HuniePop is a game that you hate to love. At first glance, it looks like the thousands of other dating sims out there that emphasize dating sexualized women. It is unabashedly steamy, with quite a bit of not safe for work content (don’t worry, this review is safe for work). However, once you dig into the gameplay, you find that it’s a much deeper experience than the first impressions would have you believe.
HuniePop: Puzzles and Steaminess Together
HuniePop starts out like most other dating sims. You meet a “love fairy” who’s out to help you navigate the world of cute anime women. You talk to the characters in visual novel-style dialogue menus and give them gifts, but the core gameplay is very different from most dating sims. You’ll soon realize that you’re playing a highly clever puzzle game that’s disguised as a dating sim.
The dates are conducted through match-3 puzzles, where you match together three identical tiles to make them vanish, similar to the gameplay in Candy Crush and countless other match-3 games. The twist is that each color tile represents a different dating element, and each character has her own preferences when it comes to what they like in dates. As such, matching certain tiles will get you more dating points than others.
Surprisingly Addictive
In addition to each character preferring specific love tiles, there are special tiles that might help or hinder your date progress, and you can give gifts to your date that have different effects. All this put together makes for an incredibly engaging experience. You’ll forget that you’re playing a dating sim and that you’re supposed to be embarrassed for liking dating sims.
Of course, as you progress through the different women, the dates get more complex. There are also unlockable characters, as well as an expert level that keeps you playing after you complete the game. It ensures that even after you think you’ve become an expert at the puzzles, you’ll always want to try another round.
If You’re Fine With Adult Content, Get This Game!
Obviously, this isn’t a game for everyone. Some people might get turned off by the overt sexuality, but in this era of bizarre dating sims such as Date Everything, HuniePop isn’t the weirdest dating sim out there. If you’re addicted to puzzle games and you’re fine with adult content, give HuniePop a try. It can be purchased on Steam for $9.99.
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