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Dating Sims Review

Just some games I've played so far for reference in the future.

John Doe+

This was one of the games where the YB fandom seemed to overlap a bit, so tried it out of curiosity. Very short game, but effective in what it delivered in its description- a really dreamy, acid-trip kind of experience. I like how the additional scenarios were actually drawn and not AI slop like the first part (John looks adorable!). Gave a lot of Mandala Catalogue vibes which I definitely loved. I believe the developer Scopophobia Studios is trying to shore up funding for a new game on their itch.io page if you’re interested in related merch.

14 Days with You

I tried it for the yandere vibes. It started interesting enough, I like the whole modern Joe perspective it has (always nice to be in a story that is relatable to your audience). I unfortunately didn’t really feel engaged with the characters. Prolly because I’m too old and the kind of personalities that are available aren’t really the type I would be interested in. Note one example: one ‘friend’ is a jackass, both to you and your love interest, and I patiently waited to find any redeeming qualities as to why your character would consider them a friend…that never happened as far as my playthroughs are concerned, which can only make me assume your character is as much of a jackass as he is, which kind of makes interacting with your love interest kinda polarizing. I might try playing again sometime later with a more open mind, but trying to replay for different scenarios/endings feel more laborious than enjoyable.

Broken Colors

Very short game- it’s a demo. I have to say the character portraits are very nice and are the game’s biggest strength. The slice of story you get to learn is interesting, but it doesn’t strike me as a game you’d want to play if you aren’t in the mindset for dark themes or expecting something nice to happen to your player character.

Your Blade, My Heart

I DON’T HAVE A DAD KINK OKAY(lie). But…I super loved this game. The writing reminded me a lot of the romance novels I used to read as a teen, which is to say, it was very well-written, had a natural progression, didn’t feel forced (or as forced as it would be if it wasn’t a short game). It wasn’t very long and was very straightforward without branching routes, but the length was adequate for what needed to be told without the excessive fluff in-between. The world that the story takes place is interesting though, I wouldn’t have minded more lore to it. OH THE VA...very good, very sexy, elevated the experience. 12/10 dads.

A Date with Death

I saw it initially on Steam sometime ago and debated trying it, cause I naturally have an aversion to anime-style games. But I eventually tried it out of curiosity- it was interesting. The story took place mainly in a chatroom and video chat, so not much of world-building outside of what the characters tell each other. In some ways its good as it focuses more on developing the relationship than having to spend time addressing outside situations. That being said, your character and love interest are quirky in their own right, and I have a special love for ‘otherworldy beings/aliens trying to adapt to humanity and modern culture’. I’ve seen one review where someone kind of felt frustrated because its strongly a gen z type game. Its actually more of an internet culture type game- sure you’re going to have more updated, gen z type references but its not alien to someone who grew up with that sort of thing (aka me). I took a more absurdist approach with my answers and got what was probably the best ending, though I found out later that there was a lot more you could have done than just sit there chatting. Overall I thought it was great and had a nice, happy ending. I could buy the DLC later (there is a 18+ pack) just to support the developer, though I’m happy enough with the conclusion I got.

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Thoughts on Dating Sims

I started getting into more otome/ visual novels / dating sims etc. Your Boyfriend was kinda the first of the genre I’ve played, so my experience was what I drew from when comparing the other games. Left with me a few questions.

-A lot of games were made for game jams, and subsequently extended and completed in a matter of months. What is it about Your Boyfriend’s development that makes It such a massive undertaking spanning years?

-I never knew the need for a history or an on-demand save system until now, which makes me wonder why it took so long to implement one to Your Boyfriend (it seems like such a standard thing). Even the one implemented doesn’t work as effectively and is confusing, only saving at the end of day (meaning its really a Save for Day 4, but its labeled in the menu as Day 3).

-I have an interest in getting into Ren’py and making a game myself, though I still have to research on the difficulty and limitations of the program.  Don’t think YB is coded in Ren’Py which may add to its complexity, but then again, why not move the game to that framework unless there are certain features that are not transferable (like the authorization screen)?

-I haven’t tried a lot of games. Most of them were small and free, and I’m hesitant to pay for larger ones. So I’m unsure if Ren’py supports things like multiple scenarios the way Your Boyfriend does, which may bring another limitation. Days 1-4 start mostly the same, but Day 5 is completely different depending on your path, and everything in between can be completely different from one playthrough. Most games have a static path, but different endings depending on your choices, which can easily be explained by time and resource investment. I believe one game I’ve played, 14 Days with You, has multiple scenarios and leans more on what I’m talking about.

-On the other side of the coin, many smaller games have a lot of loaded features like social media statuses, a map, gallery, etc…completely cosmetic stuff which doesn’t add to the gameplay, but still adding some interactivity. I don’t really see it as necessary, but some things like bonus unlocks as you play is a good incentive for replayability.

-A lot of games are passion projects which start with a strong demo and become seemingly abandoned. Like, I get it. No one gets it more than me (a chronic procrastinator and someone that never learned to organize their time). Its just how some of them seem to exploit the initial reception of the game to milk as much money out of it as possible while continually promising updates that don’t happen for years. Shouldn’t people take advantage of their creation’s popularity? Sure. Is it morally correct to continually tease people that love your game enough to support it while not delivering on promises to continue the project? Debatable. For me as an artist and consumer, I personally I find it incredibly disrespectful. There may be a conga line of people who will continually find your game and enjoy it and will fund it, and there are people who will feel exploited and warn others against supporting the developer. I suppose it depends on how you want to be remembered as and if that matters to you.

Anyway, I've seen a lot of wonderful, unique concepts, captivating stories, creative executions, and its been incredibly enlightening. As someone who doesn't have a lot of time to invest in games, this satisfied that need to be inspired in my brain.

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THERE IS. a website. that takes 3D models with seams and pulls it apart to make a plushie pattern and informs you where things need to be edited or darts added for the best effect. and then it lets you scale it and print off your pattern. and I want to lose my MIND because I've lost steam halfway through so many plushie patterns in the mind numbing in betweens of unwrapping, copying all of the meshes down as pieces, transferring those, testing them, then finding obvious tweaks... like... this would eradicate 99% of my trial and error workflow for 3D models to plushies & MAYBE ILL FINALLY FINISH SCREAMTAIL...

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Your Blade, My Heart (Full Release)

"My future. My heart and soul. My everything."

Story

Despite being a member of royal family Solstice, you were never destined for greatness. Instead, that honor was given to the next in line for the throne: your brother, Atlas. Feelings of jealously, inferiority, and anxiety grew as years past, until they became too much to bear. Wanting to prove yourself, you aim to become a knight in the Dominion of Solis' capital city's army.

However, with no prior combat experience, your Father assigns the best knight to train you: Grand Knight Ramon Dayore. He's a stoic man who's scratched and clawed his way to the top. However, his experiences have made him close off his heart.

Will you be able to open the door to his heart, and help him love again?

Content Warning

Due to the sexual content featured in this title, Your Blade, My Heart is meant for players 18 years or older.

This game also contains the following content...

Anxiety and panic attacks

Mentions of death

Grief

Features

💜 40k words

💜 Option to self-insert or play as the canon protagonist, Princess Lysandra Solstice (She/Her)

💜 Name input, pronoun selection, select body type, select everyday attire (feminine, masculine, gender ambiguous) and the history behind that

💜 A lot of flavor choices! Seriously, this is what happens when you're a writer hopped up on Dr Pepper...

💜 Determine the intimacy scene you have with Ramon! Spicy fade to black where you're on top or bottom, or a fluffy cuddle session~

💜 Accessibility options (Font selection, Shakescreen toggle, self-voicing toggle, image and sound captions)

💜 Original soundtrack

💜 6 CGs (+2 cut-ins) with the option to unlock the spicy intimacy CGs if you decide to choose the cuddle/fluff intimacy scene first! This is for anyone who may be sex-repulsed or is just uncomfortable with those kinds of scenes!

💜 A very handsome demisexual knight and a cute slowburn romance story written by an asexual woman :3

You can download the game right now on PC, Linux, Mac, and Android from itchio!

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decentralize and clean up your life!!!

use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.

use firefox instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).

use mega or proton drive instead of google drive.

get rid of bloatware

use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite

use vetted sites on r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH for free movies, books, games, etc.

use trakt or letterboxd instead of imdb.

use storygraph instead of goodreads.

use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions

use ground news to read unbiased news and find blind spots in news stories.

use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp

make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge

use search for a cause or ecosia to support the environment instead of google

use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)

use flashpoint to play archived online flash games

find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books

burn your music onto cds

use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe

use unroll.me to clean your email inboxes

use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, tuta, or proton mail instead of gmail

remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X

remove bloatware on samsung X

use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta

use NCH suite for free software like a file converter, image editor, video editors, pdf editor, etc.

feel free to add more alternatives, resources or advice in the reblogs or replies, and i'll add them to the main post <3

last updated: march 18th 2025

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:3 kee cat

Blender 4.4, bad topology, a lot of hand painted textures, and grease pencil

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getting to know my mutuals and followers: if you had to sing karaoke on the spot RIGHT NOW what would your go to song be reply in the tags

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1984

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Uh

Baby (pickled)

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Some of the harder scenarios I found:

-The bodybag in the shack. You can find it normally on the worktable, but certain choices in the path leading to it will cause it to glitch and appear empty. But you can hover your mouse over it to interact with it. I found it by chance clicking around it, though technically I was clued in by a random comment I cant even remember that TK could be found in the shack. This was the more frustrating to find cause literally no one posted proof that it was real.

There is actually a path (the one where no friends are killed) where it's non-interactable, implying Peter never took the body (makes sense- he kept it in the freezer at the diner and in this path, we pushed people away enough that he didn't feel the need to kill them 'just in case').

-The knife. Its in a small drawer between the refrigerator and stove which I imagine people would easily miss, mostly due to the fact that the cursor is not accurate and can glitch randomly, making it hard to tell what's clickable or not. This can easily be fixed by highlighting objects with a hover, though if they wanted to make certain objects a secret, they can remove the highlight. I only found it cause a Youtuber found it and I was like 'wtf WHERE?' (Bijuu Mike or however his name goes). I'm not certain what the significance of Peter frisking you is, since you can just collect the objects afterward, on top of the fact that they're only useful on literally one Day 4 route.

-The coffee route was a hard one to find without walkthroughs, and would have missed if it wasn't already known. It leads to its own unique route on Day 4 in order to find all the friends in the bag.

-The gas station. Day 5 route is dependent on certain conditions. I got the motel more reliably than the gas station because of it (I'm a simp for Don okay? I always tried to save him 💔).

Your Boyfriend Route Map

So I got to playing this game again after it finally updated to Day 5. This started as just a tracker so I could try to find different routes without repeating ones I did over and over again.

What I ended up uncovering was a monster.

So I played it again and again an uncomfortable amount, finding more and more things every time. This list isn't exhaustive, but probably has a good 90% of everything you can find on the current build. The last two times I thought I was done, I only learned there were routes I hadn't found because I just randomly came across someone's post of playthrough. If there's anything I'm missing, I'd really appreciate it!

Note that this is a massive file already (look at the screenshot, some of it is even cut off), and I still kept out certain choices if they didn't look like they would influence the direction of a route, so if you think some choices are missing, it was on purpose.

Your Boyfriend Routes live.xlsx

Password: scooby

Yes its on OneDrive because I spent, again, an uncomfortable amount of time editing it in Excel and I honestly don't want to do it again on Google Sheets. The cells will be fine when you open it there but the arrows will be displaced all over the place.

[taddle]

Your Boyfriend Route Map

So I got to playing this game again after it finally updated to Day 5. This started as just a tracker so I could try to find different routes without repeating ones I did over and over again.

What I ended up uncovering was a monster.

So I played it again and again an uncomfortable amount, finding more and more things every time. This list isn't exhaustive, but probably has a good 90% of everything you can find on the current build. The last two times I thought I was done, I only learned there were routes I hadn't found because I just randomly came across someone's post of playthrough. If there's anything I'm missing, I'd really appreciate it!

Note that this is a massive file already (look at the screenshot, some of it is even cut off), and I still kept out certain choices if they didn't look like they would influence the direction of a route, so if you think some choices are missing, it was on purpose.

Your Boyfriend Routes live.xlsx

Password: scooby

Yes its on OneDrive because I spent, again, an uncomfortable amount of time editing it in Excel and I honestly don't want to do it again on Google Sheets. The cells will be fine when you open it there but the arrows will be displaced all over the place.