Valentine’s Day is coming up this week. It’s a day of romance and showing your appreciation for that special someone in your life. Or, if you’re single, it’s a day of eating your body weight in your favorite film and crying yourself to sleep at night. But it doesn’t have to be like that! Not now that dating sims are a thing!
With our specially-curated list of the best dating sims you play on Valentine’s, you can find love in your monitor and know that you’re not single AF forever, you’re just waiting for the right person. So, without further ado, let’s dive right on in.
Dream Daddy
Ahh Dream Daddy, the dating sim that had gamers swooning when it released back in July 2017. The premise here is simple: you are a dad, and you’ve just moved to the sleepy seaside town of Maple Bay with your daughter. You’re a man lookin’ for love, and it just so happens that your neighborhood is literally filled with single, hot daddies waiting to get to know you.
Put on your favorite cologne, don that checkered shirt like you never have before, and get your smooth-talking ready to match that dazzling smile of yours. You’ve got your pick of seven datable dads, with dad-themed mini games and multiple endings making for an excellent and replayable dating sim.
Monster Prom
While the adult world has the occasional moment where love can blossom seemingly out of nowhere, everyone knows that high schools are the breeding ground for infatuation, crazy romances, and the occasional lawsuit when teachers are involved.
Anyway, outside of said lawsuits, that’s what Monster Prom is trying to recreate… but with monsters. You find yourself three weeks away from prom and you’ve yet to secure yourself a date. Fortunately, there are six classmates ready to be swept off their feet by you, as long as your friend’s don’t get there first.
That’s what sets Monster Prom above and beyond its competition. It offers a one-to-four-player experience where you may even have to compete with your friends for your chosen date’s affections and a ‘yes’ to the all-important question.
Humorously written and with all the mature content you’d expect from a high school for horny monsters, Monster Prom’s well worth checking out if the more grounded setting of Dream Daddy doesn’t inspire you.
Doki Doki Literature Club
Oh look, a cute normal high school dating sim. Doki Doki Literature Club tasks you with deciding between four different girls that happen to be the only other four members of the literature club you’ve just joined at your school.
Players will need to choose between Sayori, Monika, Natsuki and Yuri as they spend time in the club, getting to know each of the girls and completing little word-related mini-games. At least, that’s how it starts…
Doki Doki Literature Club has about several thousand twists and turns you won’t see coming, and easily became one of the most memorable video game experiences from 2017 as a result. It’s by no means your typical dating sim, but you can rest assured you won’t find anything else quite like it out there right now.
Oh, and did we mention it’s completely free to download on Steam? Yeah, go do it, like now.
Yandere Simulator
Okay, so Dream Daddy didn’t float your boat, Monster Prom’s cast of… monsters wasn’t your cup of tea, and Doki Doki Literature Club didn’t go far enough. Well, here goes nothin’. Let’s talk about Yandere Simulator.
Where the hell do I start with this? Yandere Simulator isn’t a dating sim in the traditional sense. Sure, you play a character infatuated with another, and you must flirt like never before if you’re going to make them yours.
You’ll also watch your crush get the attention of and date ten other students during the ten in-game weeks. How you deal with this competition is up to you. You could matchmake them with someone else, or maybe gossip and spread a horrible rumor about Becky with the good hair. WE’RE ONTO YOU BECKY!
Or, maybe, just maybe, you’ll kidnap one, crush another, fake the suicide of another, and torture another. Yep, Yandere Simulator gets really dark and is more of a psychological horror/stealth game than a dating sim.
Quick disclaimer: Yandere Simulator isn’t out on Steam, and it actually isn’t fully finished just yet. It’s a self-published game being worked on by one person, but you can download the latest build if it interests you here.
Hatoful Boyfriend
Ok, perhaps our initial idea of making you feel less alone hasn’t gone to plan, considering Doki Doki and Yandere Simulator made it onto this list. But hey, the bright side is that you’re single, and so you’ll never get yourself embroiled in either of those nightmarish situations in real-life. Yay for single life!
But if you’re convinced single life really isn’t for you, then we think we’ve nailed it with this last pick. Introducing Hatoful Boyfriend. You’re the only human student at St. PigeoNation’s Institute, and you’re free to roam the hallways and find true love with one of the fellow students.
Did we mention that all of the NPCs in this game are birds? Well, yeah, you’re in a bird world, you’re gonna talk to birds, you’re gonna date birds. There’s even a pigeon biker gang.
I think we’ve said enough. Enjoy.
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