Back in 2022, I stumbled upon Sucker for Love: First Date, an intriguing horror date sim. The mix of genre might surprise you, but you read that right. At first, I considered it to be a joke, however, the game pleasantly surprised me. Almost immediately after the release of the first game, we got a teaser for the next one, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For. The first teaser was shown at PAX West 2023, with Akabaka and DreadXP speaking about some of the features coming with the second game, and that propelled my interest even higher.
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a prequel to First Date that reveals some interesting peculiarities of the game world. Let’s start from a little bit further than the beginning, however. Many people have read or are somewhat familiar with the work of H. P. Lovecraft, and the developers from Akabaka are obviously great fans. Although their take on the Ancient Gods and Eldritch Horrors might not be matching your usual expectations.
What do you think about Cthulhu being portrayed as a cute girl with some charming facial tentacles? Or the King (in our case, the Queen) in Yellow presenting as a theatrical, eccentric woman? This is Akabaka’s take on the Ancients…and I’m into that!
In the first game, the main storyline was dedicated to pure lust and an unholy amount of sexual tension, which was also the driving force and the end goal of the Darling protagonist. The man just really had a thing for e-girls, where E stands for Eldritch, alright? He got exactly what he wished for, and you can witness the entire story by playing through First Date, complete with horror, humor, horny, and an interesting narrative.
Date to Die For puts a spin on the formula and instead focuses on the relationships themselves. After all, the protagonist is asexual, and the charms of Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat with a Thousand Young, All-Mother, Mother Goddess, or Rhok’zan for you, had no effect.
In turn, it gave Rhok’zan hope… hope for salvation! The Goddess is being pestered by the leader of the “Thousand” cult. Buck, the leader, accidentally stole Rhok’zan’s kiss and became absolutely immortal. Seems like a good deal, right? WRONG. And now Buck is trying to force Rhok’zan to either cancel this “blessing”, orrr… This is something you will have to find in the game for yourself.
Having appeared in the protagonist’s hometown of Sacramen-Cho, Rhok’zan aroused endless desire in its inhabitants. Some people were driven to madness, others went deprived of sleep, or became obsessed, or got lost and died in the Black Woods.
Our heroine ended up back in her hometown by pure chance and then found herself tricked into the Black Woods. As she attempts to evade her pursuers, her mind goes to an interesting notebook she has in her possession. The one that features descriptions of various rituals, with the very first being the summoning of the Black Goat, a beautiful and quite pleasant one as it turns out when you meet Rhok’zan. Appearing before the protagonist and scaring her half to death, the Goddess agrees to be banished to avoid being used by the cultists.
The heroine’s thoughts remained pure after meeting the Ancient, with the charms failing to take their effect and surprising Rhok’zan herself. After all, her followers, having fallen to their desire and lust, also got some very impressive gifts such as enormous strength, a will to subjugate others, and more. Yet our hero refused, even as feelings that flared in her remained pure, starting with sympathy and morphing into something warmer.
The core of the gameplay revolves around the protagonist exploring the house, performing the rituals and, above all else, attempting to survive the situation she’s found herself in. It might seem simple or easy, but there are subtleties that make it much more interesting.
The game skillfully uses a 2D panoramic effect that disguises itself as 3D. You can rotate your field of vision 360 degrees, looking around the entirety of the room and being able to interact with it. At the same time, the locations themselves look extremely colorful and even picturesque. An intriguing soundtrack and ambient sounds accompany you through the game, and altogether it weaves an incredibly interesting aesthetical tandem.
Traveling around the house is quite laconic, paired with the sound effects and horror elements it turns a mundane process into something else entirely. Trying to escape cultists or the aftereffects of the rituals becomes a fascinating and scary experience.
The game only has four chapters total, I cannot say that it is a lot, however, there are also certain crossroads in the narrative. As you progress through the plot, there are multiple ways to perform certain rituals. And the choice of doing something or avoiding it altogether is also in your hands.
There are a few such paths, as well as the “True Ending” that can be obtained in each chapter through certain actions. When it comes to plot crossroads, it was interesting and nice to see some changes corresponding to different character types.
However, as a drawback, I will say right away that the game is extremely short, and it is quite easy to acquire the one True Endings. The difference between alternate “roads” and the main plot is negligible as well. I would have liked to experience some more variations of the plot, but alas. Despite its small size, the overall narrative will still manage to sweep you off your feet.
The narrative itself pays close attention to and shows the clear development of the relationship between the protagonist, a young woman that lost her parents and got stuck in this city, and the Ancient Goddess that’s grown weary and abandoned all hope. And this relationship, first timid and extremely fragile, turns into something so much more over the course of the game.
I don’t want to spoil much, as uncovering the details and intricacies of these interactions is the lion’s share of the narrative. However, I’d like to add that the plot itself became the strongest pillar of Sucker for Love: Date to Die For. In the First Date, the plot was more a light addition and a supplement to the gameplay process. Here, the narrative touches on some very interesting topics and doesn’t shy away from conveying them through unusual situations.
The game’s visual aesthetics are unusual as well. 2D stylized as 3D and realized in an extremely beautiful way. Every room you will come across truly feels lived-in, colorful, and terrifying in its own way. After all, it was not only lived-in, but died-in as well.
Throughout the game, you will move around the house and attempt to evade and hide from cultists, conduct rituals, find the necessary components, and escape the consequences for meddling with dark magics. The main thing is to always look at which door you are opening, lest you end up somewhere you didn’t expect to.
The horror really kicks in the last fourth chapter. The first three fourths of the game will have cultists brutally murder the protagonist if she’s caught, however, the actual Lovecraftian experience only arrives near the end, and it is something that previous chapters lack.
7 minutes of hellish survival, escaping dozens of Eldritch Horrors that won’t just kill you but flay your very soul as well. That was the scariest element of the game for me, with my heart being unable to slow down for 7 minutes straight. The sounds, the visuals, the very design of the monsters you encounter, all of it is top-notch. But, once again, it feels lacking in quantity.
Through Sucker for Love: Date to Die For, you can see how Lovecraft’s books can turn into a dating sim if you have enough love and expertise. Compared to its predecessor, First Date, the game’s plot was lifted to the new unrealistic heights, and the visual and audio aesthetics have received a similar treatment.
However, the main downside of the game is that it is extremely short. Although it touches on the heartstrings with the plot, there is a certain lack of the horror element that would greatly enhance the gameplay. But even that can be forgiven for a single smile of the Great Rhok’zan and the arrival of Auntie Nyan-Nyan. The moment you see the two games connect will cause your heart to melt, and not even from the horror of it all.
Note: the Steam key for Sucker for Love: Date to Die For was provided for free for the purposes of this review.
