Checkpoint’s Queer Game of the Month: June 2025 – Pivot of Hearts

One of the most criminally underrepresented communities in the queer space in just about all media is polyamory and non-monogamous relationships. Often, explorations of polyamory are depicted inaccurately as either simply a taboo sexual fantasy or messy, filled with drama, and inevitably leaving people with broken hearts. So rarely does media show the love and trust that is required for such relationships, how much of your soul you’re baring to one another and truly, how much room you can have in your heart for such a series of connections. Enter Pivot of Hearts, a recently released visual novel from Dragonroll Studio that depicts finding yourself amongst an open relationship, following the trust that is built and required thoroughout. Thanks to that unique and authentic exploration, we’ve chosen it for Checkpoint’s Queer Game of the Month for June 2025.

Wén Xiàn is an everyday 20-something-year-old game developer who immerses himself in his work and friendships, with no moments to spare for love. In fact, following an ugly break-up some years ago, he hasn’t even thought about relationships since. Instead, a decent portion of the game’s six-hour runtime is devoted to exploring the everyday slice of life of a game designer, who beats his head against a wall with bugs and development issues by day, and then goes to after-work drinks and Dungeons & Dragons sessions by night. His close-knit group of friends keep him grounded and moving throughout his day-to-day. Of course, when he least expects it, love comes knocking at his door.

Wén’s two potential flames come from childhood friend Etsuko and work colleague Cauã. Players get more than ample time to spend with both characters, learning about Cauã’s past discord with his family and what Etsuko has been up to all those years since you both lost contact. Both are really strong characters with different types of depth — so much so that I had a hard time trying to balance spending equal time with the pair. Particularly potent character writing comes when Wén considers for the first time in his life that he’s also attracted to men once he comes to terms with his feelings for Cauã. Pivot of Hearts is filled with these nice little moments; realising you’ve developed a crush, then, in turn, realising you’ve fallen in love. It’s very human storytelling and writing that deserves praise.

Pivot of Hearts is a choice-based narrative game, as you’d probably expect, but it adds a simple dash of flavour to those familiar mechanics that goes a long way. When meaningful events or choices occur in the game, you’re gaining cards (one of each suit in a typical poker deck), each resembling a trait or attribute. For example, you might earn a heart card for kind actions or dialogue choices. These cards can then be accrued for skill checks later down the line, assessing whether you have the right amount of a suit of cards. If so, you apply these to a dialogue choice and gain meaningful relationship development as a result. It’s a neat and novel way of gamifying the very real idea that our lived experiences and who we are as a person affect the strength of our bonds and relationships. It’s reminiscent of a similar system in the narrative deckbuilder 2022 I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and I’m pleased to now see similar mechanics applied elsewhere.

When it finally comes close to choosing who you’re truly pursuing, it’s then that Wén learns about Etsuko and Cauã being in an open relationship. This at first throws a spanner into the works as our protagonist doesn’t quite know what to make of a relationship situation he isn’t quite familiar with or used to. Of course, that’s just more of that accurate and earnest writing that Dragonroll Studio have been weaving eloquently throughout the experience. For one, there’s a really heartening scene late in the game where Cauã doesn’t beat around the bush and shares how non-monogamous relationships aren’t just a cakewalk where people get to have sex with whoever they want all the time; they’re intricate connections built on an unbelievable amount of trust and comfort.

From there, Pivot of Hearts has players working out how they want to fit in amongst this open relationship. Do they want to date Etsuko? Cauã? Maybe both? Finding your place is incredibly endearing, bearing witness to highly detailed and lovingly crafted character sprites. Whether it’s the nerdy but fiery spirit of Etsuko in her ‘1up’ gamer shirt and leather jacket as she goes and performs at rock concerts and taiko exhibition or the adorable loose floral shirt wearing Cauã, both are easy on the eyes and I too am often flustered just like Wén by the pair of them.

All while all of this is going on, Dragonroll Studio finds time to beautifully portray a colourful and vibrant São Paulo. You’re going to markets and engaging in the busy nightlife and learning about the various foods, traditions and the like that locals share. Whenever there’s a name or dish that the game references that others might know, you can hover over it in the textbox to get a quick description of what that thing is. Big props to the team for situating the story in a setting I don’t really see in games, much less the genre, at all. It’s good to see visual novel games exploring nationalities other than being vaguely Japanese or anime-inspired in design.

Pivot of Hearts is a really tender and heartfelt visual novel with rich and diverse characters that could potentially be missed in a busy slew of releases, but absolutely should be utmost prioritised for visual novel lovers. Dragonroll Studio have done a wonderful job here developing a meaningful and sweet experience in a very active and busy genre.

After other Queer Game of the Month articles? Why not check out our thoughts on the pastel-coloured lesbian bug game called Serre? Yes, it’s a real game that exists, and yes, it’s really good.