Coming Out Simulator 2014 - a half-true game about half-truths

Coming Out Simulator 2014 - a half-true game about half-truths

Coming Out Simulator is exactly what it says it is. It’s a free-to-play conversation simulator based on/inspired by the personal story of coming out of its creator, Nicky Case.

There’s no easy answer in Coming Out Simulator, no optimal ending to be achieved if you collect the requisite amount of points. Case based the game off a pivotal moment in his own life as a teenager. And just like in real life, the moment of “coming out” in this game is traumatic no matter which way the player chooses to approach it.

Ultimately, it’s liberating as well. But that’s not what the brunt of the experience playing Coming Out Simulator is actually like. […] There’s power in exploring a fantasy like the one in Mass Effect 3, but there’s also power in being reminded that “coming out” the way one does in that game is a fantasy, and a pretty far-fetched one for many people who faced far more difficult challenges when they actually came out.

Coming Out Simulator is a game about that second experience. It’s a painful one. But it’s also a necessary one, that I think more people who’ve never had to struggle with their own sexual identity should see for themselves. 

Okay. I just spent about 5 minutes bawling from this game. If you are a member of the LGBTQIAP+ community and have not “come out” to your family, you NEED to play this game. I have not come out to my family. I don’t know if I ever will be able to. But playing this game felt….liberating at most. If I ever came out to my family, their response would most probably be like this (minus the getting punched in the face part) Ultimately, it /is/ a very sad game, but it’s not depressing. Because it gets better, guys.