I’m not a coward. I’ve smooched aliens, vampires, and after an unfortunate playthrough of Hatoful Boyfriend, I have also smooched birds. It only makes sense that dating sim fans are always looking for the next new thing, the next face on which to plant your metaphorical lips. Sucker for Love: First Date definitely comes with some out of this world characters who are ripe for a kissy, even if actually getting one is going to possibly be more pain than it is worth.

Sucker for Love: First Date began as a single chapter game that came packaged with the 2020 Dread X Collection, a series of projects that included games made by dozens of indie horror developers during the lockdown. I actually played the original game on Halloween last year, so it was very exciting to hear that the project would be getting a full release. The original Sucker for Love was a 30-minute experience with only three endings able to be obtained, where First Date expands upon this by adding two new chapters with two new characters who you can give a big kiss on the mouth (or at least where you think the mouth is supposed to be).

The first of the Lovecraftian horrors that you will be dating is Ln’eta, appropriately taking on the form of a genderswapped Cthulhu with thighs that just won’t quit. Her first chapter does an amazing job of setting up just how the game is played. The pink book that you found outside your front door is essentially an instruction manual on how to help Ln’eta end the world as we know it, she makes it very clear that the world will be ending with or without your cooperation, but at least this way you might get to give her a kiss before the devouring of the world as you know it. 

Interactions with Ln’eta’s books happen through rituals, each one having instructions to follow, usually including holding the correct items and then reciting a chat in an unspeakable language. It’s also here where the game begins showing its teeth a little, every new ritual results in something else happening to you, each new change more horrific than the last. Even though Sucker for Love is a great parody of the dating sim genre with some hilarious moments, it doesn’t shy away from the horror with blood, gore, general ominous atmosphere and even one nasty jumpscare that got me every single time.

The king in yellow is a completely different beast to Ln’eta. Estir is a haughty actress who wants you to perform her play to the letter before wrapping you into her servitude. Where Ln’eta feels like a being of supreme power who will be ending the world because it is solely in her nature, Estir feels like she relishes in watching you suffer, in watching you squirm. Though fearsome, Estir’s desire to one up the other Outer Gods at every opportunity does give you a chance to trick her into promising you two smooches instead of just one. 

Estir also has a book of her own, but hers is full of scripts and play directions that essentially need to be followed the same way as the rituals in Ln’eta’s route, but with an extra flair for the dramatic. There’s a lot of fun to be had in listening to the gusto she performs her lines with, but her route definitely tones the scares down quite a bit. A few moments gave me a little spook, but it doesn’t have the same dread that Ln’eta’s initial route did and the focus seems to be more on comedy. 

The second chapter of the game actually contains both Estir’s route and a second route of Ln’eta. It has six endings all together that are achieved by either romancing one character at a time or by romancing both at once in different ways. The endings vary in levels of comedy, tragedy, and even at times dipping its toes into some genuinely emotional and touching outcomes. One of the endings actually managed to make me cry, likely in part due to the amazing character design and the voice work by the actresses in the game.

Unfortunately, even though the game looks wonderful, it can sometimes not be so great mechanically. There were multiple times when some of the important items in the game weren’t appearing. When I attempted to start a ritual, I would get a popup saying that I didn’t have a particular item equipped and then I would check and see that it wasn’t in my inventory but also wasn’t in the room for me to pick up. After clicking on the spot where I knew the item should be, I was able to get the game working again. This happened multiple times. I was lucky that I already knew the layout of the room and where to click even when the item wasn’t visible, but if this happened to someone who had only been playing for a few minutes, it would completely stump them.