What I am hearing is there are enough horror dating sims out there that we can feasibly hope for a "More Horror Dating Sims" episode down the line

i’m so glad addison did a deep dive explanation on hatoful boyfriend because i only ever heard lore through osmosis from friends 😂 this game is WILD

In the pigeon dating simulator if you fail to raise the stats enough for any one of the pigeons by a certain checkpoint you also die randomly, and you don't find out why until you find out more of the backstory

Zoran's "like you dooo" has seeped into my vernacular and refuses to leave

There's a Japanese Visual Novel with some horror elements who's whole point is being a 'shipping simulator' where you're matching characters together.

The thing I love about Doki Doki is that it's design makes it hit hard even if you know what's going to happen. I went into the game fully spoiled and I remember playing the (very long) normal dating sim part and being hit with the creeping realization that the game was forcing me to get attached to these characters and when the horror kicked in I was fucked. I think this is also why the scariest scene in the game to me was when Natsuki and Yuri are arguing the second time and Sayori isn't there anymore to resolve things and the game gives you the illusion of choice before aggressively insisting you to be cruel to Yuri. And If you're spoiled (like I was) you know that you're being forced to say something horrible to the girl who is about to stab herself.

Persona 3 mentioned and everyone cheers. I’m glad everyone knows peak

The smooth jazz in the last 10-15 seconds of the video was a nice surprise and very fitting for a podcast episode about dating sims 😊

I’m not a big gamer, but I love listening to people talk about what they’re passionate about. So listening to Addison talk about these games gives me so much joy ❤️

Really surprised that Dramatical Murder didn't come up. It's one of the few/earlier horror dating games where you could have a queer narrative. Came out in 2012

Gina’s reaction to Ben getting Monika in that quiz was so funny 😂

there is another alt ending/playthrough to DDLC when you delete Monika from a fresh download of the game and with no save file.

FINALLY SOMEONE GIVES HATOFUL BOYFRIEND THE RESPECT IT DESERVES. i've been in these trenches since the original april fools demo and everyone looks at me like i'm crazy when i tell them it's actually a really fun game with a surprisingly dark story. Also I can tell you used Dodger's gameplay footage, "Buttbag" lmao

Loved the discussion! I had no idea there were so many horror/horror-adjacent dating sims!

Oh, I just remembered. To anyone that’s interested in Slash Fic there’s a section in the early chapters where you can farm hearts for each Slasher for as long as you want, though I don’t know if it’s been patched. There’s a section where you choose to meet a Slasher using a Grimoire (I think) which you can keep repeat over and over again and rack up hearts for whichever Slasher you choose.

This is such a peak episode!

Listen... I love everybody on here. Zoran is always a hoot. Addison did a wild amount of due diligence for this episode that made it both fun and informative. Ben is a super producer. But GINA -- I freaking adored how into everything Gina was on this episode, it was a joy to behold. Bonus points for a wonderful defense of Mixtape as well! (not that Zoran's opinion is wrong or anything)

Killer episode, can't wait for the next one!

"I know I what I'm about, son!" Addison is me in a different font.

One horror "dating sim" that I've always thought was kind of genius was No, Thank You!!!

The conceit of that game is genuinely fantastic in how it subverts the genre expectations. And it's genuinely fucked up, like scar you for life fucked up.

0:20 omg    

Zoran" I wear a creepy bunny mask " gvoich 😅😅