Sucker for Love: First Date

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Sucker for Love: First Date
Sucker for Love First Date cover.png
Nintendo Switch icon art
Developer(s) Akabaka
Publisher(s) DreadXP
SeriesSucker for Love
Engine GameMaker
Platform(s) Windows, Nintendo Switch
ReleaseJanuary 20, 2022 (Windows), December 19, 2022 (Switch)
Genre(s) Dating sim
Mode(s)Single-player

Sucker for Love: First Date is a parodic dating sim and horror-themed visual novel developed by indie developer Joseph "Akabaka" Hunter, [1] and published by DreadXP. It was released on January 20, 2022, for Windows and December 19, 2022, for Nintendo Switch. The game revolves around a young man who obtains a pink version of the Necronomicon, and begins performing rituals to summon moe anthropomorphic beings from the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Ln'eta, a female version of Cthulhu, sacrificing his body parts and ultimately threatening the world with annihilation. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its writing, voice acting and artwork, but criticized its short length, glitches, and low emphasis on romance for a dating sim. A sequel further exploring the Cthulhu Mythos, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For , was announced later in 2022.

Contents

Gameplay

The player speaking to Ln'eta while in Darling's apartment. A "love" meter is shown in the top-right of the screen. Sucker for Love First Date screenshot.png
The player speaking to Ln'eta while in Darling's apartment. A "love" meter is shown in the top-right of the screen.

In addition to progressing text, the player can interact with objects in the game's environment in the style of an adventure game, and must also perform rituals using the Necronomicon in order to progress the story. [2] It is possible to perform a ritual incorrectly, resulting in madness and a bad ending. [3]

Plot

Bankrolled by a woman named Missy, the main character, Darling, seeks "smooches" from Lovecraftian entities, using the Necronomicon's rituals to summon them. [3] In order, he summons Ln'eta, a female interpretation of Cthulhu, Estir, a gender-flipped Hastur and Missy's true identity, and Nyanlahotep, a female Nyarlahotep with catgirl traits. [4]

Development

The game was developed using the GameMaker engine, and was nominated for its 2022 "best game" award. [5] A shorter version of the game with only a 30-minute prelude and a single "love interest" was originally released for the Dread X Collection 2 game jam in 2020, one of a series of game jams organized due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. [6]

Reception

The game received an aggregate score of 77/100 on Metacritic for its PC version, indicating generally favorable reviews. [7]

Iza Pogiernicka of CD-Action rated the game 9/10 points, called it one of the best dating sims she had ever played, and saying it was a perfect blend of comedy and horror. [8] Zoey Handley of Destructoid rated the game 7/10 points, calling its writing "hilarious and clever" and its gameplay "eccentric". However, she criticized that the player did not get to pick a character to spend time with, instead progressing through each ritual in a linear fashion. [2]

Alyssa Mercante of GamesRadar+ praised the game for subverting the source material, saying that gender-swapping Cthulhu into a "busty sex object" would make H. P. Lovecraft roll in his grave, which would be satisfying due to his racism. She characterized the game as a "fun, fresh take on dating sims". [3] John Loeffler of TechRadar called Sucker for Love the best Lovecraftian video game since Darkest Dungeon , praising its game design and the fact that its story is from the point-of-view of a cultist, and noting that its kawaii elements made its horror "perverse". He stated that it was his game of the year, beating Elden Ring . [4]

Some critics expressed disappointment at the emphasis on horror over romance or erotic elements, despite the game being billed as a dating sim. Rebecca Jones of Rock Paper Shotgun described the game as "the most chaste dating sim" she had ever played, while Handley called it "PG" with few jokes that made reference to anything lewd. [2] Jones called the last segment of the game a "near-total genre shift" into survival horror that discarded the comedic aspects of the game. [6]

Sequel

An upcoming sequel, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For , was revealed at PAX West 2022 with a teaser trailer. [1] The sequel takes place in a rural town, Sacramen-Cho, which has been plagued by a wave of mysterious disappearances, and contains further adventure game elements, like 360-degree backgrounds. The player finds a purple spellbook used by cultists, using it to summon Rhok'zan, the Black Goat of the Woods. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cthulhu Mythos</span> Shared fictional universe based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft

The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of Anglo-American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name "Cthulhu" derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cthulhu</span> Fictional cosmic entity

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Call of Cthulhu</span> 1928 short story by H. P. Lovecraft

"The Call of Cthulhu" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in February 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hastur</span> Fictional character

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<i>At the Mountains of Madness</i> Novella by H. P. Lovecraft

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De Vermis Mysteriis, or Mysteries of the Worm, is a fictional grimoire created by Robert Bloch and incorporated by H. P. Lovecraft into the lore of the Cthulhu Mythos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovecraftian horror</span> Subgenre of horror

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<i>Cast a Deadly Spell</i> 1991 American television film

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<i>Simon Necronomicon</i> Modern spellbook and occult text

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The Unspeakable Vault (of Doom) or Weird Tales from the Old Ones is a webcomic by François Launet, which chronicles the "daily" lives of the Great Old Ones, including Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and Yog-Sothoth, among others. It takes a lighthearted view of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos to inspire laughter rather than the more usual soul-blasting horror. The comic was used as the basis of the second expansion set to the Cthulhu Mythos themed version of Steve Jackson Games' card game Munchkin.

<i>Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land</i> 2012 video game

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NecronomiCon Providence</span>

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<i>Call of Cthulhu</i> (video game) 2018 video game

Call of Cthulhu is a role-playing survival horror video game developed by Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The game features a semi-open world environment and incorporates themes of Lovecraftian and psychological horror into a story that includes elements of investigation and stealth. Despite its title, it is not a direct adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu" as it is mostly based on the Cthulhu Mythos along with the 1981 role-playing game of the same title.

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<i>Sucker for Love: Date to Die For</i> 2024 video game

Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a parodic horror dating sim visual novel developed by Joseph "Akabaka" Hunter and published by DreadXP. The sequel to Sucker for Love: First Date, it was released April 23, 2024, for Microsoft Windows. A loose adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth, its main character, Stardust, enters an isolated town while investigating a series of mysterious disappearances. She soon discovers that a goat-like fertility goddess known as Rhok'zan has been trapped by cultists, who are misusing her for dark rituals, and must help free her from them while keeping her unharmed. The game's aesthetic takes heavy inspiration from 1990s anime. It received positive reviews from critics, who cited its gameplay, graphics and writing, considering it a more polished and newcomer-friendly entry than its predecessor and praising its inclusiveness.

References

  1. 1 2 Wilson, Mike (2022-09-04). "'Sucker For Love' Sequel 'Date to Die For' Revealed, Coming This Year". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  2. 1 2 3 Handley, Zoey (2022-01-20). "Review: Sucker for Love: First Date". Destructoid . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  3. 1 2 3 Mercante, Alyssa (2022-02-11). "Have you tried…simping for Eldritch gods in Sucker for Love: First Date?". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  4. 1 2 Loeffler, John (2022-12-29). "Romance sims aren't for me, but Sucker for Love: First Date is still my game of the year". TechRadar . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  5. ↑ Manthorp, Ross (2022-06-12). "Cast Your Votes For The 2022 GameMaker Awards". GameMaker. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  6. 1 2 Jones, Rebecca (2022-01-27). "Sucker For Love: First Date review: a Lovecraftian dating sim that refuses to tone down the horror". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  7. ↑ "Sucker for Love: First Date". Metacritic . Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  8. ↑ Pogiernika, Iza (2022-02-19). "Recenzja Sucker for Love: First Date. Ostatni całus przed końcem świata – CD-Action". cdaction.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  9. ↑ "Sucker for Love: Date to Die For on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
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