A Quirky Dating Sim Where Anything Can Be Your Soulmate
I really thought I knew what I was going in for with Date Everything!
I’m not sure why, but I assumed it was a pretty straightforward dating simulator with a few interesting looking matches to scratch the eye. It turns out, however, there’s a little more to it than that.
Dateviators and Daily Delights
As a premise, Date Everything! certainly sits firmly at the unusual end of things. You play as an unfulfilled customer service worker who soon finds their job has been forfeit in favour of AI advancements. However, a mysterious benefactor lifts the mood by dropping off something of an experimental gift on your doorstep.
It turns out the present contains a rather unassuming pair of sunglasses. However, these “dateviators” are no ordinary accessory, instead they have the power to bring everyday objects to life and make them, well, dateable. These objects are personified in front of your very eyes, ranging from the weird to the wonderful.
The setup is a little bit clunky, but before long you’re let loose around the house with your new pair of “dateviators” to start building those relationships. How these are powered is a mystery, however you’re limited to five uses before needing to hit the sack and carry on with the charm offensive (or not) the next day.
Each time you use them, time moves forward, allowing for different results with different objects depending on what part of the day you engage with them. Oh, and you can only interact with each dateable once a day, and bear in mind that similar items around the house will conjure the same character (ie Lux who resides within the numerous light fittings).
Date Everything! boasts one hundred unique characters, each brilliantly voiced by a different actor. Their names are carefully chosen to reflect the item they inhabit and the hand drawn character style really brings each to life, helping everyone to feel unique and different.
Apps, Clues, and Personality Charts
You can keep track of your interactions via the Date-A-Dex app, as well as collectibles you unlock. These are essentially mini challenges concerning each dateable that give you a little more direction when returning for a chat. Talking of apps, your phone provides access to a whole range of them. Roomers is the key one which tracks clues picked up by talking to certain characters which in turn helps you in finding more. Tracking down datebales starts off pretty easy but gets gradually trickier and the clues more obscure.
Your S.P.E.C.S. app is a personality chart that will evolve as you create deeper relationships in the game, reflecting your approach. Smarts, Poise, Empathy, Charm and Sass are all plotted on a star chart depending on how you respond in conversations with the dateables. Different results will affect how the game ends.
There are also a couple of messaging apps that nudge the narrative on every so often, but actually this very much plays second fiddle to the wonderfully bizarre journey of trying to chat up your TV or your toaster. Date Everything! has a great sense of humour and plenty of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) thirsty language from potential suitors too. Oh, and something called “Content Aware” can flag sensitive issues if you should want it on. However, it’s worth saying that the game never takes itself too seriously.
Skylar (your guide) who you meet early on, also has her own app and is always on hand to offer advice and answer any questions you may have. Other characters also have this functionality, and the rest of the apps provide the usual options such as saving, viewing the credits etc.
Text-Heavy Temptations
What will split opinion in Date Everything! is the fact that it is very text heavy, and as expected with a game like this arguably trivial topics are the order of the day, rather than, say, an action packed conspiracy for you to uncover. It would certainly benefit from an auto scroll option given all the dialogue that’s in the game though; my poor “A” button got quite the hammering.
Sandbox Dating and Multiple Endings
Date Everything! plays out in a sandbox meaning you can roam around the house discovering new datebales at your leisure, awakening them in any order you like. However, as it’s light on direction it all depends on how much you enjoy interacting with each character as to whether you will see all of what this game has to offer. There are plenty of understated hints that the datebales will drop that can be easy to miss.
Date Everything! isn’t so much about finding all the dateables, as getting to know them and either ending up being hated, loved or simply friends. Building these relationships usually means talking to each of the 100 items several times over, meaning “progress” can feel excruciatingly slow. However, I use inverted commas as you can choose to leave the house whenever you like, which will trigger one of several endings. It’s wise to save just before you do (you’re pretty much told this), so you have the option to pick up where you left off before the game ends.
A Creative and Charming Dating Sim with Endless Conversations
If it’s your bag, what awaits in Date Everything! is a big adventure contained in a very small environment. There is plenty to chat about with each character as you attempt to woo them, which you can easily sink hours into, but only if you are prepared to take it slow. There’s enough creativity and flair to prevent that feeling of grind setting in, even when things start to feel a little bit recurrent.
Date Everything! is a very different take on the dating sim genre, but it is bursting with character and the characters to match. It’s hard not to be impressed with the creativity on show, and be sucked into the bizarre but brilliant world the team at Sassy Chaps Games have created.
Important Links
Buy Date Everything! on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/date-everything/9n0ccpmbljq8
There’s a Lavish Edition to consider too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/date-everything-lavish-edition-pre-order/9NJMQNK1W93S/0017
