Good day my lovely deviants, and welcome yet again to Joyful Stick. Miss the last entry? You can read it here. Today, we’re going to enjoy the last few warm winds of summer on an island full of beautiful people with Boyfriend Dungeon by Kitfox Games.
Summer Love
Dating is nerve wracking. Doing so queer? God. I think I’d rather take a vow of celibacy.
It’s not that I don’t have a grasp of what I want from a partner now. I do, and I’m not afraid to seek it. Rather it’s the entire ordeal wrapped up with dating in of itself. Like, just imagine working up the nerve to talk to someone only to progress into trying to figure out what they want to eat. Gods above, I’m fairly confident there’s been CIA “interrogations’ ‘ at government blacksites that were less painful. That’s before we get to the fact the dating “market” of apps, services, matchmakers and more are overwhelmingly hetronormative. Plenty of which will straight up not take queer membership as well.
That leaves the horrorshow of Tinder or Grindr if you’re feeling lucky. You might as well stay home, drink a beer and watch The Deer Hunter. Er, okay maybe not that film.
However, to take this viewpoint is to place blinders on to the reality of dating, love and relationships. I’ve found that often we as a culture tend to think of dating in binary terms-you’re dating someone or seeking someone. It’s reflected in the countless festive Hallmark movies produced round the clock and shoved down our throats en masse. This constant barrage has perverted the concept of love into a rather small box.
The truth about dating and love is that both hold infinite possibilities for forming relationships. Not even romantic or sexual ones. I have plenty of people I’ve dated that I ended up being good friends with, booty calls or more. To narrow dating down to “taken” or “seeking” is to deny ourselves the varied splendors of our brief existence.
It’s a mindset that’s incredibly difficult to liberate ourselves from. Especially because of that damned media cycle. Rare is it to see queer love displayed at all, but even rarer is polyamorous situations unless lit through the express lens of sex. Even rarer is the concept of platonic relationships filled with love, hope and merriment. Western media is especially egregious of this, reducing all interactions to sex or Lifelong Never Breaking Up Happily Ever After fluff.
So when Boyfriend Dungeon was slid into my sightline, you can imagine my hesitation. I’d just gone through the arduous shit-show of Leisure Suit Larry and Halloween Witch. Both series left such a sour taste in my mouth that the title to Kitfox’s dungeon crawler elicited a groan from the back of my throat. Ah geez, I thought, This is going to have like, a bunch of nondescript anime men in it or something. Fuck.
What I found through play instead was a game that was wonderfully diverse not only in body types and people, but in how it approached the concept of love itself. Boyfriend Dungeon is one of the most respectful portrayals of intimacy I’ve seen during my run on this series, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Island Of Beautiful Men (And Women, And People In Between)
Boyfriend Dungeon drops you into low-fantasy-but-incredibly-relatable world of crashing at your cousins’ (their name is Jesse, and they’re great) rental for the summer as you scramble to get your life together. Off the cuff Jesse comments that it would be nice if you met somebody, and even offers to set you up on some dates. The opening is delightful and places the game’s narrative values at the forefront-Jesse very pointedly and plainly says that while these are “dates”, you don’t have to fall for anybody. Rather, they just really want to get you out and help you find happiness. If that means making a bunch of friends, lovers or finding that one person, all the better. Their focus throughout the narrative is one of building you a support network from the ground up.
I think we all need a Jesse in our lives. I’ve been lucky to have many people just like them.
That support network (and varied love interests) consists of a multitude of characters from all walks of life, sizes, skin tones and more. Oh, and they can turn into weapons. I should probably mention that-Boyfriend Dungeon is indeed a dungeon crawler where you form a personal relationship with the weapons you gleam throughout. You do this by going out with them to dinner, to the movies or just talking to them. You’re in no way pressured to further relationships with characters unless you simply want to. What’s more, you can do so in healthy, mature ways that are comfortable for you individually.
One of the first people you meet is Isaac, an executive seeking to do charity work that transforms into an estoc. Isaac is a fan of food, fencing and art-all things I personally have sought in a partner before. Yet, I liked Isaac way more as a dude to hang out with than a romantic interest. We were able to pursue a healthy, full and loving friendship while still receiving all the benefits we would have got had I chosen to romance him. There’s no penalty and no negative effects for choosing friendship over romance-or even nothing at all. The player can still “go dunj-ing” with a character so long as they hit it off at the first meeting. Dungeon crawling levels up your intimacy meter until you get a text from the character prompting a date.
Dating, if successful, can further your intimacy with your newfound friend or partner. But, they can also go arry. You can turn characters down or tell them to back off entirely. Sunder the Talwar illustrates this perfectly for me. Every character will tell you he’s bad news-but personally speaking, I found him to be an absolutely enormous dweeb. So! I turned him down every chance I got. He finally got the message and left me alone. Dates are also an opportunity to further friendships as well-perhaps you share drinks at Jesse’s barbeque, or you accompany Isaac to a party he totally forgot he had to attend. The very fact that you can choose to go as friends and remain friends (or become more) is something I haven’t seen often in this article series. All too often, visual novels and their hybrids lock the player onto those often hetronormative and sexually charged avenues I maligned. While these can be entertaining and arousing, it’s the junk food of fiction. It’s fine if you’re in the mood for it-but does it truly leave you fulfilled at the end of the night?
Well, certainly filled in some cases, but regardless.
The variety of options in the writing isn’t the only thoughtful way BD approaches intimacy and social situations either. You’re brought within these characters’ lives and get to know them in a living, breathing way that highlights their best qualities, despairs and faults. Isaac’s cool, calm and professional demeanor is contrasted by his relationship with his dad. Valeria’s wild, artistic flair is grounded within the turmoil she has with her exes. Seven’s reluctant demeanor is due to their inability to go anywhere in public because of fame. Regardless of the circumstances, the cast reacts naturally rather than as caricatures of human experiences. It makes getting texts from them and getting to know them enriching and rewarding.
Well, except for that one guy.
It’s time to talk about Eric.
When No Isn’t Enough
Boyfriend Dungeon actually begins with a series of prompts. One telling you that you’ll get texts from a character called “Mom”, which you can turn off if it’s triggering. The other actually raised my eyebrow.
This is a hell of a sentence to see for what is supposed to be the happy-go-lucky-queer dungeon crawl game of the year. BD cloaks itself in bright colors, stylized western art and even opens with a pop song. While I figured there would be some weirdness from some characters, I thought that Sunder’s antics would be the most of it.
I was wrong.
Eric is introduced as a “friend” of Jesse, much like other future dates you’ll have. He operates a store within town where he manufactures non-personable weapons from actual steel and the like. He’s one of the first characters you meet, and he will never let you forget it even for a moment. Regardless of how you treat Eric, he’ll text you at all hours. He’ll show up totally unprompted to parties. He’ll send you unwanted gifts and even spy on you as you go on dates with other characters. Throughout the game, every time Eric butted into this pastel candy reality I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d been here before.
You can tell him to slow down, back off and outright curse at him. With witnesses even! Yet Eric still tries throughout the entire game, calling you his “beloved” and more. His very presence within the title has caused quite a bit of controversy, even leading to his voice actor having to plead for people to stop sending him death threats.
I understand people being alarmed, and perhaps feeling as though Kitfox games could have been more open about what exactly that prompt involved. I can understand Eric’s presence within the title being triggering as someone that has been stalked twice over the last decade of my career. Every time I got a text from him, the smile that was on my face turned instinctually into a frown. I may have said to friends that Eric was the kind of guy “I’d punch right out of his Timbs”.
Yet, Eric needs to be within the story. His presence was executed perfectly as a source of antagonism and the game’s narrative would lack substance without him. What BD accomplishes with Eric isn’t to purposefully trigger a sensitive audience but rather to illustrate the kind of horrid, gaslighting and emotionally manipulative people we often encounter while dating. Eric is a giant fucking red flag because many, many people often won’t recognize these kinds of encounters until it’s far too late.
A close (albeit far different) analogue is actually Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club. While their reasons are vastly different in executions (and philosophical reasoning), both characters firmly believe they’re in the right. Both characters believe this is their chance for true love. Should the player choose to pursue either, they’re strapped in for a dark roller coaster of emotions that can leave them gutted. Without either, their narratives would suffer and ultimately be forgettable fluff.
As much as I wanted to save the girls in DDLC, the emotional impact of that game couldn’t have happened without Monika. Without Eric, I wouldn’t have seized on the love I felt for Valeria, Seven and Isaac. Eric is an anchor to reality in the sugar-coated dream of BD, a stark and harrowing reminder to keep ourselves safe.
So please, stop sending his voice actor death threats. That’s disgusting and makes you no better than the very character you decry. It’s weird. You’re fucking weird if you do that kind of crap, and I mean that with my full chest. Not playing the game is always an option.
Loving You Is War
I was pleasantly surprised in so many ways with Boyfriend Dungeon. From the diverse cast to the mature, fun and often surprisingly adult narrative, the music, the art style-everything. Kitfox Games has an absolute smash hit on their hands that I couldn’t put down. It’s rare I feel compelled to go back and play a title when I’m done with a review. Yet, that’s precisely what I’m going to do tonight when this is published.
Boyfriend Dungeon is a crisp twenty bucks on steam right now, but I’d recommend copping the soundtrack edition. There’s plenty of bops and the composer totally deserves a cut as well. While playtime may be too short for some people, this is a mechanically easy and approachable title with tons to offer. It outshines plenty of others in the field even at full price. Likewise, it’s on Xbox Gamepass as well.
Grab it. You won’t be disappointed in the least.
-j