Developer: Akabaka
Publisher: DreadXP
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For – Review
Sometimes we do love playing through a visual novel while we snuggle up on the sofa with a blanket and a hot beverage. Especially during these rainy and cold months, this is often the ideal ending to a busy day. Even so, sometimes we love something with a bit more excitement, and this is where Sucker for Love: Date to Die For comes into play. This title combines a traditional visual novel format with horror elements and romance, and this obviously piqued our interest. As this is a title that was sadly stuck in our backlog, we present you our review of Sucker for Love: Date to Die For, with some delay.
Story
We’ll be taken all the way to the fictional town of Sacramen-Cho, which used to be a quiet and peaceful place. Now, sadly, the town is suffering from cultists running rampant, people going missing, and a dark aura that envelops everything. You’ll be playing as Stardust, a local girl, whose family has also gone missing. When going home, you take a wrong turn and end up in the wrong street. Before you know it, you find yourself being chased, eventually reaching what you assumed was your own parental house. Things are different, however, and you even find a cultist altar in your bedroom. Deciding to take matters into your own hands, you use a cultist spellbook to summon Rhok’zan, The Black Goat of the Woods. This otherworldly being might be the only one that can put a halt to everything that is going on, but it seems the demon is not as evil as you assumed. What ensues is a horror story with romantic elements. All in all, the presentation was great, and the overall flow was pleasant. While some segments were a bit eerie and unsettling, the experience was still nice to zone out with.
Graphics
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For has a unique vibe. The graphics mainly consist of static images, but these all look very detailed. To give the impression you’re taking part in an eerie old-school horror movie, there’s also a bit of film grain sprinkled in for good measure. The result is something very likable and appealing, but eerie enough to keep you on your toes. The character designs look very detailed as well, and there is more than enough variation in terms of facial expressions and poses to ensure things don’t grow stale. The graphics support this rom-com horror setting perfectly, even though the combination is rather strange by itself.
The UI is clear and easy to navigate, but we did find them a bit cheap-looking by comparison. The menu buttons remind us a bit of very old-school free-to-play Flash games. This juxtaposition didn’t bother us too much, but it was still noticeable, nonetheless.
Sound
The sound design of Sucker for Love is great. You’ll be treated to quite a bit of quality voice acting, truly bringing the (limited) cast to life. It’s quite pleasant to zone out a bit during dialogues and just enjoy the voice acting, rather than simply reading everything. The cast is supported by a minimalistic soundtrack, where mainly atmospheric sounds are used. The sound effects are decent, but they are nothing to be amazed by.
Gameplay
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a visual novel mixed with what we would almost call an old-school dungeon crawler like Tokyo Clanpool, albeit without the actual combat. This means that dialogues happen just like in any visual novel, but exploring your environment works from a first-person perspective where you need to select what direction to go. When doing so, you’ll end up in the next static location, and then you can either interact with objects there or click another direction to head off to. It’s all straightforward stuff, but we were quite happy that the game also has a map you can consult in case you get disoriented.
For the most part, the game follows a traditional visual novel format, where you go through conversations and you have an option now and then that could steer the story in a different direction. The way you approach puzzles could also change things, which does create some replay value in the process. Luckily, the game allows you to replay segments starting from certain fixed points, making sure you don’t have to do every single thing over again. This motivates players to unlock the game’s possible endings, stretching out the game time a bit more. Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a rather short game, and a single playthrough will roughly be around four hours.
Truth be told, there isn’t that much more to say here. The game is fairly relaxing and easygoing, and there are more than enough checkpoints in place in case you mess up. The game even has the option to turn on a warning when a jumpscare is about to happen. This ensures that squeamish players can still enjoy what is on offer here, without constantly being on edge. The combination of rom-com and horror works well here, and we were simply disappointed the game was over so quickly.
Conclusion
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a unique horror dating visual novel with only a few minor flaws, such as the game being too short. We very much enjoyed the story that was on offer here, as well as the visual presentation and the great voice acting. While we were never truly blown away by the puzzles and the overall exploration gameplay, it did provide a nice change of pace from just going through dialogues. If you’re looking for a new horror title but also love visual novels and romance, then this is probably the title you’ve been looking for.
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