Why you can't escape all of those sexy games

This week on Post Games, “Why you can’t escape porn, sex, and lewd games.”

Act 1: How NSFW games went from the backrooms to the front page

Act 2: An interview with Hot Pink, a successful lewd game developer

Act 3: The news of the week, including the definitive answer to the most important question in America in this troubling moment: Is parrying in games good or bad?

For Patreon subscribers: The long, successful history of sex games in Japan. Want to know how the Western market went from decades of porn game prohibition to the modern lewd game free-for-all? The answer can be found in the decades of Japanese “eroge.” Plus, a reading from The Joy of Cybersex.

Image: Kaiju Princess 2 (PantyParrot/Mango Party)

Thank you for subscribing to Post Games on Patreon! You keep the show alive, get tons of cool stuff, and can listen to new episodes early! This Monday, I’m publishing the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series! Next Friday: the Switch 2 launch special with Nintendo historians Kelsey Lewin and Chris Kohler!

Reference materials:

Act 1: The history of porn junk and lewd gems

• "What does it actually mean for a video game to be horny" (AV Club)

• Adult Analysis Anthology is a great critical series on lewd games

• Decoder Ring on Custer’s Revenge

• The Wiki for Beat Em and Eat Em

• A great GameStop video on The History of S*x in Gaming

• The Atlantic on the world’s first (and sexy) computer art

Act 2: An interview with Hot Pink

• Hot Pink’s Itch.io page

• Tentacle Locker 2

• FlipWitch: Forbidden Sex Hex

• Games recommended by Hot Pink

  • Orc Massage

  • Aurelia

Act 3: News of the Week

• Parrying is the worst thing in video games (Aftermath.site)

• Parrying is the best thing in video games (Aftermath.site)

• Connor Makar’s review of Elden Ring Nightreign (VG24/7)

• Every GameInformer magazine is now available for free – if you create an account (PCGamer)

Just for Patreon: How eroge became an artform

• The story of Yakyuken

• TimeExtension’s excellent history of eroge

• The English localization of Nightlife

• (HEADS UP! DISTURBING!) The horrifying sex game distributed by Enix of Square-Enix

• Kanon on Steam

• Action Button reviews Tokimeki Memorial

Free game of the week:

Last week, we talked with the creators of the IGF Seamus McNally Grand Prize winner, Consume Me. This week, they published a free demo on Steam!

The week in video game links

• Christian Donlan on what does and doesn't work about To a T's message (or lack thereof) (Eurogamer)

• "Who is writing video game reviews nowadays anyway?" (Steven's Substack)

• The early designs of the Pokémon logo (IGN)

• "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 didn’t invent Final Frenchtasy or the J'RPG: the newly dubbed subgenre has a long and complicated history" (PCGamer)

• New Pac-Man jam dropped (PAC-MAN Official)

What else I'm... reading

Since I've been solo parenting and prepping for Switch 2 and Summer Games Fest, I haven't had much time for games and movies. However, before bed each night, I've made progress in Ice by Anna Kavan. I first heard of this profoundly grim (and hallucinatory) end-of-the world book while reading Everything Must Go, the recent history of apocalypse fiction. Ice was published in 1967, but in April of this year, Pushkin Press Classics re-released the book for a new audience. I strongly recommend it if you're into stranger, dreamier apoc-fic