Cortyn played “Hooked on You” extensively, seduced a sexy corpse, and then got shoved into the friend zone. Oh, and also died very often.
Yes, it’s that time again for a Cortyn article like this. Because I spent way more hours than planned in a game that technically shouldn’t even exist. Because “Hooked on You” sounds like the fever dream come true for hybristophilic players who really should touch grass or another person again.
So here’s a little trigger warning: Some content in this article is morally questionable or cruel. After all, it’s a dating sim based on a horror game.
For transparency, I should mention that the game was provided to me by the developers for review purposes. But you already know my opinion on this will be honest and unvarnished.
What is “Hooked on You” anyway?
For those who only have big question marks on their faces, let me clarify shortly, because “Hooked on You” requires a bit of prior knowledge.
It is based on “Dead by Daylight“, an asymmetrical horror game. Four survivors try to escape from a killer here. There is a wide variety of killers in the game with different abilities and their own stories – the pool of killer characters is constantly growing.
The Dead by Daylight community can probably be called “special”. Because although the game is cruel, brutal, and sometimes really disgusting in design, there is a huge fanfiction scene that comes up with all sorts of – mostly sexual – stories and images around killers and survivors.
When the developers asked their community a few years ago what kind of game they would like to see for Dead by Daylight, the answer was: A dating game. Because with that, they could bring the meme wish “Bring sex into Dead by Daylight” to life.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are at this point.
“Hooked on You” is a dating simulation in the style of Japanese “Visual Novels”, where you can date four of the different killers from Dead by Daylight – or at least try to.
The gameplay mainly consists of reading texts, making decisions, and occasional mini-games, which play a subordinate role. The focus is clearly on the dialogues and the story.
And as a little side note – although I played in English, Hooked on You is also fully available in German. You can even switch languages during the ongoing game.
Everything wants to kill you, even the narrator
The game begins in the most cliché way possible. Your character, to whom you can only give a name since you are playing “yourself”, awakens on the beach. The narrator describes that all memories of your life so far are gone. You don’t remember how you got here or why you are here. Also, you shouldn’t listen to the ocean, which always intervenes.
Yes, exactly. The narrator not only describes the story but also directly addresses you. He sees what you do, is the voice in your head, and tries to manipulate you throughout the game with advice or just throw out a few lines.
He immediately explains to me that a wrong answer on this island can mean death and that he’s the boss and I actually have no say.
He makes that clear with a question. He wants to know what the favorite ice cream flavor is and urgently recommends me to answer “Mint”. He lets “Vanilla” slide once and then asks if I perhaps have a reading disability. When I stick to Vanilla the second time he asks, he loses his patience… and I see my first “Game Over”. That was quick.
In the second attempt, I simply agree unconditionally with the narrator and thus get the pleasure of getting to know the inhabitants of the island better.
The four killers and my respective first impressions are:
- The Trapper: A self-absorbed muscle-bound guy who thinks he’s the hottest thing and lets everyone know. His island, his rules. He’s out.
- The Huntress: An open-hearted, somewhat curvy crazy lady with a mask, but who you can probably have fun with if you like butchering animals. She’s on the list.
- The Wraith: A somewhat “wimpy” guy who is afraid of fire and somehow the bully victim of the Trapper. I’ll take a closer look at him.
- The Spirit: An undead Goth who was dismembered and apparently just wants her peace. In the truest sense: Deathcute.
I could of course pretend that the choice was difficult – but it wasn’t. Even at the first artwork of Spirit, I was sure I would do everything to win her over or at least spend time with her.
The Hunt for My Undead Emo Goth Murderess
With my goal clearly in mind, I now shape the coming days. Whenever I can, I try to give answers that Spirit will like. She doesn’t like alcohol, so I don’t drink any either. She worked in a restaurant in her lifetime and apparently liked it – so we talk about that.
I think it’s going pretty well. She doesn’t seem very excited about me, but I didn’t expect that to happen quickly either. Besides, she is the cold-hearted emo Goth – she won’t thaw out that quickly. Especially since she’s already cold as a corpse.
Despite all the threats from the other killers, the questionable food, or the zombie heads I find on the beach, my focus remains on Spirit. On the second day, she wants to be alone with me on the beach and enjoy the sun.
But the cliché scene in every second anime of “We rub sunscreen on each other” … doesn’t happen.
Because Spirit has been dismembered into several pieces, so her hand can now fly free and she just puts sunscreen on her back by herself.
I try to somehow use the situation and compliment her. “Pretty interesting that you can move your hand so freely.”
The mood shifts immediately. The eyes of my beloved gleam dark red and she asks if I really think it’s so great that she was dismembered by her father. A bit panicked, I try to salvage the situation:
“I didn’t mean it that way, I just think that it’s a kind of strong ability. Almost like a superpower that no one else has. You’re special, that’s what I wanted to say.”
I pray. In the background, I hear the ocean laughing as the narrator probably facepalms.
Spirit draws her sword and explains that I can have that ability too if I think it’s so great.
She slashes me with her katana. The game ends again with a Game Over.
Respawn in the same scene, new attempt. I keep my mouth shut about her hands. I also don’t comment on the glass shards sticking out of her shoulder.
And apparently, “keeping quiet” was exactly the right thing to do. Because for a “reward”, I get to rub her feet. And that works in the best “skill check” way from Dead by Daylight. You have to stop a rotating object at the right time to achieve a critical success, a normal success, or a failure.
Yes, it’s incredibly absurd. And so damn entertaining when you embrace this humor.
I’ll cut things short here. A lot happens – and I don’t want to spoil everything for you. Several days pass, lots of text, some creepy mysteries and absurd encounters.
Let’s jump to the last day.
After surviving the “death quiz” from the Trapper, from whom I stole Spirit (apparently they were a couple), there’s again a “romantic” scene on the beach.
Spirit tells me that her (coagulated) blood “is pumping like crazy” and you can indeed feel the hint of a heartbeat. Even though it’s night, I’m supposed to rub her in with sunscreen again – this time all over her body. More skill checks. She seems so ecstatic about my rubbing skills that I quickly need to move to her face.
I’ll let the quote speak for itself:
Your lips connect with hers. Surprisingly, they are soft and warm. The feeling is … breathtaking.
You can feel the thin strips of her swimsuit coming undone, coming to life and slithering through the air, wrapping around your body and slowly lifting you off your feet.
As Spirit pulls you closer, you feel shards of glass pressing into your flesh. Pain and pleasure mix and wash over you like waves from the ocean, salty air stings your skin as you twist with your undead lover.
Wow. Jackpot. Mission successful.
I think to myself: Yes, Spirit, you “succeeded”, next time you can try another killer.
But dreams shattered. The next day, Spirit seems somewhat disgusted by me. That would have been an interesting thing between us, but somehow I am still too alive for her and … we can be friends, which she doesn’t want to discuss any further. I have a good heart. Too good for her to want to cut it out with her katana, but also too good for her to love.
I was banished by her to the friend zone and finish the game with “You found no love – but also not death”. Meanwhile, Hooked on You makes it clear that there are other endings to the story and many secrets to discover and mysteries to unravel. So replaying is worth it.
Fanservice as far as the eye can see
Hooked on You makes no secret of the fact that it’s a game that primarily aims to serve fan service. Most of these allusions are quite obvious if you’ve played Dead by Daylight.
One evening, you can set various stations on a radio. The different stations play the “terror radius” music tracks from the original game. However, on one radio station, there is an old interview with the head developer of Dead by Daylight, who explains at length what community means to him.
Also, the fact that Dead by Daylight has had its share of stress with the “licensed” killers is addressed. The killer “Trickster” occasionally appears and explains that he doesn’t hang around on the boring murderer island, but on the “IP island” where all the real killers chill – without legal drama and such. As he begins to list the killers, the narrator interrupts him and chases him away.
At another point, Spirit and Wraith argue about who is the better killer. Spirit argues that Wraith is a real wuss because he relies on stealth. When Wraith counters that Spirit’s phase-shifting is also a sort of stealth, she loses her composure and makes it clear that phase-shifting is certainly not cowardly and not stealth, it’s just that others are too weak to see her while doing it.
The game is full of small and large allusions.
Seriousness and fun hold the balance
Despite all these allusions, despite all this absurdity, the meta-jokes, and the constant breaking of the “4th wall”, Hooked on You still manages to maintain an almost perfect balance between seriousness and humor, so you never feel overwhelmed by one side. One might almost say that Hooked on You is better balanced than Dead by Daylight. Ha.
When Rin (I can call her Rin, you can’t!) tells a sad story around the campfire that serves as a dark metaphor for her own life, it’s quite depressing and emotional.
When it slowly becomes clear after long conversations that Rin struggles with her existence as an eternal undead and actually longs for the natural cycle of “life and death” and that her hatred of society is based on the fact that she blames society for her father’s murder of her, it is indeed thought-provoking.
When Rin is shown with tearful eyes and to sad music in certain scenes, it is indeed touching and briefly reveals that she too is ultimately just a victim in this matter – a young woman who was never allowed to live her life and finds no redemption even in death.
Despite these brief, very “human” moments with the killers, they never lose their horrors. They remain the monsters they are in the original game and yet gain new dimensions that make them quite interesting.
Not technically perfect, but perfect entertainment
And yes, “Hooked on You” also has a few minor quirks that I noticed. In a handful of scenes, the animations of the faces didn’t match perfectly. Because usually, the characters “blink” continuously, which should provide a bit more vivacity in a 2D dating game. In a few cases, however, the blinking animation is shifted a few pixels left or right, making it look like the whole face is “twitching”. It’s not the end of the world, but I did find it negatively noticeable in a few scenes.
In general, the game could have benefited from a few more different images of the killers since they usually only have 3-5 poses with different facial expressions or clothing styles. But that’s probably a criticism that all dating games share – you just want more from the characters you like.
I want to be honest with you: I didn’t expect anything from the game at all. Even when it was announced, I thought “Hooked on You” would be a pure meme and at most end up as a “cash grab” to exploit the rather “special” needs of the love-hungry Dead by Daylight community.
But none of that happened. In my eyes, “Hooked on You” is an above-average entertaining dating sim that gains significantly in value if you already know the characters. But even without prior knowledge of Dead by Daylight, this is a bizarre trip that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else right now.
However: You must like the macabre or at least be open to new experiences. Because even if most of the island of killers is already long dead … this gaming experience is fresh. And pretty sharp. Just like the shards of glass from Rin, which bored into me during wild lovemaking with her undead body and had a bit of her coagulated blood on them.
Ah, a nice keepsake from a lovely, blood-stained summer night on the killer island.
A small postscript: Hooked on You costs 10 euros on Steam – considering this price, you can’t go wrong here.
