Through Mike Dies‘ story, players realize that Mike is a gay man trying to fight his inner demons while trying to get back to his partner, Gregory. In the game’s trailer (which can be viewed on the game’s Steam page), players can hear Mike deliver this line as he is trying to send a message to Gregory:
- “I want nothing more than to come back to you [Gregory]. I should’ve trusted you. I should’ve made a greater effort to reach you. Gregory, if you’re out there. I need you. Please, I need you. Please.”
The game’s creator, Alex Gold, made the following statement in an interview with PC Gamer regarding the game’s story:
- “I like to think of Mike Dies not being a story about a gay character, it’s a story about Mike. ‘Gay’ is not Mike’s defining trait…I wouldn’t expect a straight writer to accurately capture a gay relationship, and it wouldn’t make sense for me to write about a straight relationship. I wouldn’t even know where to start! If we want more genuine LGBT characters in games, there simply needs to be more LGBT developers.”
LGBTQ References in this game:
Queer Game Narrative in Mike Dies
Citations:
- Mike Dies on Steam. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://store.steampowered.com/app/696200/Mike_Dies/
- O’Neill, M. (2018, March 29). Mike Dies is a game about fatal teleporter accidents. Retrieved from https://www.pcgamer.com/mike-dies-is-a-game-about-fatal-teleporter-accidents/
LGBTQ Video Game Archive 