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For the third year in a row, Tell Me Why, a narrative adventure game featuring trans protagonist Tyler Ronin, will be available free for Xbox and PC gamers the entire month of June. As Pride Month begins, studios are celebrating LGBTQ+ gamers and game developers in a variety of ways. Overwatch 2 has started an in-game event which adds a Pride parade to one of its maps and Disney Dreamlight Valley is offering in-game Pride t-shirts to its players. In this case an entire episodic narrative-driven adventure game in Tell Me Why is available for gamers to pick up for free.From Don't Nod, the studio behind the celebrated Life is Strange franchise, Tell Me Why was created in partnership with Xbox Game Studios Publishing as an Xbox ecosystem exclusive. Similar to the heavy themes that characterize Don't Nod's Life is Strange games, Tell Me Why has players navigate the rocky relationship between Tyler and his sister Alyson as they both telepathically process childhood trauma in a snowy Alaskan fishing town. While it released in 2020 to mixed reception, Tell Me Why marked an important moment as it featured a trans lead character in Tyler Ronin, portrayed by trans voice actor August Aiden Black. During development Don't Nod worked closely with GLAAD to ensure a respectful telling of Tyler's story. Tell Me Why later went on to win the Games For Impact award at The Game Awards 2020. On Twitter, Tell Me Why announced that the award-winning episodic adventure game will be available for free on Xbox and PC for the entire month of June in honor of Pride Month. This is the third year in a row following its September 2020 release that Tell Me Why is being made available all June in celebration of Pride. With this, the game seems to have become somewhat of a beacon of LGBTQ+ Pride in the Xbox world.
The tweet adds that gamers who are looking to further support the LGBTQ+ community should consider donating money to trans creators as well as local charities. Additionally, Tell Me Why provided links to the game on Xbox and Steam underneath the original tweet. While it's unlikely that Tyler and Alyson's story will see continuation in the form of a sequel, it's possible that Don't Nod could use the Tell Me Why name to tell new stories highlighting LGBTQ+ characters, similar to how Life is Strange 2 and True Colors feature entirely new settings and sets of characters from the original game.
However, with Don't Nod's own Harmony: The Fall of Reverie and the larger-scale Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden both slated to come out this year, it may be a while longer before any potential Life is Strange or Tell Me Why news pops up. In the meantime, fans of Don't Nod's adventure games can pick up Tell Me Why for free all June in celebration of Pride.
Tell Me Why is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.