Dating Sims over the past few years have really blown up in popularity.
The visual novel was always a beloved genre, but recently, thanks to the rising accessibility
of indie games, more and more have found their way onto the PCs or consoles of curious gamers.
From Hatoful Boyfriend to Dream Daddy to so many more, it’s easy to see why North Americans
are becoming obsessed with these narrative driven choose your own adventure and love
interest tales.
It seems as if there’s a dating sim for anything, including dating t-rexes, pigeons,
printers, you name it.
This has also extended to characters and romantic scenarios that have dipped their toes into
the horror genre.
So today, we’re counting down a handful of selects with our list of the top 10 scariest
dating sims.
Viewer discretion advised.
10 Tomak: Save the Earth Tomak Save the Earth typically falls into
the ‘creepy AF’ category when it comes to dating sims.
It’s not one that will have you sweating bullets, but it’ll definitely make you feel
uncomfortable if you’re not playing it for irony’s sake.
It also makes use of a different objective compared to other dating simulators; instead
of trying to hook up with your potential love interests, you’re looking after a female
head, who claims to be the head of the Goddess of Love, inside of a planter.
Sure you can take her out on dates and whatnot, dressing her up in scarves (YUP), but ultimately,
you’re tending to her regrowth.
And if you fail, the world will end.
There’s also some intense looking otherworldly characters who also make an appearance in
the game.
9 He Beat Her He Beat Her is already a dark title to begin
with.
It deals with domestic abuse.
You play as a lawyer, whose client is being accused of said abuse.
You have 5 minutes before the verdict of the case is revealed.
It’s a mystery interactive story with moral and immortal paths, whose artistic design
and it’s dream like tone really help the narrative hit home.
If you’re more so into the brand of horror that’s a little more realistic, and could
come straight out of a newspaper headline, this one is for you.
8 Creepy Pasta Curtain Call: A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life is the dating sim where you get to woo the horrorifying antagonists
from some of the internet’s most popular creepy pastas!
Yay!
We’re talking Slender, Jeff the Killer, Laughing Jack, you name it!
While it might not be inherently scary, the art in the game is quite promising, and the
whole self referential meta humour incorporated into the narrative might creep you a bit.
The dating sim used to have a demo available to download off of tumblr, but as of now,
it seems a little difficult to track down.
Perhaps it’s become a creepy pasta of it’s own.
SPOOOOKY.
7 Date Night Date Night is a survival horror dating sim
that was created by Darby Costello for his entry in the Ludum Dare 41 game jam.
Meaning, it’s a game that you can’t get (yet, hopefully, because it looks amazing).
Trapped in a 1980s inspired point and click, the game follows protagonist Trey, a trust
fun game developer who has recently moved to a new city.
As the game play footage shows, when a woman named alive shows up, he gets more than he’s
bargained for, and the game becomes a race for survival.
Alice is a man-eater, quite literally.
She tells him that her plan is to chop him up into itty bitty pieces and consume his
flesh.
You then control trey as he runs around his monochrome apartment, trying to tick off the
relationship inspired requirements at the bottom left of the screen in order to survive
the ‘date’.
The theme of the jam, as Costello writes, was incompatible genres, and was made under
72 hours with the Unreal Engine.
6 Cupid Cupid is a dating sim set in 18th century
France, putting the player in the shoes of a character named Mother.
It’s marketed as a unique twist to the visual novel decision making medium, with you deciding
the fate of characters, scolding them or consoling them.
It’s description reads, “Rosa’s best friend, Catherine, is dead and she is sure
Catherine’s betrothed, Marquis Guilleme is to blame.
Mother says so.
Mother says he has to pay with his life.
Although, she knows by now Guilleme is no ordinary man.
He is tainted.
A monster.
He cannot be killed by usual means.
To seek the best revenge, she must find out all of his secrets and destroy him.
But will her own dark desires consume her, or liberate her?
No matter.
Mother will tell her what to do.”
So yeah, shit gets dark at times.
It’s a visual novel game that’s gotten great reviews, and even won VNs Now’s 2015
English Visual novel game of the year, so if 18th century intrigue and mystery does
it for you, definitely check Cupid out.
5 We Know the Devil We Know the Devil is a group relationship
horror visual novel; it’s a story about three kids, mean girl Neptune, tomboy Jupiter,
and shy Venus.
They have to endure one more week of summer camp, but before they leave, they need to
spend 12 hours in the loneliest cabin in the woods and wait for the devil to come.
And of course, live through the night.
Or not.
Now, spoiler warning, skip ahead if you don’t want to hear this – the character who ends
up being the most excluded out of the three friends becomes the Devil and is transformed
into a monstrous form.
Where this game really shines though is through it’s eerie atmosphere; something that’s
really essential to nail down if you’re making a horror dating sim or visual novel.
Reviewers have even compared the game to Twin Peaks.
Side note, it’s hilariously priced for 6 dollars and 66 cents.
Brilliant.
4 But I love you Created by Mel Gorsha, But I Love you is a
horror inspired take on classic dating sim games.
The kickstarter, which reached above and beyond it’s goal, describes it as, I quote, “You’ve
wandered into a nearby empty town that’s full of nothing but cute girls.
Who all want you.
What could go wrong?
Just watch.”
You’re a stranded new comer who the girls attempt to keep there, forever, with the game
transforming into a puzzle horror game.
You have the choice of ignoring all of the strange happenings and creepy traits of the
ladies who pursue you, and just date them, or, solving puzzles to escape.
Some of the endings included result in you dying, too.
3 Quantum Suicide As it’s described, Quantum Suicide is a
game of betrayal, deception and romance in the cold depths of space in the year 2117.
The science fiction thriller is a dating sim set in a story in which a diverse crew on
an intergalactic mission are fighting to survive, and to not be killed at the hands of a deadly
AI.
Or each other.
Murder in space?
Sign me up.
The AI forces you to play something called The Deletion Game in which you must battle
your crew mates for survival.
If you’re a fan of space themed horror, and want to give a dating sim a go, Quantum
Suicide will be right up your alley.
2 Song of Saya Song of Saya is visually terrifying.
It’s been described as a Lovecraftian horror dating sim, and it’s 18 plus.
Why?
Cause it’s content matter includes murder, cannibalism, and a ton of blood and gore.
The game’s protagonist wakes up after his family is killed in a gruesome car accident,
and the world around him has morphed into a the stuff of body horror.
It looks like you’re inside an actual wound.
It’s fleshy, it’s gorey, and it’s the stuff of nightmare fuel.
Slowly declining into madness, you end up meeting a girl named Saya, who, SPOILERS FRIENDS
by the end of the game, is not at all who she seems to initially be.
There’s also a lot of sex.
1 Doki Doki Literature Club Doki Doki Literature Club is perhaps the most
publicized dating sim on this list.
When it was released, it got a lot of hype for subverting the dating sim genre in a really
gruesome and self reflexive way that many players didn’t anticipate.
And it definitely lives up to the horrors it’s many reviewers promise.
For context, before you begin the game, it literally has a warning that reads This game
is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
Individuals suffering from anxiety or depression may not have a safe experience playing this
game.
It’s a psychological horror that breaks the fourth wall, using metafictional and horror
elements that, back in 2017 when it was released, made it one of the most surprising games of
the year.
The game seemingly starts off as a regular dating sim, although certain details about
the members of the literature club, Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri and Monika, all begin to foreshadow
a darker reality.
Without giving away any spoilers, possible endings can involve suicide, graphic sequences
of self harm, sentient AI and much more.
It’s scary AF.
We actually did a list on Doki Doki literature club a while back, so hop on over to our channel
after this video and give it a look if you want all of that spoilery goodness.
It highlights even more of the twisted dark stuff that goes down in the game’s narrative.
There we have it friends!
Which of these dating sims and visual novels have you given a go?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know!
And if you know of other horrifying dating sims that are down right scary, give us a
shout about that too!
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