When you hear of a sucker what do you think of? Do you think of the lollipop you’d put in your mouth? Or someone who easily falls for a con. When adding the words for love to it, what do you think of? Is a Sucker for Love someone who falls in love easily or is it someone who is blind to someone else’s faults? When I first heard of Sucker for Love First Date, I thought of someone potentially getting catfished or love schemed. So how is Sucker for Love First Date on Steam and how will it play out?
Story Premises
Sucker for Love First Date is not your typical dating simulator. Instead of humans, the protagonist must win the hearts of mystical beings known as eldritch horrors. The first chapter deals predominately with Ln’eta. After waiting for a book to communicate with an eldritch horror, the main character has a mysterious book delivered to him. Thinking it was the book that was ordered to communicate with Eldritch Horrors, he reads it out loud; however, things don’t go as expected. Instead, a beautiful curvy goddess appears. Rather than facing annihilation, our hero convinces Ln’eta to not destroy him and potentially reward him with a kiss if he can complete her rituals.
After somehow surviving her rituals, the second chapter has the player deal with appeasing two Eldritch Horrors. Unlike Ln’eta, Estir is a goddess that has a love of the theatrical and wants her follower to worship her. She constantly wants to steal away Ln’eta’s servants and lovers. If the player is feeling up for a challenge, they can try to win the love and affection of both goddesses, but at the end, they can only choose one. In the final chapter, the player can follow the Nyanlathotep or disobey her orders. Disobeying the orders will result in a game of survival. In order to unlock the final level, the player must discover three secrets within the first two levels. Finding these secrets can be rather frustrating.
Gameplay
Overall the core gameplay of Sucker for Love First Date is rather straightforward and linear. The game does offer a few options to change the narrative’s path and each level offers a variety of endings for the player to witness. In fact, one of our favorite endings is when the player dies and it says worth it. Performing the rituals in each book is pretty straightforward but some can be rather tricky. Make sure to perform the ritual in the right way or you can end up dead.
Typically, most of our deaths came from either experimenting or screwing something up in the ritual. As a dating simulator, it feels almost too linear; the game feels like it has very limited options compared to other games. Either complete the task at hand or perish. The game does allow you to perform some tasks out of order but most have to be completed in order or else bad things happen; watch out or you might get friend-zoned.
From a story’s point of view, the overall plot was comedic but we never felt a deep connection with any of the characters. Yes, they are cute in their appearances but they lack depth. The KFC Dating Simulator has more depth in the romance department. Playing through the story multiple ways was interesting to attempt but felt like there were limited ways to play through each story. In a way, we wish that the stories could go longer.
Graphics
When it comes to graphics, Sucker for Love First Date takes a traditional approach. The game focuses predominantly on a 2-D art direction with 3D aspects. The curves of the female characters are depicted but never really enticing. When it comes to the core gameplay graphics, everything works as intended. Want to flip on the water and watch it run? The only difficulty we had with graphics came when dealing with Nyanlathotep. Avoiding her curses can be complicated and at times chaotic. At times you will have to flip through your ritual book like a madman. Be careful or you might lose your voice along with your life.
Character-wise, each character has their own unique feel and in a way can be enticing but not lust-worthy. How will these three characters seduce you? In a way, they are the three Suckers for Love. If you are looking for charming but sometimes gruesome graphics, Sucker for Love: First Date will leave you questioning your sanity.
Controls
When playing Sucker for Love First Date on PC, it is advised that you don’t play with a controller. The game offers very limited controller support. Trying to play with a controller is actually torture. Yes, you can move around the apartment using the controller but trying to perform the rituals is next to impossible. In order to play the game, you will need to play using a keyboard and mouse. Using a keyboard and mouse makes the game easy to play and you won’t struggle to do any rituals. Core gameplay will have you move around easily using the directional keys and interacting with different items throughout the apartment.
The keyboard and mouse controls will allow you to breeze through the game, but if you want a challenge maybe even a headache, try playing using a controller.
Audio/SFX
Throughout Sucker for Love First Date, the game’s atmospheric music is relaxing for the most part. Each scene with the Eldritch Horrors has its own unique feel, but the overall atmosphere of the apartment theme stays the same. Personally, we love Sucker for Love‘s Intro Song and ending credits song. At first, we didn’t realize there was any voice acting in the game due to having the audio turned down, but with the lack of a main character’s voice, each character’s dialog felt a bit empty. Yes, they sounded like they were trying and did a good job with their acting, but it still felt empty.
Replay Value
When it comes to Sucker for Love First Date‘s replayability, that will ultimately come down to whether or not the player enjoyed their first playthrough experience. If you want to unlock the final chapter, you will need to replay through levels to search for secrets. Additionally, if you like to see alternate endings, you can easily load up to the previous chapter and try things differently. At the end of the day, Sucker for Love First Date can be completed in 2 to 4 hours.
Verdict
When it comes to Sucker for Love: First Date, we feel its charm but don’t fall in love. The story’s overall premise is cute and playful but a lack of choices really holds back the game. The developers attempt to make the player feel like there are multiple choices, but at the end of the day, these choices only come into play at the very end. We can admit that we have been spoiled by other games that have a narrative-driven story such as Catherine: Full Body, Detroit Become Human, or Doki Doki Literature Club. With that in mind, the story is still enjoyable to play through but lacks depth.
For $9.99, Sucker for Love First Date is an enjoyable game to play on a quiet afternoon. The game does have charm but it is a once your done, you are done type of game.
