From falling in love with cryptids to finding a partner in the arcade, there's no shortage of great dating sims out there to try out. Many tell heartfelt stories as you get to the know the cast of characters, while others are packed full of humor and charm. Below, you'll find our pick of the best dating sims to try out right now, with picks from a variety of platforms so you can find something to suit you. The dreamy, silver-haired Colonel will be your classmate during a three-day cooking class.

In fact, it has one of the best intro videos ever seen in a dating sim. So, if you can handle an abundance of fried chicken advertisement and anime references, do not leave the Colonel waiting. Raptor Boyfriend sees you take on the role of a young teen who's just moved to a community where cryptids reside. Will it be the artistic fairy, the musical bigfoot, or the sporty velociraptor who wins your heart? Or as the game puts it: are you team wings, fur, or scales? As you interact with the three love interests, you will find out more and more about their past.

In other words, it's got the right combination of a serious story, goofiness, and unconventional love interests to offer you something a little different.

Max Gentlemen Sexy Business gets extra points for its new take on the dating simulator genre. It combines the classic dating sim features with business simulator gameplay. In other words, managing your production and flirting with fellow executives go hand-in-hand here. Another thing that makes Max Gentlemen Sexy Business stand out from the crowd, is the role-playing element.

Unlike most dating sims, you get to create your own character and pick your preferred gender. There are 12 romanceable characters, so plenty of ways to sleep your way to the top. Developer: Thongrop Rodsavas Platform : Browser opens in new tab. Many dating sims make their characters look cuter than in reality, but not Jurassic Heart. But even though he looks scary, your new classmate Taira is a gentle dinosaur who enjoys playing the ukulele.

Nonetheless, its beautiful atmosphere and heartwarming story make it impossible to ignore. In Hatoful Boyfriend: A School of Hope and White Wings, you play a human girl who has eight different love interests to choose from. Not only is Hatoful Boyfriend one of the funniest and most bizarre dating sims out there, it is also celebrated for its variety of endings and character depth. While it was originally available on PS4 and iOS, it has since been delisted from the platforms, but you can still pick it up on Steam.

Developer: Kitfox Games Platforms : PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch. What if your weapons in a dungeon crawler could transform into incredibly hot people that you could date? Boyfriend Dungeon asks and answers that important question, giving you a chance to run through dungeons with a selection of weapons and date those weapons outside of the dungeon.

You can also choose to pie off dating anyone and just hang out with a cool cat, which is a very solid option if you ask me. When an easily-flustered woman named Hannah takes on a management position at a lingerie store, she must learn to thrive in her new role. Desperate for help, she takes on three college-age girls and must choose which of the three to take on full-time.

While explicit content is definitely a part of Negligee , there are all-ages versions of the title available for those who prefer to experience a more grounded love story. Video game history fans will love the intriguing premise of Arcade Spirits; the video game crash in didn't happen, and arcades are more popular than ever in the year 20XX. Players take on the role of an employee at a futuristic arcade and have the opportunity to romance its diverse array of customers and employees.

Much of the game is customizable, as well, including conversation choices and the main characters' appearance and personalities. Players have the option to romance both men and women, and they will also make choices that determine both their romantic future and the future of the arcade itself.

A game famous for its strange premise, Hatoful Boyfriend is a dating sim that sees players romancing talking birds as the only human at an elite avian school. The game plays mostly like a visual novel, with players following the twisting story and making decisions that will affect which bird they end up with.

RELATED: 10 Best Video Games For Gamer Couples, According To Reddit. As with many other visual novels, Hatoful Boyfriend 's multiple paths and endings will slowly unveil a more complete story when all of them are completed. Although the game's premise is very humorous, there are also mystery elements to the game, including an alternate murder mystery story involving the protagonist of the main story's death.

Though it may come across as an ill-conceived marketing stunt, I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin' Good Dating Simulator is actually a hilarious and well-thought-out take on the genre. From talking dogs to anthropomorphized kitchenware to the eponymous Colonel himself, there's never a dull moment in this KFC-endorsed romance saga.

While dating is quite literally the name of the game, I Love You, Colonel Sanders places a major emphasis on comedy. The developers clearly knew how silly their project was, and the title riffs on everything from common dating sim tropes the complexities of JRPG combat. In this game, which is geared towards a younger audience, players step into the shoes of a new student at middle school, playing as the gender of their choice and dating whomever they would like.

This middle school, however, is full of drama and intrigue, as players will have to unravel mysteries and navigate through many friends and enemies there. There are many choices for players to make, including the option not to have any romance, allowing players to truly carve their own path.

The mobile game Mystic Messenger is an immersive experience, casting players in the role of a character who has downloaded a mysterious app called Mystic Messenger through which they receive strange messages.

As it turns out, the mysterious app connects the player to a group of men whom the player can romance as they solve the app's mysteries.

With a variety of paths and endings available, players have plenty of choices to make along the course of each playthrough. Adding to the immersion, the game operates in real-time, with conversations only becoming available after a certain amount of time has passed in the real world.

Released in following a successful Kickstarter campaign, HuniePop sees a down-on-his-or-her-luck protagonist embark on a dating journey with the help of a love fairy named Kyu. Featuring a diverse cast of romanceable women, HuniePop combines the romantic elements of most dating sims with the stratic intrigue of a match-four puzzle game.

Though it's perhaps best known for its adult-oriented scenes, HuniePop is far more robust than the many dime-a-dozen adults-only games found on Steam. The game rewards players who take the time to listen to the dialogue and remember things about their dates, and, on the whole, it's much more engaging than most games that follow the often passive dating sim formula. In this unusual comedic dating sim, players take on the role of researchers on Cat Island, where they must unfold the mysteries of the island and its feline denizens.

In order to do this, however, they will have to date these cats as they themselves are slowly transformed into a cat by mysterious forces. Purrfect Date is notable for its incredibly dark sense of humor as well as its cast of unusual romanceable cat characters. There are many games that combine dating sim gameplay with RPG elements, including high-profile series like Persona and Sakura Wars.

In , this latest entry in the series, a reboot of sorts simply entitled Sakura Wars , was released, placing players in control of Seijuro Kamiyama, a demon-fighting soldier. The game combines fast-paced action RPG combat with slower-paced relationship-building segments similar to other dating sims.

This entry is a great place for new players to jump into the series, and action RPG fans looking to get into dating sims will find the best of both worlds here too. For the uninitiated, Doki Doki Literature Club is a psychological horror experience masquerading as a cutesy dating sim.

Yet, though it takes some seriously sinister twists later on, the first half of the game succeeds in presenting the player with all the best tropes associated with the dating sim genre.

Joining the titular club and getting to know Yuri, Monica, Natsuki, Monika, Sayori, Monika, and especially Monika can be great fun provided players are prepared for the shocking turns the game eventually takes. Rather than embark on a traditional diner-and-movie date, the protagonist of 's Boyfriend Dungeon must get to know her potential love interests by scouring monster-infested dungeons with them.

What's more, her suitors all have the ability to transform into weapons that reflect their personalities. Players must weigh personal preferences against combat performance to discover the date whose truly right for them, and it makes for an undeniably unique experience. While the actual dungeon-crawling gameplay becomes a bit repetitive—a fault encountered by most action roguelikes—the premise and presentation along make Boyfriend Dungeon worth checking out.

A mobile title that was eventually ported to the Nintendo Switch and made available on Steam, Florence is a visual novel of sorts that depicts the work-a-day life of the eponymous twenty-something who eventually meets and enters into a relationship with a handsome cellist.

RELATED: 10 Best Guilty Pleasure Romance Movies. While Florence primarily chronicles the ups and downs of most long-term relationships, it's best remembered for its authentic depiction of desk job life. Artistic and moving, it's not quite a dating sim in the traditional sense, but it's well worth experiencing nonetheless.

Psychological thrillers, point-and-click games, and romantic visual novels may sound like starkly different categories, but they're easily united through their shared connection to dating sims.

With the variety that these games offer, there's a dating sim out there for anybody and everybody. This genre doesn't discriminate by gender or sexuality; it's vast and all-encompassing. Related: The Creepiest Dating Sims.

Even the most frugal of gamers can find dating sims that fit their needs. Across all platforms, there are free titles just waiting to be played. From gothic vampire-driven plots to game-length fried chicken advertisements, an empty wallet can stretch a long way. Osu players can rejoice knowing that this game can put their clicking speed to use.

The concept behind this game is simple: the more you click, the more money you make; the more money you make, the more gifts and dates you can afford; the more gifts and dates you can afford, the more girls are in your league. In the end, the player can amass a harem of forty-six different girls of varying personalities and humanoid species.

For gamers more interested in men, there is a spin-off, called Blush Blush, that features the same mechanics but with a much more masculine cast. Ebon Light takes a western spin on otomes, providing players with a fleshed-out fantasy world of elves and magic. The player can plan out their character's personality and appearance, paying careful attention to stats and the game-changing decisions that can be made.

In this puzzle-adventurer-meets-dating-sim, the object of the game is to recruit a full harem of demon girls. With a bit of problem-solving and smooth-talking , the player can take home each and every eligible bachelorette from Hell. It only takes an hour or so for players to court these demonic ladies and unlock all the possible endings, making this a quick but satisfying story of love and lust.

Though Emily is Away isn't a visual novel, it is still technically a dating sim. After all, the bulk of the plot exists to explore the relationship between the protagonist and this girl he knows, Emily. Over the course of five in-game years, the player uses a simulated AOL Instant Messenger to keep in touch with her. Between chatting about Coldplay and deciding which early s icon is worthy enough to be a profile picture, players are immersed in Y2K nostalgia as they navigate the relationship between two tech-savvy punk indie music fans on the brink of adulthood.

The challenge lies in staying emotionally connected with nothing but an internet connection. One of the few free otome games available on Steam, Cinderella Phenomenon has a surprisingly cohesive storyline. The different routes, while unique and not at all repetitive, feel connected to one another in a way that really ties the story together, which is a level of polish that a lot of other visual novels lack.

Another breath of fresh air that this game offers is its protagonist, Lucette. Unlike the standard, cookie-cutter, faceless women who lead most otome games, Lucette has a fierce and distinctive personality. Over the course of the story, she and the other characters must work together to overcome the Fairy Tale Curses that they were shackled with. Through this concept, the creators were able to insure their cast would be flawed but redeemable, changing greatly by the end of the game.

Looking at this game's long, nuanced story that follows the characters from childhood to adulthood, it's clear that the developers cut no corners. Players can even create their own characters and watch them grow up with the main cast! As they do, the player is in control of how the protagonist's personality and motives shift and change.

Few other dating sims allow for such a player-driven experience, and fewer more give such a complete look into the lives of the NPCs. Falling in love with a visual novel character is one thing, but gradually transitioning from childhood friendship with a character to an adult relationship is something entirely different. Magic, mystery, and murder flourish in this mobile dating sim.

With art that is almost as vivid and intriguing as its rich plot, The Arcana: A Mystic Romance is a game that is almost impossible to put down. Aside from having the power to smooth-talk this eclectic group of characters, the protagonist has a gift for fortune-telling and an enchanted tarot deck to help bring them down the right path.

This comes in handy for more reasons than one: it provides foreshadowing for what is to come; it helps to charm those who could've otherwise been adversarial toward the player; and it is a useful tool for investigating the unsolved killing of the elusive Count Lucio. Welcoming to players of all gender identities and sexualities, this game has a large, dedicated fan base despite still being in development.

For those willing to fight the occasional urge to purchase in-game currency, this is a great free game for just about anybody interested in dating simulators. The sizzle of frying chicken is nothing compared to the sizzle of true love in this official KFC-branded dating simulator.

In it, the protagonist is a student at a competitive culinary school, where they meet the man of their dreams: Colonel Sanders. With rivals in both love and cooking to fend off, the stakes are dangerously high. If the player can find success in their cooking battles and their flustered conversations, though, they can achieve their dreams and become the object of the KFC mascot's affections.

With its stylized, high-quality art, absurdist humor, and wacky plot, it's amazing that this game is free at all. In fact, it probably wouldn't be if it wasn't technically an advertisement for a fast food franchise. Mystic Messenger is a beloved staple in the otome games genre, and it is notorious for its addictive nature and swoon-worthy cast.

Players get to grow their relationship with characters through real-time texts and calls that occur at set times over the course of about ten days. Love isn't the only goal of the game, though; survival is also key. With cults, overly possessive bachelors, and cracks in the fourth wall, there are some serious threats to the protagonist's safety throughout the game.

The anxiety brought by the lurking danger, is nothing compared to the added stress of planning a massive, extravagant charity event over the course of the game, though. Related: Complete Mystic Messenger Email Guide - All Correct Answers. With seven routes, sixty-two endings, and potential years worth of playtime, Mystic Messenger offers an immense amount of content at no cost.

However, some of the more premium aspects of the game do require splurging on in-app purchases. Even so, the base game is well-designed enough that spending money is highly optional. Doki Doki Literature defies its genre, distorting tropes to instill a heightened sense of horror in its players.

Do not be fooled by the cute girls and bubbly music; this game is infamous for its dark themes and shocking plot twists. It executes these points in the plot flawlessly, making an engaging and thrilling playthrough. For the few people out there who haven't either played it or watched somebody else play it already, it's definitely worth the zero dollar price tag.

Next: Most Bizarre Dating Simulator Games. Related: The Creepiest Dating Sims Even the most frugal of gamers can find dating sims that fit their needs.

Helltaker Helltaker game Developer: vanripper Publisher: vanripper Take control of the titular Helltaker and journey through the depths of Hell as you solve a series of puzzles and meet several demon girls to add to your ever-growing harem. The different routes, while unique and not at all repetitive, feel connected to one another in a way that really ties the story together, which is a level of polish that a lot of other visual novels lack. This wide variety of options has helped make the genre a very popular one in the world of gaming, and with different takes on the genre come new relationships to explore and new matchmaking techniques to experience. Doki Doki Literature Club Developer: Team Salvato Publisher: Team Salvato At first glance, Doki Doki Literature Club! If not, you die. As the deeper you get into the narrative and date the various characters, the more unsettling the game becomes.

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