I have to admit, when I first heard about Sucker for Love: First Date I was really dubious about it. A dating sim for cosmic horrors? Have dating sims finally gone too far? It turns out, attempting to date an entity beyond our understanding and with the threat of ending all humanity and losing sanity is more fun than you might think. If you don’t like dating sim games then this one is still worth checking out since it is more of a puzzle game that ate a dating sim.
First of all, gameplay, it’s pretty simple. Instead of making choices between dialogue or actions, you have to perform rituals to satisfy your lady cosmic horror. The goal of each section is to get a kiss from the horror of your choice. The first one is dedicated to Ln’eta aka Cthulhu. So you have to set up correctly and then chant in order to perform each ritual. These aren’t very difficult, but you do need to pay attention to things like having the lights on or off or wearing the correct clothing. Eventually you do get choices in which rituals to perform that will unlock different endings. The second chapter was my favorite as you had to make choices between Ln’eta and Estir (the King in Yellow). Performing rituals for one would directly impact the effectiveness of performing them for the other, and with 6 different endings to unlock you could go back and switch up your order frequently in order to see them all. The last chapter requires you to find 3 secrets in the first two which is fun, but I’ll admit I did look up the last one because it was a little difficult to find unless you really pay attention. But this third section is really fun and is when you have to confront Nyanlothotep aka Auntie Nyan Nyan aka Nyarlathotep. Instead of trying to woo her, you are simply trying to survive the horrors she throws your way. This is the most difficult section since it will not tell you the correct ritual to cast. I recommend taking a minute to read through all of them before really getting things going so that you can be more familiar with what might happen. You are also on a timer, if you don’t do the right thing quickly your health will be diminished, get hit three times and you won’t make it to the end. The whole game probably won’t take you more than 3 hours to play, but for the price it’s really not so bad. I did run into a few snags, every so often it wouldn’t give me an option to chant for a ritual unless I had my cursor in a little different spot than before and the sound would quit if I unplugged my headphones and wouldn’t return until I quit and restart the game. These were minor issues though, overall the game runs well. You do have the option to speed through dialogue by holding the ctrl button down which is very helpful when going back and unlocking different endings.
While the gameplay is very basic, where the game really shines is the writing and voice acting. Michaela Laws, Kayli Mills, and Lani Mainella did a fantastic job at bringing these characters to life. Each one embodied the character as it was written so well, going from bubby and flirty to I’m so mad I will destroy everything you know and love convincingly. The writing was so funny too, it is seriously worth unlocking every ending just to see what happens. For example, there is a moment when Estir is describing eternal servitude to her and you just keep telling her she is describing marriage is a hilarious interaction. Also, in chapter two if you put Ln’eta and Estir in the same room you’ll get a funny interaction that though it will end in your demise, is fun to watch.
While the game is very basic, it was a clever play on dating sims. The writing and humor really make it worth playing. And for the price of only $9.99 on Steam, it really makes a fun way to spend an afternoon or evening. I give this game a 9/10.
