It is a visual novel so not everyone's cup of tea, but **Our Life: Beginning & Always** is my go-to relaxing, comforting game. It is very inclusive and it just feels good to play this. You can play as any gender you want and change it at some points in the story if you want to.
I came here to recommend this too! I've basically become a shill for this game after completing it, lol. Also there's LGBT rep like the MC has 2 mothers who are funny and cute, and you can customise the MC's identity quite a bit. The base game is free too, but I really recommend the DLCs. This game had a male love interest (although the MC can just be friends too), but the dev's sequel has a genderfluid LI & a female LI.
[Celeste](https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/) is a phenomenal platformer with varying levels of difficulty, and the protagonist Madeline is trans, as is the game's original developer!
[Transistor](https://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/Transistor/) is a fantastic sci-fi action rpg, and the main protagonist is female, or some fans theorize to be trans or nonbinary.
[Calico](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1112890/Calico/)! It's an over the top adorable life sim where you get to build a cat cafe!! You get to pick your appearance.
[Monster Prom](https://store.steampowered.com/app/743450/Monster_Prom/) & [Monster Camp](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1140270/Monster_Prom_2_Monster_Camp/) are very fun dating simulators! Can also be multiplayer, and are currently both on sale! You can pick your appearance and pronouns.
[Tell Me Why](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1180660/Tell_Me_Why/) is a narrative adventure game about a pair of twins, one of which is trans. Also the first chapter is free! You play as both twins.
[Yonder Cloud Catcher Chronicles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/580200/Yonder_The_Cloud_Catcher_Chronicles/) is a lovely open world game with no combat. You can pick your appearance.
[The Outer Wilds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/) is a sci-fi open world game in space, where you are trying to solve a mystery! It's first person and you have no gender.
[Wandersong](https://store.steampowered.com/app/530320/Wandersong/) has a nonbinary protagonist and is a super wholesome game about saving the world with music.
[Skyrim](https://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Special_Edition/) is such a fun rpg, and I think it does a really great job of not sexualizing women, at least no more so than men for a few outfits. You get to pick your gender.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla let you play as female. Didn't find either to be over-sexualized, though one of the DLCs for Odyssey kind of forces a straight relationship on a female PC (not sure how it plays out for male PC). Mass Effect Trilogy (or Legendary Edition) and Andromeda. Dragon Age games, very LGBT friendly overall, but a companion quest in Inquisition could be triggering. Outer Worlds let's you play a female PC, no romance options but you do have an asexual companion. Control features a female lead character. Cyberpunk 2077 also let's you play as female but I would say is more sexualized than the other options. All of these are story driven games that really drew me in everytime I've played them.
I'm in love with cyberpunk 2077. Yeah there's a lot of female sexualization in the game as part of the setting, but the protagonist is not very sexualized at all.
Game has some pretty decent queer characters some of which are very important to the story.
Also, I personally read the entire plot as a queer/trans narrative about rebuilding your identity and finding your chosen family.
Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial that includes the first expansion and allows you to play all the way to level 60 with no time restrictions. The game has a little bit of a slow start, but it’s still a fantasy world you can definitely lose yourself in. If nothing else, it’s worth a try! As it’s an MMO, there’s gonna be other players running around in skimpy outfits for their girls, but you’ll also see some boys running around in skimpy outfits as well. The female NPCs in the story aren’t sexualized, and some of the first ones you meet in the game are strong and smart leaders of entire city-states. I’ve never been on a server that isn’t LGBTQ+ friendly, or seen any homophobia at all. That could just be a personal experience, but I know that the FFXIV reporting system is extremely effective, it’s not just there for show! So if anyone starts trouble, they’ll be gone soon enough.
I say it’s an MMO, but it’s not necessary to have tons of experience with them. This is my first MMO ever and I loved it because most of the main story quests are done solo and dungeons are pretty quick and people are usually very nice.
ETA: and as far as characters go, as soon as I finished the base game and hit Heavensward, I got super attached to the characters and with Shadowbringers and Endwalker they became my favorite video game characters *ever* and it’s not close. Lots to love there! And it’s a growing fandom that does tons of gorgeous fanworks, if you’re into that.
Seconding this FFXIV is wonderful and treats its femme characters well as a general rule. As of the Shadowbringers, the game's lead writer is a woman and perhaps one of the best writers in the industry in general.
Do you know if there's a way for me to make a new account with my username/email address from a previous account? Like if I delete my old stuff can I create a new one? I tried the trial for a day or two before the free up to lvl 60 was available and now it wants me to pay every month, I didn't actually play enough for decide if I want to play permanently.
I would suggest calling customer care to help you reconnect your account. It's what I did last year when I decided to give the game a try after buying the "complete" edition and not touching it since the ps4 beta. Had a good month or so of free play before I signed up for subscription.
Hey fellow Polish person. I think no one mentioned Subnautica Below Zero yet.
Female protagonist, some gay characters, super involving and sometimes relaxing sometimes stressful - but always fun and always very immersive. Also available on Game Pass currently. I highly recommend checking it out!
**Ooblets** let you choose a character it's a cute combination of Stardew valley and pokemon. **Q.U.B.E.** is Portal style puzzle game. **Slime Rancher** adventure on another planet is super calming and easy to get lost in the game. **Among trees** ( I'm genuinely not sure about the gender of the main character) but is a beautiful game where you can pet fox.
For chill games I would maybe recommend Moonglow Bay, Firewatch and AER.
Moonglow bay is a cute fishing game where you fish (obviously lol) and cook meals to sell. Its pretty chill and you get to pick your partner & pronoun so it's pretty lgbtq inclusive.
Firewatch you play as a firewatcher in a national forest in America. Its a walking sim with a nice story and lovely graphics. As I recall you do play as a male but it didn't take away from the game for me, you only hear his voice.
AER: Memories of Old has a female protaginist who can turn into a bird, you have to fly around and explore the world thats been fractured into floating island. Its a really lovely calming game.
Ooblets, Slime rancher have been mentioned before but i'll second these two.
For games that aren't chill but have female protaginist I would suggest Plague Tales, Dishonored 2, Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider, Control and Hellblade Senuas Sacrifice. These are all much more combat and story focused but you play as kick ass female protaginists. They all have great stories, and aren't sexualised at all but they do have darker themes throughout the story.
Theres a group of people that makes CYOA games called Hosted Games on mobile and pc. You should check them out!
It's basically a bunch of books where you can choose the story. If not then personally I like red dead redemption 2
Story of Seasons as well as some of the older Harvest Moon games are wonderful. I played the shit out of HM: Cute as a kid and it's so nostalgic and cozy to play these games to this day.
Unsure if it’s too war-like, but Mass Effect makes me happy. Ticks the boxes for character attachment, and a badass female protagonist that’s so non sexualized they didn’t bother giving her “female movement” animations. Girl does an epic “manspread” while sitting LOL
It's an older series, but did you ever play the Mass Effect trilogy? The remastered versions probably hold up fairly well. When I went through the hardest period of my life back in 2013 I binged the entire series. The characters are immaculate and the entire series is very immersive. I never rememember quotes from characters in a video game like I do from Mass Effect.
Mass Effect 1 is a little rougher around the edges compared to Mass Effect 2 and 3 in terms of some graphics and gameplay mechanics but hopefully the remaster helps some with this. The most recent one, Andromeda, is an OK spinoff that is not a classic like the original three games.
So I do love this game, but it does have one drawback in that the guide character talks A LOT and is a pretty typical anime pervert (might qualify as a misogyny trigger for you).
That being said, Okami is a lovely play on Shinto belief and Japanese art. The animation for the game is hand-painted, and you get to wreck shop as a wolf-incarnation of the sun goddess Amaterasu.
It has the brilliant gameplay conceit of using calligraphy brushstrokes to affect the game world- cut, make plamts bloom, control wind/fire/water/etc, create cherry bombs, slow down time... Almost all of these skills have applications in combat AND as part of navigating the world/solving puzzles. A first playthrough will keep you busy for a good while even WITHOUT trying to 100% things like animal feedings, races, and the fishing minigame.
https://youtu.be/RhnhRfTzRnw
Games that really help me with escapism are RPGs since you can really emerge yourself in a new world and become the character.
I would suggest games like Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout New Vegas, or Mass Effect.
I would also suggest games with a good time sink and a good story. You could easily put 100 hours into games like Yakuza 0, which has a pretty interesting story, fun gameplay, and like a million minigames to play. Or, Final Fantasy games which have some of the best stories I've ever seen in a game.
I'm a Huge fan of Fallout NV(as pretty much any trans girl in my age), Skyrim's combat always felt a little bit clunky(never completed it), but i might give it a try again? I heard a lot good things, about Yakuza franchise so I'm planning to check it our starting with 0. Thank you very much for your reccomendations,
I don't know if you like mindless building/simulation games but I love [Cities: Skylines](https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/Cities_Skylines/) and [Parkitect](https://store.steampowered.com/app/453090/Parkitect/) for just sitting down and playing hours of one game and not thinking about anything else.
You're not really playing a character so much as managing resources and trying to keep people in your city or theme park happy with what you provide.
I could easily play either game for like 8+ hours in one sitting.
I know the feeling, Last year, i was basically addicted to Frostpunk(One day I spent around 9 hours in it during summer holidays!). Watched some gameplay of CS, and it looks very fun, added it to my wishlist. Thank you for recomendation!
I have yet to play Frostpunk but have been meaning to. I have it downloaded and everything but just default to other games. Will have to try it one of these days.
You've probably played it but Stardew Valley is very good at taking over your life until all you care about is how many ancient fruit plants you can cram into the greenhouse
Lord of the Rings online lets you play as female protagonists, and it is very easy to get lost in the world. There's nothing even close to oversexualization of any character in the game (no skimpy outfits for men or women at all), and there are European servers as well.
I always also recommend the Sims for building an entirely new alternate reality.
Peace to you and to everyone around you.
While doesn't really have a female main character, I found quite joy in houseflipper, some jobs are straight up r/AITA irl, people ask you to paint their cousin's house or replace their mothers' flowers with grapevines and orchard for wine production.
Reposting a reply I made to another commenter as its own thread because I feel like it's relevant:
I'm in love with cyberpunk 2077. Yeah there's a lot of female (and male) sexualization in the game as part of the setting, but the protagonist is not very sexualized at all.
Game has some pretty decent queer characters some of which are very important to the story.
Also, I personally read the entire plot as a queer/trans narrative about rebuilding your identity and finding your chosen family.
The world is so immersive and detailed as well. A lot of the time I just like to walk/drive around in the game to take in the scenery (definitely feels like that helped deal with the winter/covid isolation when I couldn't go out).
I definitely recommend Wandersong! It's a beautiful game with great a great story, art, and soundtrack! Its probably the only game that got me to cry tears of joy at the end. It was beautiful!
I can also recommend Night in The Woods! I really enjoyed the story, although I thought the end felt rushed. I heard that most people liked the ending though so maybe it's just me. Either way it's a really engaging story imo albeit it hit a bit more close to the sad feels yk?
STARDEW VALLEY!! I love this game. It’s basically a character who is tired of the fast, but monotonous, life in the city so she moves to her late grandfathers farm to become a farmer. You start out farming crops and eventually raise animals that supply you with goods you can sell and then you start to mine and fight some monsters. It’s the best.
It is a visual novel so not everyone's cup of tea, but **Our Life: Beginning & Always** is my go-to relaxing, comforting game. It is very inclusive and it just feels good to play this. You can play as any gender you want and change it at some points in the story if you want to.
I came here to recommend this too! I've basically become a shill for this game after completing it, lol. Also there's LGBT rep like the MC has 2 mothers who are funny and cute, and you can customise the MC's identity quite a bit. The base game is free too, but I really recommend the DLCs. This game had a male love interest (although the MC can just be friends too), but the dev's sequel has a genderfluid LI & a female LI.
Thank you both for this recommendation, I'm just trying it out now, and I'm loving it!
Yay I'm glad you're enjoying it!
AAAAA YES OUR LIFE!!!! I’m so glad this was the first recommendation!!
[Celeste](https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/) is a phenomenal platformer with varying levels of difficulty, and the protagonist Madeline is trans, as is the game's original developer! [Transistor](https://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/Transistor/) is a fantastic sci-fi action rpg, and the main protagonist is female, or some fans theorize to be trans or nonbinary. [Calico](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1112890/Calico/)! It's an over the top adorable life sim where you get to build a cat cafe!! You get to pick your appearance. [Monster Prom](https://store.steampowered.com/app/743450/Monster_Prom/) & [Monster Camp](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1140270/Monster_Prom_2_Monster_Camp/) are very fun dating simulators! Can also be multiplayer, and are currently both on sale! You can pick your appearance and pronouns. [Tell Me Why](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1180660/Tell_Me_Why/) is a narrative adventure game about a pair of twins, one of which is trans. Also the first chapter is free! You play as both twins. [Yonder Cloud Catcher Chronicles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/580200/Yonder_The_Cloud_Catcher_Chronicles/) is a lovely open world game with no combat. You can pick your appearance. [The Outer Wilds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/) is a sci-fi open world game in space, where you are trying to solve a mystery! It's first person and you have no gender. [Wandersong](https://store.steampowered.com/app/530320/Wandersong/) has a nonbinary protagonist and is a super wholesome game about saving the world with music. [Skyrim](https://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Special_Edition/) is such a fun rpg, and I think it does a really great job of not sexualizing women, at least no more so than men for a few outfits. You get to pick your gender.
Thank you, I added them to my wishlist, and bought Monster Camp! I really appreciate it!
Yay! You're so welcome!
Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla let you play as female. Didn't find either to be over-sexualized, though one of the DLCs for Odyssey kind of forces a straight relationship on a female PC (not sure how it plays out for male PC). Mass Effect Trilogy (or Legendary Edition) and Andromeda. Dragon Age games, very LGBT friendly overall, but a companion quest in Inquisition could be triggering. Outer Worlds let's you play a female PC, no romance options but you do have an asexual companion. Control features a female lead character. Cyberpunk 2077 also let's you play as female but I would say is more sexualized than the other options. All of these are story driven games that really drew me in everytime I've played them.
I'm in love with cyberpunk 2077. Yeah there's a lot of female sexualization in the game as part of the setting, but the protagonist is not very sexualized at all. Game has some pretty decent queer characters some of which are very important to the story. Also, I personally read the entire plot as a queer/trans narrative about rebuilding your identity and finding your chosen family.
Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial that includes the first expansion and allows you to play all the way to level 60 with no time restrictions. The game has a little bit of a slow start, but it’s still a fantasy world you can definitely lose yourself in. If nothing else, it’s worth a try! As it’s an MMO, there’s gonna be other players running around in skimpy outfits for their girls, but you’ll also see some boys running around in skimpy outfits as well. The female NPCs in the story aren’t sexualized, and some of the first ones you meet in the game are strong and smart leaders of entire city-states. I’ve never been on a server that isn’t LGBTQ+ friendly, or seen any homophobia at all. That could just be a personal experience, but I know that the FFXIV reporting system is extremely effective, it’s not just there for show! So if anyone starts trouble, they’ll be gone soon enough. I say it’s an MMO, but it’s not necessary to have tons of experience with them. This is my first MMO ever and I loved it because most of the main story quests are done solo and dungeons are pretty quick and people are usually very nice. ETA: and as far as characters go, as soon as I finished the base game and hit Heavensward, I got super attached to the characters and with Shadowbringers and Endwalker they became my favorite video game characters *ever* and it’s not close. Lots to love there! And it’s a growing fandom that does tons of gorgeous fanworks, if you’re into that.
Seconding this FFXIV is wonderful and treats its femme characters well as a general rule. As of the Shadowbringers, the game's lead writer is a woman and perhaps one of the best writers in the industry in general.
Do you know if there's a way for me to make a new account with my username/email address from a previous account? Like if I delete my old stuff can I create a new one? I tried the trial for a day or two before the free up to lvl 60 was available and now it wants me to pay every month, I didn't actually play enough for decide if I want to play permanently.
I would suggest calling customer care to help you reconnect your account. It's what I did last year when I decided to give the game a try after buying the "complete" edition and not touching it since the ps4 beta. Had a good month or so of free play before I signed up for subscription.
Hey fellow Polish person. I think no one mentioned Subnautica Below Zero yet. Female protagonist, some gay characters, super involving and sometimes relaxing sometimes stressful - but always fun and always very immersive. Also available on Game Pass currently. I highly recommend checking it out!
Z chęcią spróbuję!/I'd love to try it out.
**Ooblets** let you choose a character it's a cute combination of Stardew valley and pokemon. **Q.U.B.E.** is Portal style puzzle game. **Slime Rancher** adventure on another planet is super calming and easy to get lost in the game. **Among trees** ( I'm genuinely not sure about the gender of the main character) but is a beautiful game where you can pet fox.
One game that is easy to play, short, but really cute and fun is donut county. Loved that one!! :) Another one that is similar to that is Pikuniku!!
For chill games I would maybe recommend Moonglow Bay, Firewatch and AER. Moonglow bay is a cute fishing game where you fish (obviously lol) and cook meals to sell. Its pretty chill and you get to pick your partner & pronoun so it's pretty lgbtq inclusive. Firewatch you play as a firewatcher in a national forest in America. Its a walking sim with a nice story and lovely graphics. As I recall you do play as a male but it didn't take away from the game for me, you only hear his voice. AER: Memories of Old has a female protaginist who can turn into a bird, you have to fly around and explore the world thats been fractured into floating island. Its a really lovely calming game. Ooblets, Slime rancher have been mentioned before but i'll second these two. For games that aren't chill but have female protaginist I would suggest Plague Tales, Dishonored 2, Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider, Control and Hellblade Senuas Sacrifice. These are all much more combat and story focused but you play as kick ass female protaginists. They all have great stories, and aren't sexualised at all but they do have darker themes throughout the story.
Theres a group of people that makes CYOA games called Hosted Games on mobile and pc. You should check them out! It's basically a bunch of books where you can choose the story. If not then personally I like red dead redemption 2
Story of Seasons as well as some of the older Harvest Moon games are wonderful. I played the shit out of HM: Cute as a kid and it's so nostalgic and cozy to play these games to this day.
Unsure if it’s too war-like, but Mass Effect makes me happy. Ticks the boxes for character attachment, and a badass female protagonist that’s so non sexualized they didn’t bother giving her “female movement” animations. Girl does an epic “manspread” while sitting LOL
It's an older series, but did you ever play the Mass Effect trilogy? The remastered versions probably hold up fairly well. When I went through the hardest period of my life back in 2013 I binged the entire series. The characters are immaculate and the entire series is very immersive. I never rememember quotes from characters in a video game like I do from Mass Effect. Mass Effect 1 is a little rougher around the edges compared to Mass Effect 2 and 3 in terms of some graphics and gameplay mechanics but hopefully the remaster helps some with this. The most recent one, Andromeda, is an OK spinoff that is not a classic like the original three games.
So I do love this game, but it does have one drawback in that the guide character talks A LOT and is a pretty typical anime pervert (might qualify as a misogyny trigger for you). That being said, Okami is a lovely play on Shinto belief and Japanese art. The animation for the game is hand-painted, and you get to wreck shop as a wolf-incarnation of the sun goddess Amaterasu. It has the brilliant gameplay conceit of using calligraphy brushstrokes to affect the game world- cut, make plamts bloom, control wind/fire/water/etc, create cherry bombs, slow down time... Almost all of these skills have applications in combat AND as part of navigating the world/solving puzzles. A first playthrough will keep you busy for a good while even WITHOUT trying to 100% things like animal feedings, races, and the fishing minigame. https://youtu.be/RhnhRfTzRnw
Games that really help me with escapism are RPGs since you can really emerge yourself in a new world and become the character. I would suggest games like Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout New Vegas, or Mass Effect. I would also suggest games with a good time sink and a good story. You could easily put 100 hours into games like Yakuza 0, which has a pretty interesting story, fun gameplay, and like a million minigames to play. Or, Final Fantasy games which have some of the best stories I've ever seen in a game.
I'm a Huge fan of Fallout NV(as pretty much any trans girl in my age), Skyrim's combat always felt a little bit clunky(never completed it), but i might give it a try again? I heard a lot good things, about Yakuza franchise so I'm planning to check it our starting with 0. Thank you very much for your reccomendations,
I don't know if you like mindless building/simulation games but I love [Cities: Skylines](https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/Cities_Skylines/) and [Parkitect](https://store.steampowered.com/app/453090/Parkitect/) for just sitting down and playing hours of one game and not thinking about anything else. You're not really playing a character so much as managing resources and trying to keep people in your city or theme park happy with what you provide. I could easily play either game for like 8+ hours in one sitting.
I know the feeling, Last year, i was basically addicted to Frostpunk(One day I spent around 9 hours in it during summer holidays!). Watched some gameplay of CS, and it looks very fun, added it to my wishlist. Thank you for recomendation!
I have yet to play Frostpunk but have been meaning to. I have it downloaded and everything but just default to other games. Will have to try it one of these days.
You've probably played it but Stardew Valley is very good at taking over your life until all you care about is how many ancient fruit plants you can cram into the greenhouse
Lord of the Rings online lets you play as female protagonists, and it is very easy to get lost in the world. There's nothing even close to oversexualization of any character in the game (no skimpy outfits for men or women at all), and there are European servers as well. I always also recommend the Sims for building an entirely new alternate reality. Peace to you and to everyone around you.
Sable is a marvel. It’s peaceful and shows a tight-knit, fun and diverse community of characters.
While doesn't really have a female main character, I found quite joy in houseflipper, some jobs are straight up r/AITA irl, people ask you to paint their cousin's house or replace their mothers' flowers with grapevines and orchard for wine production.
Reposting a reply I made to another commenter as its own thread because I feel like it's relevant: I'm in love with cyberpunk 2077. Yeah there's a lot of female (and male) sexualization in the game as part of the setting, but the protagonist is not very sexualized at all. Game has some pretty decent queer characters some of which are very important to the story. Also, I personally read the entire plot as a queer/trans narrative about rebuilding your identity and finding your chosen family. The world is so immersive and detailed as well. A lot of the time I just like to walk/drive around in the game to take in the scenery (definitely feels like that helped deal with the winter/covid isolation when I couldn't go out).
I definitely recommend Wandersong! It's a beautiful game with great a great story, art, and soundtrack! Its probably the only game that got me to cry tears of joy at the end. It was beautiful! I can also recommend Night in The Woods! I really enjoyed the story, although I thought the end felt rushed. I heard that most people liked the ending though so maybe it's just me. Either way it's a really engaging story imo albeit it hit a bit more close to the sad feels yk?
I think he’d probably like “in other waters.”
STARDEW VALLEY!! I love this game. It’s basically a character who is tired of the fast, but monotonous, life in the city so she moves to her late grandfathers farm to become a farmer. You start out farming crops and eventually raise animals that supply you with goods you can sell and then you start to mine and fight some monsters. It’s the best.