The world of visual novels is not new to face themes that usually video games do not even touch with a stick. After all they are big interactive stories (often not too much) that have as their reason to be the will to surprise with intricate and exciting stories. Those who know them know that seeing ourselves represented of love stories between homosexuals is not a rarity.
Above all in Japan come a lot of visual novel yuri (stories between women) and yaoi (stories between men), some of which also came from our side. However, the recent diffusion of very simple development tools, which really allow anyone to create a visual novel, has increased its production also in the West.
In particular, some authors and some authors, such as Christine Love, have exploited the genre to create original and profound works, often focused on sexuality, such as Ladykiller in a Bind (or “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 you prefer). Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator, the first title of the Game Grumps duo, follows this creative trail, even if it does not manage to touch the same quality levels. We try to understand why.
DADDY’S DREAM
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator tells the story of a father and his daughter, called Amanda, who, after moving house, are eager to get to know the neighborhood. The two have an excellent relationship, but it is in particular the girl who is the most responsible and worries about her parent. From the beginning of history we need to make decisions regarding their past.
Doing it is easy, since the game implements a simple system of multiple choices, identical for dialogues and narrative turns.In short, every now and then we are asked how to proceed and we must choose between the different possibilities listed.
Do we want to go to a bar or take a ride around the park? Are we tired and go to bed, or do we prefer to spend the night in some place to get someone to attend? Usually every decision taken corresponds to a different man met.
What do you mean? Well, the goal of Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator is to know the neighbors, flirt and maybe end up in bed.
There are seven in total, all with different characters that we must understand and support to impress. In fact, talking to them we will have to try to make them fall in love with our answers, aligning them to their tastes.On some occasions, for example during appointments, which we can set by email, you must also overcome mini-games.
There are several, bland in substance, but overall fun and full of quotes. For example, a comparison with one of the other men on the abilities of their respective daughters, is represented as the combat of a Pokémon for Game Boy, while a night at the club becomes a fast arcade in which we must find our partner avoiding being dragged by the crowd.
THE SMELL OF SUCCESS
Despite its basic superficiality (or perhaps because of this), Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator turned out to be a huge commercial success, quickly becoming one of the best-selling visual novels in the West. Steam Spy tells us that it has placed almost one hundred and fifty thousand copies
(at the time of writing this review), due in large part to the resonance between streamer and youtuber (given the theme treated there were wedding). Consider that among the options of the game there is one designed to hide all content controversial or at risk for copyright issues, so as not to give problems during live.
TOO MANY DADS
The big problem of Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator is not the assumption that animates him (a father who tows other Dads), also by virtue of the choice of the guys of Game Gumps to avoid completely vulgarity and explicit scenes.
The tones are those of the brilliant comedy, as is evident since the creation of the father , which can be completely changed in appearance to be more attractive or more funny; and as is confirmed by the first exchanges with Amanda, who never misses a joke or some funny note. Unfortunately, the screenplay itself, which is really weak in some moments, is saddening the experience.
The characters seem to be itinerant captions that deal with different topics always with a strongly detached attitude. They never seem to be real people who talk about subjects that are part of their lives, but about printed books that describe points of view on the most disparate issues.Overall they are false and stereotyped, despite some flicker of humanity
transpires from time to time by some dialogue. Another big problem concerns love stories, which are never really deepened. Unfortunately, the eight hours that are used to see almost everything that the game has to offer are not sufficient to deepen the relationships between the characters and to make some of the situations that are created interesting.
Some of the stories told are simply hasty and the theme of homosexuality does not enrich them in any way. The quality of Christine Love’s writing is far away, as well as that of Gone Home (which is not a visual novel, but is nevertheless a title completely focused on narration).
