Breaking the ordinary of dating simulators
Content warnings: mental illness, murder
Visual novels, especially dating sims, have been stereotyped to death. There is very much a formula that most games will follow: introduction, individual romance, epilogue. These games are built around two things: world and dialogue. If one fails, the other is weak. What makes them so fun for me is how each game presents its relationship between unique worlds and dynamic characters.
Like books and plays, most of the story comes from your own imagination based on the visual descriptions, dialogue, and monologue. The medium appears like you’re looking right at everybody, and a visual novel’s immersiveness is reliant on this. The game can place you exactly in someone else’s point of view through the art and writing and, when done correctly, can take you on some intense emotional rollercoasters (spoilers ahead).
In Bustafellows, a title I adored this past summer, the game’s creators use a great amount of showing and not telling. I find that visual novels often fall victim to overexplanations that break the immersion, but this game finds a wonderful balance by focusing on a character’s inner world. In the ending, the reader’s perspective switches to a side character who is revealed to be involved in the murder of the protagonist’s brother. Without explanation, the screen blurs as the killer is overcome with guilt, and then it only gets worse, as their old memories are mixed up with present day events. It’s a confusing, intense trip through the days leading to the character’s breakdown, and you’re riding in the passenger seat. My own emotions quickly shifted with the story, as the excellent storyboarding made me feel as though I was watching this not only from the killer’s perspective, but also as a bystander watching them.
You don’t have to be in someone’s body to feel their mental state. In Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC), the game switches genres from a cliché dating sim to a psychological horror game as the love interests become the worst versions of themselves. The ever-deteriorating state of the game reflects how broken the girls are becoming, with broken sprites, distorted music, and overwritten text (plus fun jumpscares). The perspective you’re playing in is your own as you’re forced to witness horrors beyond the screen, without being able to help. Or, if you enjoyed the inner monologues of Bustafellows, YOU and ME and HER (Totono) might be more your style. It’s another dating sim that turns into psychological horror, except the protagonist that you’ve been playing as becomes a separate entity from you, the player, as one of the love interests breaks the code of the game to get YOU to love HER. The visuals of both these titles greatly accompany the unique writing; DDLC plays on what you’ve seen before and splices the cute art with real life cut-outs, while Totono has beautifully grotesque art for its horror section.
Dating simulators may be my little niche, but the visual novel medium is so expansive that I encourage everyone reading to look for a new game similar to these! Homicipher is a dating sim I’ve had my eye on: its dialogue is unnatural, as you are the one to decipher what your potential lovers are saying. It recently had a switch port in 2026, making the game more accessible to all! If you aren’t into romance, no worries; Scarlet Hollow is a mystery visual novel where your choices do matter. The game will take multiple playthroughs, each one unique, and the game’s final chapter is to be released in the future! So far, there are five chapters of content (that is constantly being updated) to experience. I beg you, pick up a visual novel and try it out! It’s not a degenerate hobby, I swear.