There are a lot of ways that Sucker for Love: Date to Die For really speaks to me on a personal level. It blends cute graphics with the grim and grisly; it lampoons Lovecraftian horror tropes while still emphasizing the things about them that are actually scary, and it is part of a franchise that is already quite near and dear to my heart. More important than any of those points, however, is that it portrays an asexual protagonist. As someone who identifies as ace myself, this small scrap of representation made me extremely curious.
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is presented as a collection of numbered VHS volumes, one opening up when the player achieves the “True Ending” of the one before. Each VHS represents another section of gameplay and showcases a different mechanic on top of your standard adventure game/dating simulator fare (with some light chanting).
Players will sneak around through Japanese sliding doors, listen for pursuers intent on doing them harm, collect important items to free tortured souls from their curse of want and overcome a series of frightening horrors through mysterious and esoteric means supplied by half-heard noises, hurried research, and your own failing memory. Not all of these sections are created equally, but the good bits are extremely good. Luckily, with the gameplay divided up like that, players can easily revisit sections that they enjoyed again, should the desire ever arise.
“…the art in Sucker For Love: Date to Die For is lovely all around, though there isn’t really animation to speak of.”
Upon actually starting the game, players are cast as Stardust, a plucky young asexual lady who used to live in the town of Sacramen-cho but decided to depart once things took a turn for the spooky. You see, Sacramen-cho has become the host for Rhok’zan, a god of fertility and desire that apes the Lovecraftian Shub-Niggurath. As it is with her inspiration, Rhok’zan is the Black Goat of the Woods with a thousand young, but now she’s super busty.
According to a letter she recently received, Stardust’s parents have been taken back to this accursed town, and she will need to find them, which involves chatting up an eldritch deity. Once Stardust makes contact with this elder goat mom, we learn that Rhok’zan is trying to get over an abusive relationship and doesn’t even want to be here in the first place. We also learn that Stardust is immune to her charms by dint of her asexuality and carries on with the business of un-summoning her while being harried by all of her youngins.
As far as representation goes, I am fine with Stardust. The fact that she engages with these absurd “dates” as a means to her own end or else be the subject of mockery and brutal violence echoes experiences I have had trying to fit in in a world that emphasizes sex and sexuality. By that same token, Rhok’zan’s depiction as a comically oversexualized but still ghastly and otherworldly hit on my own feelings about the ways sex is depicted in media.
Not to cast aspersions on anyone who finds her appealing—let your freak flag fly, my friends. I do, however, wish that Stardust would be more direct in referencing her sexuality. As it stands now, the ace card is only referenced in the game, though it has been explicit in marketing materials. That being said, Sucker For Love: Date to Die For gives the player a little water spray bottle to use when characters are getting a bit too into things, and that was a nice touch.
“Sucker For Love: Date to Die For gives the player a little water spray bottle to use when characters are getting a bit too into things, and that was a nice touch.”
The presentation is nice throughout, going for a 90’s era, imported anime aesthetic that will send up nostalgia tickles for a very specific audience, though likely baffle others. That said, the art in Sucker For Love: Date to Die For is lovely all around, though there isn’t really animation to speak of.
The sound design is even more impressive, with excellent sound effects and even better voice acting. I have a habit of playing a game with a podcast or something else playing in my ears, if you do this I would love some podcast suggestions, but also urge you not to do it here. The sound really sells everything about Sucker For Love: Date to Die For and leads to some wonderful tense and spooky moments.
With all of this praise, I must temper expectations a bit and say that Date to Die For is egregiously short. With multiple endings, I managed to get to the true ending in about four hours. The experience was great throughout, but it won’t be for you if you need to observe more than one lengthy session. Additionally, our review copy for this displayed some nasty technical issues, from missing assets to an ending that completely crashed the game (at the most frustrating point). These bugs are big enough that I doubt they would be present at release, but you still might wait for a patch before you buy.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sucker for Love: Date to Die For. While it made a few missteps, I loved the atmosphere, the writing, and all the terrible sounds it subjected me to.
