On Steam, a free dating simulator has almost only positive reviews. MeinMMO author Johanna Heuck tried the game for you and noted: There is much more behind it than initially thought.
What kind of game is it? It is the game PockeDate! – Pocket Dating Simulator, a text-based game in pixel graphics. You date the anime girl Akari, who finds you awesome from the start and will even forgive you for strange answers.
There are a number of different dates you can go on with her: including to the beach, the mall, or an ice cream parlor. The dates can go in four different directions: bad, satisfactory, good, or perfect, depending on the answers you choose.
With the trailer, you get an initial impression of the game:
How popular is the game? On Steam, the game is still a hidden gem. As of now, the game has very few reviews, but they are mostly positive: 98% of the reviews are positive (via steam).
PockeDate! transforms into psychological horror
How does PocketDate play out? The goal is simple: Win Akari’s heart until she invites you to her home. To do this, you need to choose the right answers on your dates and thus fill up the heart bar beside her.
The first playthrough, which will go smoothly if you only choose good answers, is still quite harmonious. Only now and then does the game let slip that there is more behind it.
If you make it to Akira’s home and win her as a girlfriend, the dates will start over and the dialogue will mostly repeat. You get trapped in a loop of dates.
What is special about PockeDate? If you give the wrong answers or simply play long enough, different dialogue boxes will pop up from time to time.
The game transforms into psychological horror in this way through the loop. Akira’s facade falls apart more and more, and what started as an unassuming dating simulator quickly becomes a horror game.
But you can break out of it and unlock different endings, each revealing a piece of the truth. For a game that is free and kept simple in its presentation, it offers depth and a lot of content.
If you are looking for a free game and enjoy intricate story games, we can only recommend PockeDate! Here is PockeDate on Steam!
Have you played PockeDate! or do you plan to? Let us know in the comments! Dating simulators don’t always have to involve humans, as this game on Steam proves: In a new crazy game for €7 on Steam, you set up those monsters that ravaged the Earth in Pacific Rim
