If you have ever thought of being a male orc adventuring, traveling
and bonding with all kinds of other male orcs, then Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: The Orc Dating Simulator is for you. It’s a really clever and enchanting premise that makes “orc society” feel like a real thing.
Alexander (no relation to me) has just released a free preview of Tusks,
which lets you experience your first day among the Orcs as you travel
through a sort of mythical Scotland, introduces the characters you can
meet and romance, and even features a randomized Scottish name generator.
I thought it was tenderly-conceived as a visual novel, lovingly-written
and I really like the characters so far (there is also a boar and a
selkie). There’s also an “autonomous NPC” feature—the characters can
make some decisions on their own regardless of your wishes—that I’m
excited to see implemented.
I’m not a gay man, but my colleague Todd Harper is, and in his response piece he found Tusks
and its diversity of bodies and ideals alleviating and welcoming, in an
aesthetic climate that often prioritizes “a parade of… ‘wax
dolphins’”:
