The transgender character creator, as it was billed, might have let you slap a penis onto a woman, but pronouns were tied to voice, a they/them option did not exist, there was no attempt to let you play as a trans person beyond the initial creation, and romance (more on that later) was a mess. Clearly the final touches on this game were either rushed or skipped over because of the much-discussed (and much delayed) launch date, but I’m not convinced the game would have ever done right by queer players. It should be no surprise that Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t showcase its own characters with quite so much finesse.
Alex Chen from Life is Strange: True Colors is a rare example of bisexuality done well, with Alex’s behaviour in the game towards other characters clearly displaying bisexual attraction, before settling for one choice and beginning to commit to them. That is, no matter what gender you play as, they will still be attracted to you. Instead, the trouble is bisexual characters are rarely bisexual at all, but instead are playersexual. Related: One Year On, Cyberpunk 2077’s Biggest Issues Can’t Be Patched Out Because they are attracted to both men and women, they are often portrayed as creatures of proclivity, with exotic tastes, extreme sex drives, and an inability to commit to a long-term relationship.
The trope in popular media is that bisexuals are easy, and will sleep with anyone. The latest example of this is the almost completely unsolicited reveal that Kerry Eurodyne, love interest only for male V players, remains canonically bisexual in the game.īisexuality is difficult for games to get right. It simultaneously had the best and worst launch in gaming history, and since then has worked hard to repair its reputation, but has sabotaged these attempts at every turn. It smashed world records on launch thanks to its impossible-to-maintain hype cycle, and didn’t only fail to live up to those lofty expectations, but crashed and burned almost immediately. I have never known a game so committed to publicly taking Ls as Cyberpunk 2077.