Dating Sim Enthusiasts Book Club
What is a Dating Sim?
Dating sims can be boiled down to "games about getting a date", but that's broad. Let's get specific.
Explore the collection
Lists of dating sims on platforms such as Itch.io and Steam, categorized by type and demographic.
Who made you the boss of Dating Sims?
Hi! I'm Lime. Read about me; along with my dating sim reviews, videos, and links to my own games.
What is a Dating Sim?
Dating sims are a broad genre that's only grown wider over the years. to some people, a dating sim refers to any romance themed visual novel. To others, it implies stat raising, scheduling, and time/money management.The main qualification a game needs to be considered a dating sim is to call itself one.However, not all games are created equal and not all developers have one shared outlook. Games that may not be marketed as dating sims often still have the same features as one, and games that use the label sometimes only meet it nominally.In my reviews and for my curator selections, I use the following rubric to determine if a game qualifies as a dating sim.
One of the game's objectives is pursuing a romantic relationship, and this objective is not treated as secondary.
The game has a pass/fail condition that dictates if you get a date, or how well it goes.
The story (or the romantic element) changes based on your choices or gameplay.
The romanceable characters are interactive, with either dialogue or another way to express communication with the player.
If a game meets the above qualifications, I'll count it as a dating sim regardless of how it's marketed. Though there are a few more things that are not necessary to make a game a dating sim, but go a long way into making it a good one.
The choices the game gives you are significant; rather than being presented with the characters and choosing one, they impact your relationship and/or events of the game.
The game has multiple endings. At least one per character, though a good/bad ending for each is a common feature.
The pacing of the game favors replayability. If there's a lengthy intro, for instance, significant choices should take place relatively close to the divergance point.
Dating Sim collections
Steam Curator Group
A Steam group where I collect and annotate dating sims I've played on steam.Games are marked "Recommended" or "Informational" based on their classifications as dating sims, not by whether I enjoyed the game -- though I've linked to my pre-existing reviews where applicable.Will be updated soon with lists to match the Itch.io collections.
Itch.io collections
M/F Games
Games where you play as a male protagonist and pursue female characters.
F/M Games
Games where you play as a female protagonist and pursue male characters.
Gender Neutral
Games with a customizable, invisible, or non-binary protagonist.
Silly Games
Games intended as comedic, or with some other spin. "Datable Objects" and such.
M/M Games
Games where you play as a male protagonist and pursue male characters.
F/F Games
Games where you play as a female protagonist and pursue female characters.
Solo Games
Games where you pursue a single love interest, regardless of gender.
18+ Games
Games with unavoidable explicit content. Images are not censored, be warned.
Who made you the boss of Dating Sims?
I did! Hi, my name is Lime. I've been playing dating sims since I was 14, and making my own for 15+ years. I'm by no means an expert, but it's something I'm passionate about.I've been collecting and reviewing games since 2021, but it was only recently that I started thinking about making larger collections with better categories. I have plenty of friends who have expressed interest in getting into dating sims, but have no way of finding the kinds of games that interest them. This project is an attempt to combat that.Switching over to YouTube is a recent development, and I'm doing it exclusively because streaming games keeps me accountable enough to actually play my backlog.I try my best to keep my reviews objective. On a personal level, though, I prefer stat grinders over pure VNs and tend to gravitate towards games with visible protagonists and bisexual casts. I play games with the sound off because there's something wrong with me.My biggest desires for the dating sim community are twofold: to bring people into the dev sphere that would otherwise never have attempted it, and to see more innovation in dating sim design. I want to see things never seen before. I want stories I've never heard, game genres I've never seen combined, teenagers using Ren'Py for the first time throwing all the coolest things they can think of at the wall. I want datable Dig-Dug.On my Itch.io, in addition to games, I have a collection of templates and tools to make it as easy as possible for new devs to make dating sims. Check it out! Send me your games.