Infamous: Second Son - A Fantastic Gay Game

Recently, I've been replaying through Infamous: Second Son (PSN Store). I played it a little when it was released in 2014, but I don't recall actually finishing it.

Infamous 1 and 2 both hold a special place in my heart - they were what I would consider the best games from the PS3 generation (sorry, Little Big Planet!). Climbing around the buildings of New Marais pretending to be some kind of budget Spiderman, I had more fun than I care to admit. The story and character arcs with the side characters (Zeke and Nix in particular) made the whole experience of Infamous a memorable time. I never got an overly LGBT-ish vibe from the first two games, but with Second Son I just can't see past it.

Let's start right from the beginning of Second Son.

You play as rebel-without-a-cause Delsin, in the world after Infamous 2. All the conduits have been locked up and sent into a containment camp. After a prison bus crashes and 3 conduits (named bio-terrorists by the media) escape, Delsin holds the hands of conduit Hank. This is when he discovers that he is a power sponge, and he gains the power(s) of any conduits he touches.

When Delsin first gets his power after touching Hanks hands, a few lines hit pretty close to home. Reggie (Delsin's brother) says "No! no! You're my brother. This thing with you is going to pass. I promise we'll will fix it", That completely reminds me of the classic "Its just a phase!" line that LGBT people hear from family members all the time.

This is then followed by Betty (Delsin's mother figure) saying "Can't be ashamed for what you are. Cant help it. You were born that way." Now, any gays in the audience can pretty much hear Lady Gaga in the back of your head, along with a horde of deathdropping twinks, as soon as you see that line. Betty follows that up with "You're not one of those... beady eye Bio-Terrorists", which is pretty much the same thing that my Mother said to me when I came out: "You're not one of those pink wearing flamboyant gays." Yes, charming I know. I feel like both my Mum and Betty said this with the same intention: you aren't one of those stereotypical (shameful) gays/bio-terrorists that the media parades; you are better than that.

You are a good boy... you just happen to have smoke coming out of your fingers.

Betty

The rest of the game is a journey of accepting who you are. Finding out the truth of behind shady government controlling the city and the bio terrorists. One of the main side characters' story arc is getting your brother Hank to accept you for what (who) you are.

Just to make the point clear, Delsin isn't gay. He has somewhat of a romance arc with Fetch (if you can call hooking up a romance arc!) so he's definitely into girls. He might still be bi, but there's nothing indicating it in the canon.

Jack Dixon is a gamer, cinephile, and more than likely he's the guy who's ignoring you on Grindr. Tweet him @Jackaphobia. Support his writing on Patreon!