Melanin Monday – Love Shore

Hey there Blerdy Tribe, it’s Melanin Monday here on Blerdy Otome and that means I’m spotlighting another Melanin Friendly Game! For those of you just joining the party—every Monday I spotlight games that feature Black and brown characters for anyone looking for titles with just a bit more representation. As a blerd and a gamer, I am always on the lookout for representation in my games. This is largely a personal project for me—there are almost no “diverse game” tags on major game sites—so, it can be pretty difficult find games with characters of color… unless you already know where to look.

My last post spotlighted Akupara’s adventure game Mutazione, and this week I’m shaking things up with a demo. Now, Perfect Garbage’s upcoming queer positive cyberpunk visual novel, Love Shore has been on my radar for quite some time–you guys know how excited I get about representative games and this game promises to give us some sweet BIPOC and LGBTQIA rep! And while the game is still in development, the team just dropped their demo over on the Steam platform, which in my opinion makes now the perfect time to start talking about this game again!

Love Shore is an upcoming sci-fi thriller visual novel set in the futuristic metropolis of Love Shore, a place where humans and cyborgs coexist. After a fertility crisis strikes the city, biotech company Life S. Incorporated comes up with a viable solution–artificially created humans. These S. Humans are created with their own unique personalities, thoughts, feelings, and appearance–indistinguishable from biological humans… except they don’t age and they’re a bit more resilient than their human peers.

The game gives players a chance to play as two S. Humans–Farah and Sam–as they navigate the neon lit streets of Love Shore. Each character gives you a unique look at the different faces of the city. Investigate the city’s deep rooted criminal underbelly, solve a murder, and maybe even find love along the way. Both Farah and Sam have their own very different social circles–friends, enemies, contacts, etc, throughout the game you will interact with key players from each of their lives. You decide who you want to keep close, but not everything is as it seems…

Love Shore features a diverse cast of LGBTQ+ characters, each with their own unique histories and motivations. Explore this imaginative sci-fi landscape and discover the secrets of the city and yourself.

The game is set for an October 2021 release, but you can play the demo now on Steam or download directly from itch.io.

Thank you for reading and supporting Blerdy Otome! Have you played the demo for Love Shore?  Share your thoughts! Got a Melanin Friendly Game you think I should spotlight? Send it to me! 

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