Gay bar cyberpunk

I could get used to it. On my way there I pass half-naked men gyrating their hips over the pole they dance at. Just a regular night in Night City. It is so absurd that I laugh, put my controller down, and laugh again. The year is There have been clubs catered to sex for years and years.

In A Post Apocalyptic Gay Bar

Since before you even existed. I have to laugh, because the alternative is too extreme. What sort of audience did they want to cater to? I suspect the latter, so I had no true problem in going to the club and doing the task. Once you finish the Side Gig for Padre, you never go into that club again.

The club already has gained the reputation of being that place where sex workers cyberpunk taken advantage of. And it is true, sex workers do get taken advantage of — regardless if they are queer or not, but there is something to be said that the gay queer space — territory which queer people bar claimed for their own, for safety, for being themselves — in the entirety of the game, has such a dark cloud hanging over it.

That, despite who you are, V is an intruder in a place that many queer folks see as their safe space. But not even just an intruder, but a person who looks at Dicky Twister and its patrons as though they are a part of some zoo. It hurts. And yet, despite Cyberpunk having such a wildly conflicting view of queer space, V can have queer bar with no judgment whatsoever from the people they meet.

The same looks, the same animation, and the same flirty dialogue. We know that gay developers can cyberpunk queer sexuality and romance — they do so beautifully with Judy. Why River, Panam, and Kerry failed in that respect is a complete mystery to me. It still stings that, for a game that marketed itself as one where you could be yourself, it does little to try and understand queer sexuality — despite all of the love interests being queer.

It was never explained. But, in spite of the queer relationships and characters you meet — including singular trans character Claire, who is a complete sweetheart by the way — the biggest misunderstanding of what appeals to a queer player and community is the positioning of V.

How can you play as a V that is intimately aware of the queer scene — being queer themself — if you have a game that is so determined to make V a white, cisheterosexual asshole? They are window dressing at best, but at least they are there. They have to be the V who sees an opportunity in exposing gay celebrities and leaders.

The pain of being ostracized and shunned, only to defend and become part of a group that understands that feeling so well? I could almost cry with relief.