This is first of fourteen essays contained within the third issue of the Adult Analysis Anthology, a collection of longform writing that seeks to expand the breadth of critical discourse around adult games and adult game culture. If you’d like to support the creation of more high-quality writing about adult games the full anthology is available for purchase on Itch! Anthology logo by Pillow!

Written By: Zoquete

After the release of Deathblossom, my most recent NSFW game project, I paid close attention to the discussion surrounding the game’s presentation and themes. One exchange stood out to me in particular:

“Gameplay wise and game design wise the game is amazing. I felt it is a waste to make it into a hentai game because the hentai part is most di[s]appointing part”

“Honestly hard agree. The writing is easily the best part of this game, no contest, and the visual design i love just as much, but the porn is mediocre, and if it didn’t have porn it likely would be able to be mainstream, and get omega popular. So sad honestly, thinking how many people could’ve seen this game, and seen its story.”

“People are getting so prudish lately that I feel lonely in thinking that it’s fun to have some ero content in ‘normal’ games.”

They’re entitled to their opinion about the quality of my smut, but there’s something more interesting to unpack here. Why was it “a waste to make it into a hentai game”? Does adult content really prevent a game from being good or finding an audience? Is it merely a question of fitting erotica into an otherwise ‘normal’ game? These questions point to a broader underlying principle about the way we think of adult games that’s worth taking the time to dissect.

Adult Games Have A Certain Reputation

Western adult games, taken as a genre, are typically considered bottom of the barrel, both in terms of production value and aesthetic worth. The former is because the vast majority of these projects are created by enthusiastic solo devs, without budget, manpower, or market visibility¹. The resources they need to put out a polished product simply aren’t there, and so their projects lack features that gamers expect from a professional experience. The latter stems from the broader cultural stigma against pornography, and a glance through recent releases on any adult games listing will not change many minds. The adult game ecosystem is overflowing with unsavory -isms, -phobias and other problematic content. Standout examples of successful projects and hidden gems are seen as exceptions to the rule. Games with redeeming qualities easily get lost in the homogenous mass labeled ‘adult’ under which genre, style and purpose are subsumed.

From this perspective, it wouldn’t make sense to dedicate precious time and resources to develop a quality game only to sabotage it by including adult elements. One might also assume that effort spent on adult content detracts from other areas, like gameplay or writing. However, speaking as a developer and an artist, this is a fundamentally flawed outlook. It treats adult content as dead weight, when in reality it is a powerful artistic tool with the capacity to explore themes and emotions that are normally off-limits. Used mindfully, it can complement and enhance the other facets of the game. When everything comes together, this specific intersection of media can result in a uniquely true and honest expression greater than the sum of its parts. But the problem with honesty is that it’ll also tell you things you don’t want to hear.

Anything creative has a piece of its creator inside of it². That goes double for projects made solo, without a significant financial incentive, or following a creator’s personal vision. As we’ve discussed, NSFW games are commonly all of these things at the same time. Even more factors force authenticity in kink and fetish work. There can be no screens or pretenses when venturing into territory that’s not socially acceptable in the public sphere; everything is on display, the way the author wants it to be, self-censorship or decency be damned. And that results in fascinating – if not always pleasant – insight into the creators’ inner world.

I consider myself somewhat jaded to awful things on the internet, but frankly a lot of what I find in the adult games sphere is still pretty revolting to me. I’m not talking about kinks or fetishes; I mean projects expressing regressive views of identity, utterly unoriginal power fantasies, or flagrant use of generative AI to pump out cash-grab content. In the context of that unavoidable creative honesty, I find all of it deeply unsettling. Even worse, I know plenty of people would judge my work exactly the same for including adult content at all.

So why bother putting effort into a project that’s destined to fall into the ‘adult’ category, joining this sordid company and tarnishing your reputation by association? One very good reason: the depths to which the medium can sink are a reflection of how high it can soar when executed with passion, dedication and intentionality.

Adult Games Are Capable Of More

Tabletop gaming currently sets a shining example for digital in terms of how adult projects can break new ground and take advantage of interactivity. There is a tendency to focus on videogames as a glorified vehicle for arousing images, writing or animation, due to their close ties with other screen-based media. To be clear, that’s not a bad thing – in fact, it’s an important strength! However, tabletop games are all about concept and interaction, which are the elements that really set an experience apart from its peers; in this department, adult video games could take a few cues.

The article “Why You Should F**k With Horny Tabletop Roleplaying Games” by Linda Codega introduces some great examples of what I mean. Consentacle has you navigating a romantic encounter with a tentacled alien in a titillating exploration of communication and intimacy. Praise the Hawkmoth King provides a transgressive play framework for violating and being violated, inflicting social and physical harm, and channeling a deep disgust and frustration with the world. In the Clefts of the Rock abstracts sexuality into exploration and geography in a poetic and thought-provoking approach I’ve never seen before. The common thread between these experiences is that they are original, they say something true and beautiful, and they are sexually charged with a minimum of visuals or resource-intensive production techniques.

I want to see more of this energy brought to video games, with their unique ability to combine story and interactivity! Just as other genres have evolved as vehicles for artistic expression, adult games have the potential to strike that magical combination of engaging, erotic and profound. I’ve played games that capture some of this magic already – absent gameplay elements, Echo and Adastra by The Echo Project are some of my all-time favorite interactive stories, not least because they are hard-hitting fiction unafraid to include the messy sex you’re rooting for. The Corruption of Champions games, using customizability and light RPG gameplay to give you a tailored taste of agency (and losing it), is a solid and intensely erotic trip I find myself coming back to often. Not knowing what I was getting into, Paraphore by Kittery became one of the most shocking and gut-wrenchingly impactful stories I’ve ever experienced precisely because it’s about struggling with the depths of sexual deviancy while powerless to stop indulging them. (I see it as a postmodern Lolita for the Internet age – but that’s a whole different topic.)

If you’re familiar with any of these games, you already know that this philosophical bullshit need not get in the way of a quick click to get your rocks off. There’s nothing wrong with lewd for lewd’s sake – most of what I make falls into that category – and in fact the two approaches are far more closely connected than people realize. We need good old fashioned self-gratification just as much as we need challenging themes and introspection. This brings me back to my opening example, and my most recent attempt to put my money where my mouth is: Deathblossom.

The Successes And Failures Of Deathblossom

Possible spoilers ahead! The game is available for free, but assuming you can make do with a TL;DR: Deathblossom is a top-down action / kinetic novel revenge thriller about love and mortality in the Weird West. I said that “anything creative has its creator inside of it” and in my case, Deathblossom is a perfect example. The characters and story emerged from my own confrontation of mortality, forays into existentialism, and struggles with identity. The dubcon, deepthroating, and giant horsecock gangbangs with a towering femdom bull-skeleton come from the same place, and to me each half of the story is incomplete without the other. There are many places in the narrative where I can point to choices I made and recognize myself there in a uniquely honest and authentic way.

The central motif of Deathblossom is coming to terms with mortality. For me, this process is deeply tied to reckless sexuality, as well as inner struggle and excitement. These emotions are presented through multiple aspects of the game: the story, the action – and the sex. What makes Deathblossom an adult game is that sex is presented in a way that invites the viewer to participate, instead of just gesturing at it with a fade-to-black³. In practical terms, that means it needs to be hot! It’s written with the detail and attention of steamy erotica because that’s what it is. The undead represent a rejection of death despite its inevitability; they crave sex to feel alive again. Well, they get it, and I want the player to feel that gut-pounding, cum-pumping, hedonistic abandon. The principle is very similar to what makes good action in a game; it is both a narrative device and a pleasure in itself, making your heart race and engaging you on a primal level when it’s done right. In Deathblossom, I wanted it all.

It’s worth noting that this relationship between the original ideas and the final implementation isn’t one-way. I wanted to express the more abstract themes, but I also knew going in that I wanted to make some kinky porn and flashy action sequences. The two goals modified each other over the course of development, resulting in the final product. The game would have been vastly different and not nearly as worthwhile if I had bowdlerized the premise to remove the sex. There are already plenty of stories about undead in the Wild West, but in very few does the author get their feet wet with erotic lesbian revenge and has the zombies drool over something more interesting than brains⁴. I want you to get to know my game’s characters, see them fight, see them fuck, and see them die in all the brutal glory they deserve. It is true that the audience could potentially have been bigger if the game was more suited to SFW outlets, but that wasn’t my priority; I want to make the best and most authentic work possible first, and then try to bring it to the people who can appreciate it.

Deathblossom isn’t a perfect product, or even necessarily the best possible realization of the vision I had going in. It’s rough in some areas, scenes and mechanics were cut due to my limits as a designer and programmer, and everything isn’t as cohesive as it might have been. These are symptoms of the game being made by an enthusiastic solo dev, without budget, manpower, or market visibility (which might sound like a familiar story). The gameplay and erotica run parallel to each other instead of being directly integrated, which is nice in some respects but disruptive in others. On one hand, you don’t encounter a dilemma between seeing the sexy bits and winning, which happens in a lot of NSFW action games. On the other hand, the lewd scenes can feel shoehorned in or disconnected from the main gameplay loop. I’ve gotten a lot of valid criticism on these points, and trust me, I’ve been paying attention and taking notes; discussion on these issues always inspires new ideas and helps me refine my approach with an eye toward future projects.

So Was It Worth It?

Here’s a different piece of feedback I received from an Itch user:

“More than anything (beyond the fantasticly frustrating gamepl[a]y, the sincerity and thought put into the NSFW scenes (which are also really fucking hot ngl), and the story that broke my heart), as a trans woman, the kindness with which Sweet Pea is written nearly brought me to tears by the end, especially with the way NSFW games tend to treat trans topics. The game is perfect, no notes, 10/10”

Yes, it was worth it. No, it was not a waste to make a porn game, and no, it could never have been a ‘normal’ game instead. I don’t like to focus overmuch on reviews like this because developing a rose-tinted view of your own work is fatal. At the end of the day, though, this is what it’s all for. It brings me profound joy to know that despite all its problems and imperfections, somebody ‘got it’ – they understood the story, they were challenged by the gameplay, they were excited by the sex and they felt the emotions I wanted to share. I don’t think this particular effect is possible without the authenticity and unique capabilities of adult games as a medium.

After you play through Deathblossom, or any of my other projects, you’ve gotten a look into my head in a strangely intimate way. I hope you’ll find something in there that resonates.

Zoquete is an artist and developer with a passion for all things lewd. They seek truth and beauty in horny fantasies about monsters and stuff, which is crazy enough it just might work. Their previous game, Deathblossom, is available for free on Steam and Itch, and you can find their links & info at zoquete.carrd.co.

¹See What Makes A Game Storefront NSFW-Friendly? by Madcreativity and The Quality And Quantity Quandary Of Adult Games by Leo G., from Adult Analysis Anthology #2.
²Bud Bear’s essay Corruption of Champions and Honesty from Adult Analysis Anthology #1 is another great read on this topic
³I did include an option to skip the NSFW scenes, but it’s not my intended experience.
⁴And even fewer of those are actually worth reading. I would be happy to be proven wrong on this point, however.

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