, the game takes notice.

One user complained about this aspect of Dragon’s Dogma 2 on gaming platform Steam.

“Okay, I’m really starting to struggle with the constant banter my pawns are giving me,” user Garrus wrote. “I just happen to have an all-male party because that’s the pawn makeup I found first, and every 2 minutes one of them makes one of two statements.”

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The first of those statements, Garrus shared, is, “It just occurred to me that all of us pawns are male! I wonder if that speaks to the Arisen’s preference…”

The second possible comment is, “Our party has grown, but there are no females amongst us!” If this option is chosen, it’s followed by another pawn saying, “I shouldn’t at all mind if that were to change.”

“This is like…the opposite of what I’m looking for,” Garrus continued. “Why would my party even comment on this? The first comment insinuates that I like men as if it is an insult or something to be ashamed of and the other comments on how there are no females as if that’s some rooted problem that needs fixing. They’re just pawns and I use the ones that have the setup that I prefer. Please remove these conversation pieces.”

Bullied by pawns
byu/oujnine inAsmongold

First of all, nowhere does the game insinuate that being gay is a bad thing. It simply comments on the player’s choice — and if you’re choosing to be joined on your adventure by a gang of muscular fantasy men, it’s fair to assume you have some underlying preferences.

The game comments on your party makeup regardless of its gender, anyway: If you’re playing as a woman and recruit only women, you’ll receive a similar message. And if you recruit only pawns of a different gender then your own, the game will joke that you’re trying to form a harem.

Garrus isn’t the only player to get called out, but others are taking the gay accusations with a sense of humor.

I got called gay by one of my pawns 🫠
byu/Fickle-Supermarket16 inDragonsDogma

It shouldn’t come as a shock that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is open to queer themes. The first game in the series, Dragon’s Dogma, came out in 2012 and allowed the player to romance almost any other character in the game, regardless of gender. The sequel doesn’t have the same options, with only two predetermined characters, Wilhelmina and Ulrika, being available for full-fledged romance storylines. Both of those characters are women — but if you’re playing as a woman yourself, lesbian romance is still fully on the table.

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