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Gay Option

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When a video game—usually a dedicated Romance Game, RPGs, or Wide-Open Sandbox—allows the player to pursue a love interest of the same gender alongside a bevy of heterosexual options.

This trope has increased in prevalence since the late 2000's due to increased visibility of queer people. And as an interactive medium, it's possible for a game to include such content while giving those uninterested in same-sex romance the option of skipping it. This means that games that include romance have increasingly allowed the protagonist the option to romance a few characters of the same gender.

When the story is built around the romance as opposed to the romance being a sidequest, then it overlaps with Queer Romance. For Japanese games where being gay is not just an option but the game itself is themed on it, see the video game sections of Yuri Genre (for lesbians) and Yaoi Genre (for gay males). This may or may not overlap with Optional Sexual Encounter, since a game won't always go that far.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

Games and series offering male/male options

    Adventure Games 
  • In one of the Haruhi Suzumiya video games, where you play as Kyon, you can gain or lose favor with each character depending on how much attention you pay to them. Sometimes it's a friendship meter, and sometimes it's a love meter; that last one comes up less often for Itsuki (resident Ho Yay character) than the girls, but it still appears from time to time.
  • In Kraken Academy!!, of the three music club members you can take out on a date, Vladimir serves as the gay option.
  • Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! had a gay option as a Non Standard Game Over: If you used Larry's fly on Gary the flamboyantly gay towel attendant or gave him the key to Larry's room, you were treated to a game over screen featuring the two walking hand in hand into the sunset.
  • The Quarry features nine playable characters, six of whom are neatly paired off in male/female couples (of varying stability). Of the remaining three characters, Kaitlyn and Dylan are both established as having crushes on Ryan, and the player has a certain amount of agency in choosing which if either he reciprocates towards. (For example, one of Ryan's playable segments involves a game of truth or dare; picking "dare" will give you the choice to kiss one of them.) Interestingly though, while all three characters receive an equal amount of individual focus, Ryan and Dylan actually get far more shared scenes and interaction than Ryan and Kaitlyn, whose Ship Tease is largely relegated to Kaitlyn telling other people about her interest in Ryan when he's not there. It's Downplayed in either case since all the game's romantic arcs more or less fizzle out by the end, but it's nevertheless an interesting inversion of the usual situation where the Straight Option receives a lot of focus and the Gay Option is more hidden away.

    MMORPGs 
  • Parodied by Gaia Online. A RIG centering on an injured Lex's video-game hallucinations has a dating-sim stage. Lex's options are his female coworkers Becky and Jinx... and his male coworker Russell Ace.
  • World of Warcraft added a small example in the Cataclysm expansion. One series of humorous quests involves listening to the awesome exploits of a couple of NPCs in the Badlands following Deathwing's path of destruction. One of them starts with the Orc showing off his flying motorcycle to a series of swooning admirers, ladies of various races... and a male blood elf. When Deathwing appears, you can only choose one of them to hop in the sidecar with you to safety. However, the quest text implies that the Orc may not quite realize the Blood Elf is male.

    Role-Playing Games 
  • .hack:
    • One of the endings in the .hack//G.U. series allows players to fall in love with and marry another male, Endrance.
    • In .hack//Link, perform a Cross Rengeki with Endrance and he'll attack the monster while Tokio is in the attack's path, only to leap in and carry him off with lots of sparkles and such. Tokio promptly freaks out. Once Endrance gets his Xth form that makes him look even more feminine Tokio will also get said sparkles before realizing what he's doing and freaking out.
  • In Bahamut Lagoon, depending on the options you pick, the Heroic Mime can either be interested in the princess (who ends up leaving him for someone else halfway through the game anyway), or in his old gay mentor, a respected war general and court sorcerer. Sure, it's played for laughs (as is most romantic character interaction in the game), but for a 90's Squaresoft SNES game it's downright revolutionary.
  • Demon Gaze II allows you to date both male and female demons.
  • Exstetra features a mechanic where the main character kisses his party members to give them, as well as himself, boosts in combat. This is not limited to his female companions, and at the end of the game you can choose between your most kissed party members to see their ending.
  • Fable provides the male Player Character many options for heterosexual marriage, a few for gay marriage, and, if you can get away with it, a whole lot of options for Polyamory. The two aren't exactly equal, though; while heterosexual marriage provides the player with a dowry, an occasional source of income and items, and a cutscene detailing the importance of the marriage to the hero's life, the gay marriage just gives you the income and items — and the game occasionally refers to his husband as a "wife" by mistake.
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • Cloud Strife will go on a date during the second time his party arrive in Gold Saucer in the story. Depending from his interactions with the other characters, the character with the highest points will drag Cloud to a date. The four candidates are Tifa (starting with 30 points), Aerith (starting with 50 points), Yuffie (starting with 10 points), and... Barret (starting with 0 points). The Barret experience isn't very romantic. He and Barret don't participate in the theatre stage play like he does with the girls, and Barret is not excited during the gondola ride. In fact, he is angry that he's hanging around with Cloud rather than having fun with his daughter Marlene. Cloud is even called out by Barret that he is not dating with any of the three girls instead.
    • During the stage play, the player is given the opportunity to kiss the princess, the king or the Evil Dragon King. Kissing the king works just as well kissing his daughter. But kissing the Evil Dragon King turns him back into his original form of a girl, who the Hero hooks up with.
    • The first game in the remake trilogy doesn't make it to that part of the story, but has a similar scene after the fall of the Sector 7 plate. Depending on previous choices, Cloud has a heartfelt conversation with Aerith or Tifa. Gaining favor with neither has him speaking with Barret instead.
  • The oldest known example of a gay option in a video game comes from an obscure 1992 Game Boy game called Great Greed, where you can pick any one of ten other characters, male or female, for your male character to marry after you beat the game.
  • Rather late in Persona 2 Innocent Sin and after many revelations to all involved, the party eventually corners The Protagonist Tatsuya and asks him bluntly who he's in love with. He has the choice of picking any of the four party members... and yes, one of them is Jun. You can also pick Eikichi, but he thinks you're joking and he already has a love interest by that point in the game.
  • Steambot Chronicles had an odd version of this. There were three female characters that could be romanced. During the dates with them, the player could inform the women that they were interested in their male friends, but could not actually date another male character.
  • Ludger, the main protagonist of Tales of Xillia 2, can choose to flirt with anyone and everyone, male or female.
  • The Technomancer allows the main character, Zachariah, to pursue a relationship with Amelia, Niesha, or Lucky. Interestingly, the achievements for romancing Amelia and Niesha are both named after puns that refer to their respective backstories, whereas the achievement for romancing Lucky is simply titled "Soulmate".
  • The Temple of Elemental Evil video game port provides a sidequest where the party can rescue a slave named Bertram from his pirate owner. As a reward, Bertram promises himself to one of the male or female members of the party, depending on where you first speak to him (there are two places he is located for some reason, and only one of them will be interested in a male). Talking to one causes the other to disappear from the game permanently. Whatever version of Bertram you manage to recruit, if the relationship with him is pursued, you can get married to him, and if he is kept in your party by the end of the game, he and the character get a "both lived happily together" ending.
  • The Tokyo Majin Gakuen game is full of Ho Yay, but there is a Christmas event where you can date any of the female characters, and if you have a high enough relationship rating with the main supporting male character then you can go on a date with him as well. The main male character can end up with every single party member that joins him - be it male or female — although the male/male endings are certainly open to interpretation, with the exception of the aforementioned male character whom you can date at Christmas who confesses his love for the main male lead.

    Roguelike 
  • Hades is based on Greek Myth, and as such, per Word of God, pretty much everyone in the game is bisexual, including the Player Character, Zagreus. He can pursue a romance with Thanatos (Basically the Grim Reaper) if the player so chooses. Depending on the player's choices, at the end of the game he can either be in a relationship with him, Zag's female ex Megaera, or both at the same time. (They know and approve of this arrangement.) Zag can also flirt with Dusa but she'll turn down the advances and they'll agree to remain friends.

    Simulation Games 
  • 7 Sins despite being a game that seems to be about being a playboy who seduces as many women as possible, has a number of encounters with men also. Bisexuality is actually encouraged as the easiest way to progress is by seducing the men too.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion has one or two Dating Sim-esque Alternate Continuity games, in which Kaworu naturally plays the Gay Option. Girlfriend of Steel 2 however, although it includes a complete non sequitur picture of naked winged Kaworu carrying equally-naked not-winged Shinji, all homoerotic options inexplicably vanish from the game after the date.
  • In Tradewinds Legends, one of the characters you can choose to play as is Hassan, who is on a quest to find his lost 'brother'. As you progress through the game it's revealed that Hassan's most definitely not interested in women and it's actually his male lover that he's searching for.

    Stealth-Based Games 

    Turn-Based Strategy 
  • One of the endings in Luminous Arc 3 involves the hero Levi and male teammate Dino embracing romantically on a secluded beach.

    Visual Novels 
  • If the player in CLANNAD has Tomoya ignore all of the main heroines, in the storyline's ending he ends up with Sunohara. There is also the Kappei route, where Tomoya spends the first half or so unable to tell if Kappei is male or female (and having awkward feelings while wondering). After Kappei is revealed to be male, he gets together with Kyou's twin sister, Ryou.
  • In Cross Days, a companion game to School Days, protagonist Yuuki can pursue Makoto.
  • The Enhanced Remake of the visual novel Happiness had the gay option in the form of Ensemble Dark Horse Jun Watarase. Most people ignored the women in favor of Jun's path.
  • While Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! doesn't have any routes for it (though not for lack of options, as Touma is quite open about his preferences and displays interest in Yamato, and Ryuuhei is straight up just gay), there is a Bad End where Yamato admits he has preferences he didn't quite expect, along with an implied scene.
  • In the PS Vita game of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU? Totsuka Saika gets his own ending with Hachiman.
  • Kaworu Nagisa is one of the characters Shinji can bond with in Girlfriend of Steel 2nd. It's ultimately subverted, however; despite his out-there nature, he wears his heart on his sleeve, but he's written out of the story to ensure the player winds up with a woman.
  • In PQRS The Game, you can choose Ellen or David to end the game with. You can express your love for Zak, too, but he reacts with a Squick. Surprisingly, though, he'll change his mind during non-David endings.
  • In the post-prologue part of Ristorante Amore, Liam and Ethan are included among Pierre's romance options.
  • The male characters in Shira Oka: Second Chances also have paths and endings, although they're only a bit Ho Yay and not full-on romance.

    Wide Open Sandbox 
  • In Bully, Jimmy can lock lips with any girl to gain a health boost. He can do the same to a few of the boys, one for each clique. Despite the fact that "finishing" his Art class allows him to romance female students without giving them a gift first, he will still have to hand the guys a present before they will be his. Also, while there are multiple kissing girl animations, there's only ever one for kissing boys.
  • Grand Theft Auto:
    • In Grand Theft Auto IV, Niko can send date invitations to other men on the in-game website love-meet.net, but, like the other website 'filler' characters, they will not reply. One mission involves going on a date with a gay man, but this is not a Gay Option, since this is an assassination mission.
    • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas lets CJ kiss men, but this only applies in multiplayer mode and if the 2nd player chooses a male character.
  • Most of House Party (2017) is spent trying to get the attention of one of the available girls. Amy is participating in a scavenger hunt, and one of the items she needs is a condom, which fellow party-goer Frank has. But if you ask him for it, he thinks you're hitting on him and refuses to talk to you until you either "confess" to having feelings for him or prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that you're straight. You're completely welcome to make that confession, which leads to him taking you aside and giving you a blowjob.

Games and series offering female/female options

    Adventure Games 

    First-Person Shooters 
  • The first Star Trek: Elite Force game lets you play as either Alexander Munro or Alexandra Munro. Either way, your character flirts with female teammate Telsia Murphy, who might return the flirting in optional scenes.

    MMORPGs 
  • An odd case in The Secret World in that it is not so much a lesbian option as a lesbian obligation. Regardless of gender, player characters who belong to the organization known as The Dragon will receive oral pleasure from an attractive asian female during an early cutscene. Whether they like it or not.

    Role-Playing Games 
  • In Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, female characters can have same-sex couplings at a brothel in Tarant. It's possible to get a non-violent non-deceptive outcome to the confrontation with the female leader of the Dark Elves by simply responding to her attempts to seduce the main character. Only if the protagonist is especially attractive, mind you (beauty is a stat in Arcanum).
  • In Fallout 3, you may buy the services of Nova, Megaton's good time girl, and those of Clover, a slave with a rather ironic fetish, regardless of your gender. This isn't even hand waved and there are no male counterparts. With the Black Widow perk you may also suggest a threesome with Ronald Laren with Sierra to get him to do what you want; this gets him killed.
  • Alyn Shir, one of the Fateless One's main allies in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, is implied to have feelings for the protagonist, partly depending on your dialogue choices. The closest she'll come to actually admitting that, however, is to say that she has "more important things to do than love" if you pass a very difficult persuasion check right before the final boss fight.
    • The Legend of Dead Kel DLC adds some more overt examples. If you are consistently nice to perpetually-unlucky Manic Pixie Dream Elf Captain Rast Brattigan, she'll decide that you should be together. There is also a side quest that involves an arranged political marriage with a female diplomat.
  • Dex allows the titular character to sleep with a female prostitute.
  • Knights of the Old Republic features Juhani, a female Jedi of a catlike race, as a possible party member. If the player makes their character a female and follows the Light Side path, Juhani confesses her feelings for her before the final battle. The player can tell Juhani she feels the same way, or that she just doesn't swing that way. If a male character flirts with her she's openly disgusted at the idea.
  • The Neverwinter Nights expansion Kingmaker provides the bisexual nymph NPC Kaidala who can be romanced by female as well as male characters.
  • The Female MC route in Persona 3 Portable offers you the choice of Theodore or Elizabeth as your Velvet Room guide. Elizabeth maintains her flirty, if not outright romantic demeanour toward the MC, regardless of gender, though the scene where she "spends a long time" with the MC is cut out of the female version. Aigis is fiercely protective of the MC regardless of gender, and her social link text remains the same with a female MC as it was with the male, though the voice acting is cut out during rank 10 in the female route. However, as she is still asking you to touch her Papillon Heart, an extremely intimate gesture bordering on pseudo-robot intercourse, she can be considered a gay option for the female MC.
  • In Shadowrun: Dragonfall, the player, regardless of their gender, can say that they had once been in a relationship with Monika.
  • In Stray Gods, Grace can potentially romance her best friend Freddie or the goddess Persephone.
  • The Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series has lesbian options, that are almost impossible to avoid. Female summons in both games gain a crush on the main character and playing as a female does nothing to deter them, and in-fact only encourages them (Sugar only gives the famed kiss to a female PC).

    Simulation Games 
  • Chrono Days Sim Date and Lunar Days Sim Date both have a lesbian option included among the Secret Characters. Additionally, the later Number Days Sim Date has Lena as a romanceable character from the start.
  • In the mobile game Demi Lovato: Path to Fame, players are given a choice near the beginning as to whether they would like to date men, women, or have no preference. The dating options don't change in personality or role, but simply are of the gender you picked (or random if you chose no preference).
  • Harvest Moon: Korobokkuru Station For Girls had a thinly-veiled Gay Option, allowing you to use a "Best Friends Ceremony" to get one of the special wives from the male version to move in with you and eventually bring you a baby, as if they were a husband. This was removed for the US version, Harvest Moon DS Cute — more obnoxiously, Natsume refused to confirm they removed it, and they left in all the related scenes up to actually "proposing", so it's taken hours of work by dedicated players to, in fact, confirm it's not in there. Fans were understandably annoyed.
  • In the online game The Hookup one of your options is the girl, Sarah.
  • In Long Live the Queen, the need to marry and provide heirs for the country means most of Elodie's romance options are male, but there are still three women she can possibly end up with, one of whom she can even officially marry, although achieving that particular outcome is extremely difficult.
  • In the lawyer sim Love And Order, one of the romance options for your female PC is a female attorney.
  • In Princess Maker 4 (possibly only the PC version), if your daughter avoids marrying any men and has a close enough relationship with one of her female friends, she may end up living "happily ever after" with the girl in question.
  • Fantasy life sim Spirited Heart has an Expansion Pack called "Girls Love", which opens up six female love interests. In the "Deluxe" version, they are already included.
  • Because the default player characters for the Way of the Samurai series are male, with female PC models being unlockable extras for game completion (the series focuses on having a large number of relatively short paths), or awards for Non-Lethal K.O. (which allows you to use the victim's model for yourself on future plays) on a female character in 3, the game almost always treats you as male, allowing you to visit a brothel (and even get the ranking for visiting it enough times in a cycle), take up the offer of a Fallen Mafia Princess to "take [her] inner woman" so she can fight, etc. The one NPC that reacts differently to a female PC in 2 (the female sword informant), can still be (hopelessly) asked on a date.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Backstage Pass a gay option exists for the protagonist Sian, if the player goes off the beaten path a little (as it's one of the romances that is not advertised quite as heavily as the main four potential love interests) in the form of the model Nicole Partridge, complete with her own route should the player manage to lock themselves onto it.
  • Downplayed in Boyfriend Dungeon. There was only one female love interest in the base game, so if you were playing as a woman before the 2022 free DLC update, Valeria was your only shot at F/F romance. However, the game gives you the option to play as a male, female, or non-binary player character, and the "boyfriend" roster is actually very diverse (consisting of three men, two non-binary people, one woman, and a thankfully platonic-only cat option); so it's hardly a traditional case of side-lining the Queer Romance.
  • The short H-Game Cute Demon Crashers has the option of the protagonist choosing between four sex demons for her first time (or none of them, or all of them), three male incubi and one female succubus.
  • In Fatal Hearts, most of the romance options for the female protagonist are male, but your female best friend is canonically in love with you and can get together with you in one ending.
  • The HD version of Hatoful Boyfriend has a possible ending where the female protagonist ends up with Azami.
  • Heileen contains three romantic endings for its female protagonist: a ridiculously easy to get straight option, a difficult to get heavily Les Yay ending, and lastly another difficult to get lesbian ending. The third game in the series has an expansion pack that opens up romantic endings for both female characters from the first game, Ebele from the second game, and a female pirate who appears briefly in the ending of the second game.
  • Lake Of Voices offers a same-sex romance option. It's Margret.
  • The Letter has one same-sex option among its Love Dodecahedron of potential romantic pairings. It's between Hannah and Marianne.
  • Magical Diary is an Everyone Is Bi setting; the first game allows the female PC to date both of her female roommates as well as kiss another girl who isn't an official option.
  • Mystic Messenger has two. The first is that the female MC can pursue Jaehee in her own route, and although your romance was downplayed during the main route by the developers, they remedied this both in the Christmas DLC where she tells you that she fell in love with you without even realizing it and the MC gives her a sweet kiss on the cheek, and by including her in the Valentine's Day DLC where she all but confesses her love for you while co-running the coffee shop you promised to start with her at the end of her route. The second is Rika, who all but instantly develops feelings for you during V's route immediately after you meet her; you can choose to be with her and abandon V and the RFA to fend for themselves against the cult Rika commands.
  • In The Confines of the Crown, there's an option on Callum's path to run away with Dolores instead if you're nice enough to her and turn down Callum's proposal. In addition, Gaston's maid Colette is revealed to be interested in women only, and while she doesn't have a route of her own, you get more quasi-romantic interaction with her in Gaston's route than you do with Gaston himself (as he turns out to have eyes only for Cassidy).
  • In Seduce Me, the female protagonist can pass over the obvious five incubi love interests in favor of wooing one of her female friends (Suzu or Naomi) or the succubus Diana.
  • Shall We Date? games:
    • Love Tangle: Pianist Celina Winter and businesswoman Ivy Attwood. There was also a side story where the main character got together with her female best friend Joy, but it wasn't a proper route.
    • Wizardess Heart: While not a full route, the main character's friend Amelia got a couple of story events where she could choose to romance the bifauxnen Scarlett.
    • Blood in Roses: Bridget the vampire, who won a poll on which Season 2 character the fans wanted to see a route for the most, and Matilda the succubus.
  • Tell a Demon, the second game in the Asher series, has three protagonists, one male and two female. Based on your choices, it's possible for the two female protagonists to end up together, and one of them also has a second female love interest.
  • Two of the later Voltage, Inc. VNs have female love interests. They have both been discontinued and taken down from the app store, however.
  • In C14 Dating, player character Melissa can romance a number of male characters, or one female character. Slightly differs from the norm in two ways: first of all, all the characters have a defined sexuality and Melissa and Joan aren't the only queer ones (two of the male love interests are bi and one is a straight asexual), and secondly, even though it is already possible to date a girl, the makers are also working on a yuri version of the game where the male love interests are replaced with totally-new female love interests.
  • In Betsy, the playing character, who dates the titular character, can be from both genders.
  • Love Island: The Game has three seasons so far (the third is currently ongoing), and, while the setting requires the protagonist to date one or more men over the course of each season, each season has at least one female option as well: Talia (as well as Allegra in the reunion special) in season one, Marisol and Elisanote  (as well as Lottie and Hannah in the wedding specialnote ) in season two, and AJ (as well as at least one other who has not yet been introduced) in season three.
  • Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem has several potential female love interests for the player to pursue.

    Puzzle Games 
  • In HuniePop, you can choose to play as either a man or woman. Playing as a woman only changes the pronouns though, the girls still act the same as they do with a male player.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Tabletop Dating Game/RPG-ish thingie GxB has a Gay Option for Momoko in Risa, the class president. This is despite GxB being short for "Girl x Boy." Whether she gets chosen depends on a mixture of luck, the tastes of Momoko's player, and how well Risa's player runs her.

    Non-Video Game Examples 
  • The premise of Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte involves a Fictional Romance Game usually called Magikoi. For the most part, Magikoi is aimed at straight females, having 5 romantic options plus one Secret Character, all of them male. However, there's also a Reverse Harem Route, where the Player Character hooks up with the 5 romantic options...plus Lieselotte, the titular "Tsundere villainess". In case it's not clear to the player, it's explicitly stated Lieselotte falls in love with the Player Character, who only has a female sprite.
  • The My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel book has this via offering the female protagonist the possibility of going on a trip to Egypt with her female Only Friend at various points in the other paths, in which she's otherwise going after male characters.
  • In the Choose Your Own Adventure book Pretty Little Mistakes that has an explicitly female protagonist, most of the love interests are male but one of the story branches lets you get together with another woman instead.
  • As does Night Of A Thousand Boyfriends.

Games and series offering both

    Action-Adventure 

    Action RPGs 
  • In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, there are a number of characters the player can propose to and marry. None of the prospective loves take gender or even species into account. However, while there's a perk that allows you to get better prices from a merchant of the other gender, there's no way to seduce merchants of the same gender as your character, even if you have a same-gender partner.
    • Enderal, a total conversion mod for the aforementioned Skyrim, includes two bisexual companion characters (Jespar and Calia) who can be romanced by a male or female Player Character. The Forgotten Stories update adds another more minor female love interest (also bisexual) in the new Golden Sickle side questline.
  • Fable:
    • Fable II doesn't exactly provide a dowry, but it's a lot more forward about your relationship. If you're married to someone of the same sex, whenever an NPC refers to the relationship, they'll always say "husband" or "wife" instead of "partner".
    • Fable III expands on this a bit, allowing players to adopt children from an orphanage that becomes available about half-way through the story quests and sending them to live with their husband/wife. Wedding ceremonies can now also be set in chosen locations leading to a short scene where the officiator announces you "husband and husband" or "wife and wife".
  • Fallout:
    • Fallout 2 provides the player with the option to marry either the son or daughter of a farmer, no matter what the main character's gender is (however, if you were "Separated"—i.e. if the spouse died—you could not go back to the town and marry their sibling). Additionally, several NPC characters were gay or bisexual, allowing for same-gender seduction, sometimes to provide an alternative way to complete a quest.
    • Fallout: New Vegas introduces the Confirmed Bachelor and Cherchez la Femme perks, gay counterparts to Lady Killer and Black Widow, as well as gay (Arcade Gannon) and lesbian (Veronica Santangelo) companion characters. In fact, gay men have the most sexually implicit or explicit interactions in the game, as in addition to their own perk-locked content, just about every character that a "heterosexually active" (Black Widow perk-equipped) female PC can get is also available to a gay male PC.
    • Fallout 4 has twelve companions, and the player character can romance specific companions (Preston, Piper, Hancock, Curie, Danse, MacCready, and Cait, as well as Gage with Nuka-World DLC) regardless of gender.
  • Jade Empire allows the player to flirt with three different members of their party, two of them are all up for same-sex coupling, ultimately resulting in a night of romance before the final battle (and, in one instance, a possible threesome). However, due to Executive Meddling from Microsoft, the scene goes to black right before any same-sex kissing is seen. Luckily it can be fixed in the PC version with this Game Mod found here.
  • Mass Effect:
    • The first game sort of allows for this if the player creates a female playable character and chooses to romance the Asari member of the squad, Liara T'Soni. Asari are a One-Gender Race, their whole race being female; however, from their own cultural perspective they don't view themselves as female, since they don't have any other gender to distinguish from. So it's definitely a lesbian relationship from Fem!Shepard's human point of view, but to Liara it's just a relationship like any other.
    • Mass Effect 2 allows a romance to bloom between Kelly Chambers (a human woman) and a player character of either sex. However, the game does not count this as a "true" romance, you can do some light flirting and, at most, she dances for you. Starting a romance with Kelly Chambers will not grant the Paramour achievement or keep Shepard from starting a relationship with a party member. The developers described it an easter egg, rather than a true romance path. This can be upgraded to a "proper" relationship in 3, insofar as the game recognizes it with the Paramour achievement and a photo of Kelly in Shepard's room aboard the Normandy, but this is still obviously much more shallow than a standard ME romance.
    • Mass Effect 3 has actual gay relationships, with Male!Shepard getting shuttle pilot Steve Cortez or a Relationship Upgrade with Kaidan, while Fem!Shepard gets Liara, tech specialist Samantha Traynor, or reporter Diana Allers. Amusingly, Fem!Shep has more gay options than straight, since she only has two possible male suitors, and both are returning characters who could be dead at the start of the game depending on the player's choices, leaving only the ladies.
    • Mass Effect: Andromeda allows a male Ryder to romance Jaal, Gil or Reyes, or a female Ryder to romance Peebee, Vetra or Suvi. Jaal was originally an exclusively heterosexual option but criticisms about the game's lackluster Gay Options for male Ryder prompted BioWare to update his romance in a patch.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines:
    • Female player characters can seduce a number of female bar patrons for blood, and they could also have sex with a female vampire character, just as the male player characters could. There's a single instance in the early part of the game where male vampires could seduce a male NPC for blood, but you had to have a fairly high charisma stat early on for it to work. Also, if your charisma is high enough, the prostitutes give quite the discount to female PCs, with the logic "Mm, I don't get to do women often..."
    • The gravekeeper, Romero, has some... needs... that apparently must be fulfilled right now, and he wants you to watch the zombie infested cemetery while he takes care of them. If you're female, you can offer to take care of said needs instead. In the unofficial patch made by one of the original programmers, Romero was changed to bisexual to allow male characters to do the same.
    • The latest unofficial patch allows a "Homosexual" background for the PC. One of the more obvious changes is the sex partner at the start of the game. Male characters can attempt to Seduce other males as well.

    Adventure Games 
  • The Life Is Strange series has thus far included gay options for all of its main-series protagonists, though often not in the traditional formula:
    • Life Is Strange Inverts the usual practices of this trope: the game centres around female protagonist Max and her best friend/potential girlfriend Chloe, with Word of God confirming that there's a degree of romantic attraction between them regardless of whether the player chooses to explicitly act on it or not. Max can also have a few romantic moments with her male friend Warren, but his romance route is far less central to the story than Chloe's - a reversal of the more common situation where the same-sex romantic option is the one that's downplayed.
    • Played with in the prequel game Life Is Strange: Before the Storm: it appears at first that Rachel and Eliot are the female and male romance options for Chloe, with the Rachel route being central to the story and the Eliot route being more sidelined like in the main game. However, Eliot turns out to be at best a Romantic False Lead, as well as a minor antagonist, leaving Rachel as the only true romantic option in the game.
    • Life Is Strange 2 contains a Zigzagged example: Sean expresses attraction to both Cassidy (a girl) and Finn (a guy), and can begin a romantic relationship with either and (though it's highly dependant on other choices made by the player) can potentially end up with either on the same terms. However, while Cassidy's romance route is unmissable (unless the player deliberately steers Sean away from her) and can lead to the two having a sexual relationship, Finn's is dependent on making certain dialogue choices and ends with a kiss at the very most (though notably Finn, unlike Cassidy, can declare his love to Sean in some versions of his route). Because of this and the greater emphasis placed on Cassidy's route in promotional materials, many players did not even notice that Finn was romanceable alongside Cassidy. This makes it a more classic example of the Gay Option compared to the central romances of Life is Strange and Before the Storm, both of which nearly Inverted the trope.
    • Life Is Strange: True Colors features a bisexual protagonist (Alex) and two possible love interests for her — new character Ryan (a man) and returning character Steph (a woman). For the first time in the series, the two have roughly the same amount of screentime and focus, and neither is obviously favoured by the narrative. Additionally, the DLC bonus episode, "Wavelengths," has Steph as its protagonist, and she can optionally date a few different women through an in-game dating app over the course of the year preceding the start of the main game, though none of them end up working out in the long run.
  • Later seasons of The Walking Dead added same-sex romance options for the playable characters, Clementine and Javier:
    • The Walking Dead: A New Frontier has a Downplayed version: while Kate is Javier's primary love interest, there are a few dialogue options that allow him to engage in a mutual flirtation with Ensemble Dark Horse Jesus. Since the romance with Kate is technically optional (despite the heavy focus it receives), it is possible to always reject her advances and only pursue Jesus romantically, though it doesn't lead to anything (and since Jesus is a cross-over character from the comics, there's not even a Maybe Ever After for them). Word of God has at least confirmed Javi as bisexual, though, lending some canonical weight to the Javier/Jesus ship.
    • In The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Clementine can begin a romance with either Louis (a guy) or Violet (a girl), or neither (if the player so chooses). Unlike many games (including the previous season of The Walking Dead itself!) where the same-sex romance option is hidden or downplayed compared to different-sex romance option(s), Louis and Violet's romance routes are quite deliberately given equal weight, and their subsequent relationships with Clementine receive comparable treatment and screen-time. Word of God has confirmed Clementine as canonically bisexual whatever the player's choice.
  • In Fallen London your character can romance male and female partners, including a couple of threesomes.
  • In the second installment of Way Walkers University, the game lets you romance your choice of two male or two female characters. All characters are available for any gender PC.
  • The Wayhaven Chronicles lets you choose both your gender (including nonbinary) and sexuality, and the genders of the four romancable characters (as well as another character who can be your ex) will change based on that (all female if you say you like women, all male if you say you like men, half and half if you say you like both). It also includes a Love Triangle route with two of them.

    MMORPGs 
  • Final Fantasy XIV has the Eternal Bond system, an in-game marriage system for players that comes with cutscenes, the ability to invite friends to the ceremony and grants the spouses small advantages like rings that let them teleport to each other or a mount for two people. The gender and species of both spouses is irrelevant, even if this leads to some bizarre pairings such as a giant Roegadyn of either sex, or a Male Au Ra paired off with the Tiny Lalafell who barely reach their knees.
  • Mabinogi has a marriage system that allows two player characters to obtain a few extra bonuses when near their spouses, as well as forming a family. The US servers allow for same sex marriages.
    • The "Alban Knights Baltane Special Unit" content allows you to train up to 3 of 6 different squires (3 female, 3 male), and while not a full-blown romance you can go on dates with them. Although the player's gender doesn't affect the outcome of any scenario with the squires it does alter some dialogue with them.
  • While the base game of Star Wars: The Old Republic only has straight romance options, this changed in the expansions:
    • Rise of the Hutt Cartel allows Republic players of any gender to have a minor romance with archaeologist Lemda Avesta, and male Empire players to have a minor romance with disgraced sith Lord Cytharat.
    • Shadow of Revan introduces the first full same-gender romance options in SIS agent Theron Shan and sith lord Lana Beniko, both of whom can be romanced regardless of gender or faction.
    • Both Theron and Lana's romances can be continued — or started, if they weren't romanced in the previous expansion — in Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne, with the addition of rebel pilot Koth Vortena as another potential love interest regardless of gender or faction. Optionally redeemed Big Bad Arcann was also made romanceable by anyone once KotET was completed.
    • Onslaught and its prelude Jedi Under Siege introduce two new potential love interests who can be flirted with regardless of gender: Jedi Knight Tau Idair for Republic players, and Imperial Major Anri for Empire players. Additionally, upon their return during the expansion, several base game love interests who were previously only romanceable by an opposite-sex player character can now start a new romance with a same-sex player characternote , and several base game companions who were previously not romanceable at all can now start a new romance with player characters of any gendernote .
  • World of Warcraft has a week-long Valentine's Day Special every February where—besides the thematic quests—you can get citizens and guards of the main city to fall in love with you. Male NPCs like people who wear perfume while female NPCs prefer the smell of cologne, regardless of the wearer's sex. The Love Is In The Air event was afterwards changed so that you no longer have to win over city guards.
  • Pirates of the Burning Sea allows this, in an early mission you get a choice of a number of different people of both genders that you can select to be your romantic interest later in the game with no gender restrictions. This can lead to amusing results as players who don't read the plot text then end up wondering why their character is suddenly gay.

    Roguelikes 
  • Elona allows you to marry any character you can recruit, regardless of gender (or species, for that matter). And you can recruit almost every single character in the game.
  • In the HD version of Spelunky, you regain health by rescuing Damsels in Distress and bringing them to the stage exit, where they will kiss you during the between-levels transition, regardless of your chosen character's gender. The options menu allows you to change these damsels into Chippendales Dancers, who also kiss you to restore life. You can also have them be pug dogs, who simply lick you, or randomize their appearance.

    Role-Playing Games 
  • Baldur's Gate:
    • The Siege of Dragonspear expansion in the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition has two companions who can be romanced by a player character of the same gender: a gay male gnome cleric/thief and a bisexual female human archer. In contrast to their gay option counterparts in the sequel, they both have good alignments, but their romances don't continue into the next game.
    • In Baldur's Gate II, Tiefling bard Haer'Dalis can make use of a male Drow sex slave; Word of God says the team just figured "he'd be up for anything". The Enhanced Edition added two gay options — a bisexual male half-orc blackguard and a lesbian human vampire thief. Unfortunately, a good protagonist still lacks a gay option, since both of those are quite evil.
    • In Baldur's Gate III, Larian Studios use the same formula from their previous game Divinity: Original Sin II, allowing the player character to romance any companion regardless of gender.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 has a twist on the traditional gender choice in the character creator, with options instead to choose V's voice, body type, and genitals independently, with their overall gender identity being determined by which voice they have. V has four main love interests, two of whom (Judy and Kerry) can only be romanced by V with both a voice and body type of the same gender as them, while the other two (Panam and River) only require V to have a body type of the opposite gender as them. Meredith Stout is also available as a one-night stand for anyone.
  • Divinity series:
    • In Divine Divinity there is a brothel where a player of any gender can sleep with both male and female escorts.
    • Divinity: Original Sin has this with the two customizable protagonists that can be of any gender.
    • In Divinity: Original Sin II, no matter your character's gender, or the gender of the character you want to hook up with, you can romance any of your companions if you so desire. One sidequest also has an Optional Sexual Encounter with a High-Class Call Girl (or boy), whose gender is determined by the PC's stated preference.
  • Dragon Age:
    • In Dragon Age: Origins your romantic options include Zevran, a male Depraved Bisexual elf, and Leliana, a bisexual woman, who all PCs can romance. You can also have a threesome with Zevran and an old flame of his, a female pirate, as an alternate method of getting one of the Specialization classes. You can also do this scene with Leliana if you are romancing her, or a foursome with you, Zevran, Leliana, and the aforementioned pirate. The Human Noble origin can have an optional encounter with the son of a minor lord or an elven maidservant, again, regardless of the character's gender. And there are sex workers at the Pearl that the PC can hire regardless of anyone's genders.
    • Dragon Age II has four bisexual romances in the main game, one exclusively-straight DLC party member and one DLC bisexual Guest-Star Party Member.
    • Dragon Age: Inquisition has Dorian and Iron Bull for male inquisitiors, and Josephine and Sera for females. Scout Harding can also be flirted with regardless of gender.
  • Dragon's Dogma allows the Arisen to romance nearly any NPC in the game by raising their affinity levels through completing quests, giving gifts, or simply talking to the NPC constantly. The NPC with the highest affinity for the player becomes involved in the final boss fight which leads to some unfortunate players, unaware of the romance mechanic, wondering why their true love is an old blacksmith or innkeeper.
  • In Haven (2020), Kay and Yu are a heterosexual couple by default, but the Couples Update adds the option to play them as a same-sex male or female couple.
  • Heroes of Legionwood allows its protagonist, male or female, to romance either Jeska or Vane.
  • I Miss the Sunrise has Kara and Mahk. While Kara will be with Ros regardless of gender, Mahk will only be attracted to a male Ros.
  • Pathfinder:
    • In the base game of Pathfinder: Kingmaker, there is one straight and one bisexual romance option of each gender. The two bisexual love interests (Octavia and Regongar) are initially in a relationship with each other, which deteriorates due to contrasting moral alignments during the game if the protagonist doesn't help them fix it, and the two can be romanced individually or at the same time. The Wildcards DLC, which adds the option to play as a tiefling, also adds a new tiefling companion named Kaessi (actually identical twin sisters Kanerah and Kalikke, who share a body) who can likewise be romanced by any player character either simultaneously or individually, depending on your choices. Additionally, the game's secret ending, which is available to any player character provided they meet the other requirements, involves winning the heart of Nyrissa, one of the game's main antagonists.
    • Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has a number of options for same-gender romance, with Wenduag, Arueshalae, and Queen Galfrey for women, and Daeran and Sosiel for men. Additionally, player characters of any gender who are on the Demon Mythic Path can become the consort of the Demon Lord Nocticula.
  • Pillars of Eternity:
    • In Pillars of Eternity, it's possible for the Watcher's past life — who shares the Watcher's gender — to have been romantically involved with a female character.
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire met its stretch goal for companion relationships, which includes the potential for romance with several of the companions — Aloth, an elven wizard and returning companion from the previous game; Xoti, a somewhat fanatical priest of Gaun; Tekēhu, a Huana watershaper; and Maia, a Rauataian sharpshooter and spy; as well as Serafen, an orlan cipher and pirate, who is only available as a one-night stand for non-godlike Watchers — all of whom are bisexual.
  • Planet Stronghold (from the makers of Spirited Heart) has three possible romance options for each gender, one of which is a same-sex relationship (Joshua and Prince Cliff, or Lisa and Michelle).
  • Pokémon Black and White has ferris wheel rides coated with innuendo in the Japanese version. Hilbert gets a hiker and Hilda gets a Meido. Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 bring back the gay Ferris Wheel dates; Rosa's is a punk rocker, Nate's is a schoolteacher who could only get his job by passing as a woman. The latter gets censored in some versions. Though the former two at least are kind of Squicky when one remembers that Hilbert and Hilda are most likely 14.
  • In contrast with its predecessor, which only had female romance options, Postknight 2 has eight romance options- four female (Pearl, Morgan, Amethyst, and Katrina) and four male (Jasper, Flint, Chris, and Xander). While the player character doesn't have a defined gender, they can romance any of the eight characters regardless.
  • The math behind Star Ocean: The Second Story's friendship system was hidden but boiled down to Friendship and Romance points. The characters that best matched up for one another (roughly) would end up having a cut scene together in the ending, be they same or different gender. It was hard to get high Romance Points between same-sex characters due to a lack of appropriate cut scenes, so sabotaging the opposite-sex ones is the best tactic.
  • Homosexuality is very normalized in the world of Tyranny, with a number of characters, both major and minor, indicating same-sex attraction to the Fatebinder and/or other characters. In the base game, the player and Verse can admit to having feelings for each other, and, depending on your choices in the prologue, the player can hire brothel workers of both genders. The Bastard's Wound DLC adds Optional Sexual Encounters with Verse and Barik as part of their new personal quests, as well as a (repeatable) random encounter involving an aphrodisiac plant, which Eb or Kills-in-Shadow will be willing to help the Fatebinder out with, provided they have high enough loyalty.
  • Ultima:
    • The "bad" Gypsies in Ultima VI (there were two groups) also offered their bodies for a fee regardless of gender.
    • The Lazarus remake of Ultima V added a potential gay encounter in Buccaneer's Den.
    • In "The Baths" in Buccaneer's Den, Ultima VII, the Avatar could have sex with either male or female sex workers.
    • Ultima VII Part II: Serpent Isle has a female character who attempts to seduce the Avatar, regardless of the Avatar's gender - and if the player turns her down, she uses magic to try to force herself on them.

    Simulation Games 
  • Artificial Academy by Illusion allows you to have entire classes filled with school girl lesbians or gay school boys, it's all up to the player and whether the character was set to homo/bi in the Maker.
  • Farmville 2 lets you earn a sweetheart to help on the farm, who you eventually get engaged to and marry. You are allowed to choose either sex as your partner, and have a family with him or her.
  • Frontierville, Zynga's spin-off of Farmville, allows the player to chose a male or female spouse, regardless of their avatar's gender.
  • This caused some "controversy" in the video game version of the board game The Game of Life.
  • Gleaner Heights's Character Customization lets you choose whether you like men, women, or both.
  • In Growing Up, it's possible to date Vivica, Alicia, or Bobbie if you're a girl, and Richard, Charles, or Nate if you're a boy, and if you don't end up with any of your classmates after graduating high school, your spouse can be the same gender as your character if you wish. Other love interests have romantic options open even if your character is the same gender as them, but they'll reject you because they don't feel that way towards you.
  • In the Fan Game Harvest Moon: Meadow of Dreams, each of the bachelors and bachelorettes have sexualities. Some are straight, some are gay, and some are bi. Depending on your gender and their sexuality, you can woo them or not.
  • In the indie Raising Sim series Kudos, you can turn same-gender relationships on or off in the options menu.
  • Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (also known as Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry allows you to a achieve a relationship with a townsperson the same gender as you called "Bound by a Strong Connection." This is treated as a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship by townspeople.
  • My Time at Portia allows the player character to date and marry any of the eligible bachelors or bachelorettes.
  • Every Nummyz Dating Sim contains a gay/lesbian character; at least one even has an explicitly bisexual character, breaking the No Bisexuals rule.
  • In Potion Permit, all the romance options are open regardless of your gender, meaning that you can date Matheo, Reyner, or Xiao if you're a boy and Leano, Martha, or Rue if you're a girl.
  • The Sims:
    • Characters of the same gender can fall in love and move in together, even if they can't get married like their straight counterparts. The problem is corrected in The Sims 2, which allows for "joining" ceremonies between characters of the same gender; there's a "hidden" meter for sexual preference for each character in, from -1000 to 1000, which influences (minorly) just how successful a character is when attempting romantic interactions with another character. If, for example, a character is 1000 points of hetero, and -1000 of gay (for lack of a better term), they are extremely likely to reject all romantic interactions with the same gender. Though a new character has both preferences set to 0, so really, Everyone Is Bi.
    • In The Sims 3, characters of the same gender now have equal marriage rights and just about any two characters can be encouraged to fall in love with little effort. Interestingly, there is a hidden setting of how heterosexual or bisexual a neighborhood is. At factory default, neighborhoods are almost exclusively heterosexual, with characters generally only finding opposite sex characters attractive. However, the more the player encourages same-sex relationships, the more the neighborhood opens up same-sex attraction in non-player characters. Eventually just about Everyone Is Bi, with no gender preference to attraction at all.
  • The game Singles: Flirt Up Your Life, a The Sims-style game in which you try to manipulate two roommates into hooking up, has a gay character of each gender available to choose from. When picking the characters, you either pick one of each gender, or the gay character and another character of the same gender, and it's not any harder to get the "straight" characters into a relationship with the gay character than with an opposite-gender character.
  • Stardew Valley allows the player character to marry any of the twelve bachelors or bachelorettes, regardless of gender.
  • Story of Seasons:
    • Harvest Moon: A New Beginning and the rebranded Story of Seasons games have a strange variation: Although the game sets your choice of Love Interests based on the gender you choose for your character at the start, it also lets you customize your character, and both male and female appearance options are available no matter what gender you set for your avatar. Since your character is never referred to with gendered pronouns (a few characters do refer to you as their "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" when you're dating them, such as Rod, who will occasionally call you his girlfriend), you are free to choose the "female" option at the start, give your character a completely male appearance, and then start wooing the boys (or vice versa). It has some unusual implications once you have a child, though.
    • Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town allows you to marry any bachelor or bachelorette no matter what gender you play as. You even get achievements for wooing every "normal" one. In Japan and a few other Asian translations, it's a "best friends" system, but the English translation makes them explicitly romantic.
  • World's Dawn asks the player their gender preference at the start of the game; there are three men and three women available in town, and your choice determines which (or all) of them are willing to fall in love and marry you. If the number of reviews stating "it's like Story of Seasons but you can be gay" are anything to go on, the gay option is at least as popular as straight.

    Tactical RPGs 
  • Expeditions series:
    • Expeditions: Viking has one straight (Nefja and Asleifr) and one bisexual (Røskva and Ketill) romance option of each gender.
    • Expeditions: Rome has two straight (Julia Calida, Cleopatra, Cato and Bestia) and one bisexual (Deianera and Caeso) romance options of each gender.
  • The majority of Fire Emblem games have support conversations between two characters and, given a high enough support level, can alter both their endings.
    • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: Despite having a lot of male and female admirers, Ike only has two paired endings, both with men: Soren and Ranulf. There is a base conversation that can only be seen in a second play with an A-ranked support between Ike and Soren and transfer data from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance with the same.
    • From Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Raven and Lucius, Lyn and Florina. Heath and Legault and Karel and Lucius do not have paired endings, but both conversations are high on the Ho Yay.
    • From Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Joshua and Gerik. They both have endings with women (Natasha and Marisa, for Joshua; Tethys and Marisa again, for Gerik), but if they get an A support, Gerik pledges his loyalty to Joshua and stays with him when he's crowned as King of Jehanna.
    • Oddly for a series that has previously included this trope, the ending of Fire Emblem: Awakening does not account for high-level Supports between characters of the same gender, romantic or otherwise. However, the Hubba Tester does not try to hide anything.
    • Fire Emblem Fates includes a feature called "skinshipping" where Corrin can pet and stroke the members of his/her army to raise affinity with them, gender being irrelevant, though the petting is only in the Japanese version. Two characters can achieve S-rank with an avatar of the same gender; a male Corrin can marry one of the male units from Nohr (the Tall, Dark, and Snarky Niles), while a female Corrin can marry one of the female units from Hoshido (the Dark Magical Girl Rhajat). Interestingly, Soleil is not a marriage option for a female Corrin, despite her constantly gushing about the fairer sex and flirting with every woman she sees; it's to the point that the English localization rewrote the bulk of her S supports to match, turning them into declarations of deep friendship instead of love. Even of the two that remained romantic, only one has her wholly reciprocate the other person's feelings, that being the effeminate, crossdressing Forrest.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses allows female Byleth to hook up with Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, Rhea, and Sothis. Male Byleth can hook up with Linhardt, Yuri, and Jeritza. Subverted with Alois and Gilbert: They have an S Support, but seeing that they're both married men several decades older than Byleth, no romance occurs, only platonic friendship.

    Visual Novels 
  • Hustle Cat allows players to choose Avery's gender (and even switch it mid-game, should they wish to), and players can romance every character regardless of chosen gender.
  • In Roommates, the male Rakesh and the female Isabella can be romanced by the two player characters Max and Anne.
  • //TODO: today lets you decide the player character's gender and your answers to which gender you're attracted to determine your two love interests' genders: if you say you prefer males or females, Phoenix and Joyce will both be of the gender you prefer, but if you say you like both or have no preference, Phoenix will be male and Joyce female.
  • The mobile game First Love Story has four main characters and four routes that focus on different pairings of these characters. Two of them (Asahi/Chitose and Sou/Akira) are male/female, but one (Sou/Asahi) is male/male and one (Chitose/Akira) is female/female.
  • Each of the two possible player characters in Loren: The Amazon Princess has two straight and two gay romance options. The easiest option, the title character, is a heterosexual relationship for Saren and a lesbian one for Elenor.
    • The game's expansion adds two more bisexual options, female necromancer Chambara and male demonblood Mesphit.
  • Monster Prom lets you pick any pronouns for your character, and your romantic options aren't limited in any way by your choice. In the words of the developers, monsters love monsters.
  • All of the books in the Choices: Stories You Play app offer gay options in some form or other.
  • Each of the Voltage, Inc. romance VNs under the Lovestruck app includes at least one female love interest, with Ever After Academy introducing the first gay male option:
    • Astoria: Fate's Kiss & Astoria: Lost Kisses: Medusa, as well as non-binary love interest Alex Cyprin, a demigod.
    • Gangsters in Love: Aurora James, the hustler.
    • Castaway! Love's Adventure: Serena Zhang, the doctor.
    • Love & Legends: The wizard Altea Bellerose and the enemy sorceress Helena Klein.
    • Speakeasy Tonight: Sofia Martinez, the singer.
    • Starship Promise: Nova, the super-soldier; Zhora Leonis, the illegal arms dealer; and Jessa Flexand, the bartender.
    • To Love & Protect: Madison Lane, the former police officer.
    • Havenfall Is for Lovers: Werewolf sheriff Mackenzie Hunt and vampire hunter Vanessa Helsing, as well as nonbinary option Jordan "JD" Davies, the Jersey Devil.
    • Villainous Nights: Andi Kim (aka "Cat"), Lorelei Linden (aka "Badger"), and Juliette Optima (aka "Bat").
    • Sweet Enchantments: Waitress Runa Amberthorne, cafe owner Liora Skyheart, and hostess Emeril Everbloom.
    • Queen of Thieves: Vivienne Tang, the seductress, and Zoe Banks, the hacker.
    • Sin With Me: Esperanza Gutierrez (aka "Wrath"), Onyx Wren (aka "Envy"), Yvette Holte (aka "Greed"), and Nahara Byrd (the Assassin Seer, formerly aka "Pride").
    • Reigning Passions: Amara, the captain of the guard; Xenia, the spymaster; and Piama, a princess of Spring; as well as nonbinary option Galen, the pirate.
    • Wicked Lawless Love: Cecelia Visconti, the vampire ranger, and Fiona Eichen, the mystic.
    • Tales of the Wild: Revi Pel, the fox tenderfoot, and Evina Arwel the swan druid.
    • Ever After Academy: Nora, the witch; Lavinia, the Ice Queen; and non-binary option Arin (for the female main character), and Lucas, aka Prince Charming and Abel, the woodsman (for the male main character).
    • Immortal Heart Society: Alanna McKenna, the ex (for the female main character), and Emilio Espinoza, the dark horse (for the male main character).

    Wide Open Sandbox 
  • Façade lets you flirt with Trip, Grace, or both, regardless of your character's gender. Granted, they're too wrapped up in their own issues to reciprocate, but they do acknowledge the interest.
  • Saints Row:
    • The flexible character creation system in Saints Row 2 allows you to do something like this. You set a gender for your character in the presets menu but are allowed to change the body, face and voice actor to fit a different gender. When you perform the Ho-ing Diversion you'll then hear voices from the same gender.
    • Saints Row IV allows you to screw any member of your crew at the push of a single button — the men, the women, and the floating spherical robot — regardless of the Boss's gender. Except for Keith David, he just wants to keep things professional. And Ben King, which pulls a Bait-and-Switch where the Boss seemingly builds up to a Love Confession, but really just wants to ask King to sign their copy of his book.

    Non-Video Game Examples 
  • All of the Choice of Games games allow a gay option (at least, the ones that have a romance element at all do). In Choice of the Dragon you can choose the gender of your mate (or 'I don't care'). Choice of Broadsides allows you to have an affair with Villeneuve, who is always the same gender as you. Choice of Romance always gives you the same options for love interests, but said love interests are male or female depending on whether you say you are flirting with men or women in an early decision. And in Choice of the Vampire, you are able to have an affair with Clotho on one hand and Silas, your dominus, and to an extent Jesse on the other hand regardless of gender. Also, in all but Choice of Romance (and possibly Choice of Broadsides) can you be bisexual - and in Choice of Romance your love interests are always all of the same gender. Choice of Broadsides is a little odd: when you're asked if you want to get married you can choose to claim you are attracted to your own gender; if you do this, and are friendly enough to Villeneuve, he/she will hit on you and you can accept. If you chose differently, this will never happen. However, after your affair you might have the opportunity to still get married; the text implies at first that you are doing this just to go through the motions or increase your position in society, but after that the description is pretty much identical to what it would be if you truly were interested in these men or women.

Inversions

    Primarily Male/Male Options 
  • Inverted in the Yaoi Genre visual novel Sacred Sand. Of the 21 possible endings, there are two which involve Lorr ending up with Learah: one is a romantic pairing while the other is a friendship.
  • In Echo. The player can choose five routes. Each about one of Chase's friends. All men except Jenna. Ironically, Chase ends up all routes remaining friends with each character except (probably) Jenna if he chooses to have a chance with her.

    Primarily Female/Female Options 
  • Inverted in Embric of Wulfhammer's Castle . Although the game is Yuri Genre and thus has many female/female options, there is still one ending where the Duchess can end up with Embric.
  • In Life Is Strange, protagonist Max can have romantic interactions with either estranged childhood friend Chloe or science nerd Warren. It's actually something of an inversion, though, since Chloe is practically the Deuteragonist, while Warren is a side character. Chloe is also the protagonist of the prequel, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, and in it she can begin a romance with popular girl Rachel.
  • Summer Rose Court, a RWBY Fan Game Visual Novel, allows Ruby to romance any of the members of Team RWBY, Team JNPR, or Penny. This leaves Jaune as the sole male option, with Ren only being romanceable in a polyamourous route alongside Nora.

 
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Video Example(s):

First Kiss with Lana Beniko

At the end of the second act of the Shadow of Revan expansion, the player character has an opportunity to take their flirtation with either Theron Shan or Lana Beniko to the next level. In this case, a female Sith Inquisitor PC chooses Lana. (Video by troper StarSword.)

Example of:
First Kiss

Alternative Title(s): Lesbian Option

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First Kiss with Lana Beniko

At the end of the second act of the Shadow of Revan expansion, the player character has an opportunity to take their flirtation with either Theron Shan or Lana Beniko to the next level. In this case, a female Sith Inquisitor PC chooses Lana. (Video by troper StarSword.)

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

Example of:

Main / FirstKiss

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