Re:Anime dating sim that also does your taxes
by paoda on Friday March 24, 2023 @10:16AM
(#35289348)
From my point of view, dating sims have mostly died off. They never had any real following in the West. In Japan, there's the ×CATION series, Tokimeki Memorial and some remakes of older games such as Doukyuusei.
With rare exceptions (like Hatoful Boyfriend) these joke dating sims feel pretty fake. They comment on a genre they struggle to properly portray or understand. The most egregious cases parody galge or otomege and erroneously label themselves as dating sims.
As an example, Doki Doki Literature Club (for all its merits), suffers from being described as a dating sim when it clearly isn't one.
To be clear, while pure daring sims kind of barely exist, they do pop up from time to time as secondary gameplay loops in hybrids. The Persona series (3 and onwards) as well as the Fire Emblem series (Awakening and onwards) do this.
With rare exceptions (like Hatoful Boyfriend) these joke dating sims feel pretty fake. They comment on a genre they struggle to properly portray or understand. The most egregious cases parody galge or otomege and erroneously label themselves as dating sims.
As an example, Doki Doki Literature Club (for all its merits), suffers from being described as a dating sim when it clearly isn't one.
To be clear, while pure daring sims kind of barely exist, they do pop up from time to time as secondary gameplay loops in hybrids. The Persona series (3 and onwards) as well as the Fire Emblem series (Awakening and onwards) do this.