Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and for gamers, this can mean a time to share a thematically appropriate game with that special someone, or at least find some love with an on-screen waifu. With that in mind, here are the Top Ten Valentine’s Day game suggestions from Marooners’ Rock.
- Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail. The Al Lowe penned Leisure Suit Larry games follow the adventures of our titular lovable loser as he tries to find the love of his life, or at least the night, in the days before Tinder. Filled with hilarious puns and classic adventure game puzzles, there’s not a bad one in the bunch (save for the dreadful licensed spinoffs after LSL7 that feature Larry’s loser nephew and had no involvement from Al Lowe) but Love for Sail is the easiest entry point for modern gamers.
Picking out some new outfits with Victorian Principles.
- To The Moon. This pixel-based adventure story follows two doctors through the mind of a dying man as they work to give him one last wish before he takes his last breath. Below the surface is a touching love story that hits you right in the feels.
- World of Warcraft (or any MMORPG, really). Valentine’s Day events are a staple of most MMOs. Find a partner, shoot some love arrows, deliver candy hearts, there’s definitely something love related going on.
WoW’s classic Valentine’s Day event, still going strong after ten years!
- If My Heart Had Wings. This list could be filled with nothing but romantic visual novels, but we’re just going to pick one or two. IMHHD follows the adventures of Aoi Minase as he returns to his hometown and re-invigorates the school’s soaring club with the help of some of his classmates. Despite a number of typos and grammatical mistakes in the translation, the game is filled with beautiful art and a deep story with significant differences depending on the player’s romantic choices.
Flying the glider in If My Heart Had Wings
- League of Legends. Wait, no. Don’t play League with your partner. Or against your partner. That’s how to destroy a relationship.
- Catherine. An exploration inside the head of man torn by his feelings between long-time girlfriend Katherine and sultry seductress Catherine, this is a great choice for people who want to mess up their psychological well being, and maybe get into an argument with a partner about cheating with very similarly named people.
- Saints Row IV. Perhaps serious choices aren’t your thing? The Saints Row franchise features insane, over the top parodies of nearly every genre in existence, with SR4 taking a mix of Crackdown, Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto, a huge dash of total insanity, and throwing them in a blender on frappe. Yes, there are romance options, and anything else you can think of.
Did we mention the SR4 Dubstep gun?
- Skyrim. Who needs love when you can play Skyrim forever, and ever, and ever!
- Ladykiller in a Bind. A screwball romantic comedy from Christine Love, this game’s full title is “My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!!” If that’s not enough of an explanation for the weirdness inherent in this quasi-erotic visual novel, then maybe stick to Call of Duty.
And this was one of the tamer Ladykiller screenshot choices.
- The Void Rains Upon Her Heart. Take one part love story. Add side-scrolling SHMUP. Blend with some rogue-like loot systems, and you’ve got TVRUHH, a classic inspired game that’s coming out of early release right on Valentine’s Day.
Defeat those monsters by shooting them full of love!(are you sure you’re not still talking about Ladykiller? ed.) Er, defeat those monsters by shooting them with your heart until they love you back.
There might be a bit of bullet hell involved with loving these monsters.
