‘Dadification’ rises in importance as video games embrace queer romance (2024)

For nearly a decade, video games have become increasingly focused on adult themes in which male characters act as protectors to daughters or daughter figures, a process video game designer and critic Mattie Brice recently labeled “dadification.” However, this maturation focuses almost exclusively on heterosexual men.

LGBTQ narratives have started gaining traction in modern games, including indie darlings like “Gone Home,” queer romance options in the recently rereleased “Mass Effect,” and dating simulations like “Dream Daddy.” But these narratives typically trend younger, often involving teenagers or adults in their early 20s.

Even “The Last of Us Part II,” which featured a lesbian protagonist raising a child, is more of a young adult story.

When will queer men get their chance to save the day? Where is their “dadification”?

It’s happening in gaming, albeit slowly. There’s Andrew Dagyab in the “Gone Home” follow-up “Tacoma,” who has a husband and children back on Earth and must balance his distant job on a space station with co-parenting. “Life is Strange 2” also features father figures for the Diaz Brothers: two older gay men from San Francisco who found mainstream life too bigoted (yes, even in the city) and moved to an off-grid commune. The game’s protagonist, Sean Diaz, looks at the men longingly, hoping to have a similarly secure, supportive relationship in his future.

The indie hit “Hades” (developed by San Francisco’s own Supergiant Games) also features a queer father figure in the form of protagonist Zagreus’ mentor Achilles. While not acknowledged as a dad in the story, Achilles is outsourced into a parental role by the God of the Dead himself, and serves as an emotional bastion for the frustrated Zagreus. There’s even a deeply arresting side quest that revolves around reuniting Achilles with estranged lover Patroclus in another part of the underworld.

Games willing to highlight queer dads are usually smaller titles with a narrative bent, but one major studio franchise already has the set pieces in place to pull it into the mainstream. Capcom’s “Ace Attorney” series celebrates its 20th anniversary in October. Defense attorney Phoenix Wright is one of gaming’s most enduring icons, and popularly interpreted as bisexual. He did drop out of art school and started practicing law specifically to save his childhood friend, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, because he saw Edgeworth looking tragically sad in a newspaper article.

Heterosexual love stories get built on flimsier pretexts than that.

While any romanticism between Wright and Edgeworth was originally unintentional, “Ace Attorney” developers took note of the treasure trove of queer-themed fan art and stories featuring the protagonist and his rival after the release of the first game. Character designer Tatsuro Iwamoto noted in a 2005 interview that he started extensively reading manga about queer men to learn more about what fans found appealing. Lead character designer Kumiko Suekane, known for her works starring queer men, also offered feedback on how to properly hint at their “warm friendship” in later games.

Capcom seems to encourage interpreting the duo as a potential couple with suggestive dialogue, such as when Wright refers to Edgeworth as “daddy” during a particularly intense trial in “Dual Destinies”; a cuddly cameo in “Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3”; and complementary game merchandise like the Material Crown rings bearing a striking resemblance to the engagement variety. The official “Ace Attorney” Facebook page even shared “I love you” fan art of Wright and Edgeworth on Valentine’s Day 2014.

As of “Spirit of Justice,” the latest game in the series, Wright is unattached, 35, and father to 17-year-old Trucy, a precocious magician he adopted shortly after the events of the third game. Edgeworth serves as a significant adult in her life as well. He attends her magic shows, even using aspects of her performances as evidence in court. During a flight back home, she shows no fear in sleeping on the famously intimidating prosecutor’s shoulder; his resulting discomfort is no doubt familiar to any dad who desperately wants to move, but won’t disrupt his child’s all-important rest.

While Trucy would be too old for Edgeworth to serve as an official co-parent in future games — even if she wasn’t, same-sex couples in Japan are nationally barred from both marriage recognition and adoption — he could easily evolve into the role of stepfather-in-all-but-legalese, given their history and closeness.

“Ace Attorney” fans certainly wouldn’t mind. Capcom doesn’t have to worry about losing sales by canonizing a queer relationship, and would likely even attract a new wave of excited players in doing so. There’s already a massive, highly vocal fanbase demanding that the series acknowledge Wright and Edgeworth’s relationship as either queer-platonic or romantic in future installments.

Should their relationship get confirmed in a way befitting the typically romance-shy tone of the series, it would result in one of the highest-profile same-sex parenthood stories in gaming history and a significant step forward in representation.