What’s the appeal?

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

I read a lot of references online to this game when looking up VNs or anything of the Romance genre. Because honestly i’v been looking for something of that nature lately.

But as someone who knows nothing about this game, beyond the Steam page and the snippets of praise online. I’m honestly quite confused, the game at face value doesn’t look all that deep as countless websites say. It looks like a cheap “pump and dump” daying sim with low quality art and character sprites that just went with a sex sells approach.

Feel free to tell me otherwise, i’m all ears.

[Scabloonshki]

On the surface, it looks like a really trashy game that doesn't offer much (which is why I ignored it for a couple years). When I actually start playing it, I got the sense that it was everything I expected it was going to be (i.e. a really cheesy/crude game with tons of sex references), but it didn't bother me.

How come? Because the match-3 gameplay itself is actually pretty layered and well designed, and that's coming from someone who isn't really interested in match-3 games. On top of that, the characters (while 100% being complete caricatures most of the time) are actually really likeable and fun to interact with thanks to some fairly tight writing and good voice acting.

I get the art isn't totally stunning, I'm not a big fan of it if I'm being honest. I think the art style for the upcoming sequel looks way better than this (feel free to take a look at that at your own leisure, it comes out on the 8th of February). But the art and overall cheap look of the game isn't really a big sticking for me since everything else does a really good job at keeping me engaged. It's actually pretty addicting once you get into it.

If you REALLY don't want to try the game out, then skip it. But I don't think it hurts to give it a shot. Especially since I was kind of in the same mindset you were in before I played it. If it makes you feel any better, if you try it and don't like it, you can just refund it.

[Phil_D_Snutts]

I'll sum it up quickly. HuniePop was the first Match-3 game around that allowed you to move a gem as far as you want instead of a simple "Candy Crush" swap. That offers a world of deep strategy. Secondly, the characters are so real. I've met all of these women in real life, and dated most of them. Audrey and Jessie are 100% Medically Accurate, and the rest are pretty close.

[c_Alien]

I am usually not the guy who enjoys dating sims. The ones I played before were boring, repetitive and kinda pointless. But I do like anime, so I gave this one a shot. Got it very cheap, too.
And I think that it is pretty well made.
The aspect that keeps me going is actually the match-3 puzzles, as I find them really challenging. More so than any others I have played so far. You have to play differently for each girl you encounter.

The sexy anime-dating-workaround is more like a fun addition to me. The voice acting is pretty good, too.

[Phil_D_Snutts]

The other big time innovation HP brought to the genre was not having to grind a job to earn money for dates. I hated that about dating sims. That is a huge part of HuniePop's appeal.

[Atty]

Phenomenal writing.