Sucker for Love: First Date

Believe it or not, visual novels are a really big market in the video game world, especially among the indie game community. But there’s a very specific sub-genre of the visual novel genre that’s incredibly popular, and we are talking about dating simulators. Sucker for Love: First Date is a pretty interesting game in the genre. And while most of the time these games are more in an anime-style, this game goes for something different. But what is it that we are talking about here? Well, let’s see what Sucker for Love: First Date is all about in a moment, so let’s get started.

About the game

As we mentioned before, Sucker for Love: First Date is a dating simulator, and just like most dating simulation games, here you have the chance to meet half of your dreams. But things are not as straightforward in Sucker for Love: First Date, as there’s a lot that’s twisted in here. This title is a dating simulator alright, but the setting is the H.P.Lovecraft horrors, so if your dream couple comes from the twisted cosmic horror dreams, then this is the game for you.

But of course, it is not directly the characters from the Lovecraft universe, as there are plenty of liberties taken to make this work. It is intended to be a version of these characters that can be as “moe” as possible, so yes, it is still an anime-like dating simulator. But even though these characters come from a cosmic horror universe, this game isn’t supposed to be horror at all. But the music, setting, and events in the game can get a bit strange and twisted.

Just like in pretty much any other dating sim, the decisions the player takes in this game will dictate how the story unfolds, like this, the plotline you choose to follow will directly determine what we experience in the game. In Sucker for Love: First Date there are three different "goddesses" you can choose to date, all of them inspired by Lovecraft characters. There's Ln’eta, inspired by Cthulhu; Estir, based on Hastur; and Nyanlathotep, a creature that combines different elements from the Lovecraftian horror lore.

This game was developed in just ten days and it is the first part of the Sucker for Love collection, by Akabaka, for the developer studio DreadXP. Even though this game was just the first part of the series, the next two are expected to have more resources and therefore be bigger and more complex.

Strange dating sims

It's strange to see just how crazy and original these dating simulator games get. Sure, Sucker for Love: First Date is a pretty weird game in which you get to date interdimensional goddesses, but we can't forget that one of the most popular dating sims from the last few years is actually pretty strange too.

We are talking about Hatoful Boyfriend, a dating simulator game in which we date birds. And yes, it is as odd as it sounds.

Pros:

• Great art
• Excellent designs
• Fun dialogues
• Cute characters

Cons:

• Lacks content
• Little replay value
• Feels unfinished