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Sucker for Love: First Date

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Put the love in Lovecraft, one ritual at a time.

Platforms: PC, Switch
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (98% of 3,043 reviews); Metacritic 77 (PC, 10 critic reviews)
Length: about 2 hours for the main story (HowLongToBeat), up to 4 for every ending
Players: 1
Made by: Akabaka
Released: 2022

No. 3 of the horror games with masks · No. 2 of the ritual horror games · No. 2 of the apartment horror games · No. 1 of the tentacle horror games

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What frightens An occult obsessive summons a cute, Cthulhu-like girl from a bright-pink Necronomicon and must perform ever more dangerous rituals from the book to win a kiss; the cosy bedroom turns eldritch, and a botched ritual can end very badly.
Content: blood, violence, flashes of graphic bodily injury, one jumpscare, sexual innuendo, censored swearing, occult imagery, insanity.

Sucker for Love: First Date is a horror-comedy dating sim. Obsessed with the occult, you summon Ln'eta, a cute Cthulhu-like girl, from a pink Necronomicon, and perform rituals from the book to win her affection, and later that of other eldritch beings, with choices deciding which ending you reach.

About Sucker for Love: First Date

Sucker for Love: First Date is made by Akabaka (Joseph Hunter) and published by DreadXP. It began as a 30-minute game-jam release with one love interest and three endings and came out in full on PC in January 2022 and on Nintendo Switch in December 2022. A sequel, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For, followed in 2024.

You have finally found the last thing you need to summon the eldritch horror from your dreams: a strange, bright-pink Necronomicon. The one ritual that does not look like insane ramblings brings forth Ln'eta, a cute Cthulhu-like girl. She agrees to a kiss on one condition: first you perform a few more rituals from the book. Suddenly the other pages make sense.

It plays as a visual novel with gameplay. In your bedroom you gather items, follow the book's instructions and perform rituals while your date watches and a heart meter keeps score. Over three chapters you meet other dateable beings, among them the masked Estir, and your choices, and your mistakes with the rituals, decide which ending you reach. Each chapter has several endings, and chapter two alone has six; some come only from doing a ritual wrong in just the right way.

It is a comedy first: the art and music recall old anime dating sims, and the writing is full of jokes. The horror is in the eldritch imagery, the rituals that go wrong, flashes of blood and injury, one sharp jumpscare and endings that are not kind; the final chapter leans harder on the scares. Critics praised its writing, voice acting and art and found it short, with a few glitches. It suits players who like their Lovecraft with romance and a laugh.

How to play Sucker for Love: First Date

Follow the Necronomicon's instructions to perform each ritual, gathering the items it asks for around your room.
Talk to your eldritch date and choose your words; her mood is tracked on screen.
Perform rituals correctly, or deliberately wrong, to change what happens and which ending you reach.
Play all three chapters and replay them to collect the other endings.

Screenshots

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: Ln'eta stands in a pink bedroom asking you to begin the Invoke the Depths ritual, a heart meter at the top

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: a Necronomicon page describing a banishment ritual for a curse that puts holes in your hand

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: a tall veiled, cat-eared figure in an eye mask looms over a glowing candle ritual circle in a blue-lit bedroom

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: Estir, in a golden mask and yellow dress, stands in the bedroom saying let us resume the play

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: Ln'eta, her eyes glowing pink in a dark room, warns that you will not get past the second word

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: the script of The King in Yellow open at Act 1, with the objective to perform Act 1

Sucker for Love: First Date screenshot: an orange-lit bedroom with a candle circle on the floor, a tentacled poster and a Cthulhu bust, as you prepare to perform Act 3

Tips

Read every page of the book closely; the details matter.
Some endings need you to mess up a ritual in just the right way.
Save before big ritual steps so you can try both outcomes.
Look around your room; items for rituals hide in plain sight.

Questions

Is Sucker for Love: First Date scary?

It is mainly a comedy dating sim. There are eldritch imagery, flashes of blood and injury, one jumpscare and grim endings, and the final chapter is the scariest, but it is rarely frightening.

How long is Sucker for Love: First Date?

HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about two hours, and seeing every ending at about four.

How many endings does it have?

Each of the three chapters has several endings, and chapter two alone has six. Some are only reached by getting a ritual wrong in just the right way.

What platforms is Sucker for Love: First Date on?

PC through Steam and GOG, and Nintendo Switch.