Queer Game Narrative in Ladykiller in a Bind

Ladykiller in a Bindis an erotic visual novel that follows the adventures of The Beast, an 18-year old lesbian who crossdresses to impersonate her twin brother. She becomes tangled in a series of relationships during her brother’s senior class cruise, including becoming a sub to a red-haired domme (The Beauty). Ladykiller also makes the player work harder than many visual novels at negotiating what “pathway” to take via dialogue options. It isn’t always clear as to what the “right” option should be, which helps illustrate the real messiness of relationships. Overall, the game itself takes great care to explore consent and the various social dimensions of intimate relationships. However, prior to a patch by developer Christina Love, it was criticized for a scene in which the protagonist was subjected to nonconsensual humiliation at the hands of a male character. Writers merrit kopas and Simone de Rochefort have responded to this criticism as an example of the way in which queer indie developers are held to impossibly high standards of perfection when it comes to their work exploring difficult human themes like sexuality and power. A trailer for the game can be viewed here.

LGBTQ references in this game:

Queer Game Narrative in Ladykiller in a Bind

Citations

  1. (n.d.). Ladykiller in a Bind. TV Tropes Wiki. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VisualNovel/LadykillerInABind
  2. Philippa Warr. (2017, January 26). Ladykiller in a Bind dev reworks controversial scene. Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved from https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/26/ladykiller-in-a-bind-scene-reworked/
  3. Simone de Rochefortand merrit k. (2017, January 14). Ladykiller in a Bind shows that we’re not ready to handle messy queer stories. Polygon. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/24/14365716/ladykiller-in-a-bind-problematic-consent-sex-scene
  4. Christina Love. (2016, October 10). Love Conquers All Games. Retrieved from http://loveconquersallgam.es/post/151632260478/now-available-30-for-windows-macos-linux
  5. Christina Love. (2016, August 30). Ladykiller in a Bind gameplay. Youtube Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNiL-gwaLY
  6. Alayna Cole. (n.d.). Ladykiller in a Bind. QueerlyRepresentMe. Retrieved from http://queerlyrepresent.me/title/ladykiller-in-a-bind