Yearning: A Gay Story, or YAGS, is a coming-out-focused character-driven slice-of-life visual novel with dating sim elements (phew) where you play as a gay man starting his freshman year of college at a generic university somewhere in the midwestern United States.

You will interact with a cast of characters, each with their own personality and stories, as you navigate college life, develop friendships, play board games, and come out. With luck, you might even find a boyfriend.

You can download YAGS from itch.io now!

Also see the FAQ for more information, or read the development blog. Or follow YAGS on twitter or lemmasoft.

Features

• A world where you can befriend people and see events from different perspectives, depending on your decisions
• 4 dateable guys* with their own distinct stories, with good and bad endings for each guy (9 in all*)
• 230,000+ words and meaningful choices
• Collectibles system to track and reward your decisions
• Achievements, for completionists
• Unlockable in-game character profiles

YAGS is not meant to be a short game, but I hope that its length is justified in the end. Please allot several hours for each playthrough, and make liberal use of the save functionality.

* Or are there?