Fandom: Boyfriend Dungeon Media: Video Games Genre: Dating Sim and Roguelike/Dungeon Crawler hybrid
Premise/summary: You have come to Verona Beach, California so that your cousin Jesse can set you up on the very first date - well, dates - of your life. Along the way, you can meet up with local weapon-people (humans who can turn into weapons) and delve into the local dungeon (dunj in the local parlance) to both become closer with them and to face your fears - maybe even make a little money! You can solve the mystery of why weapon-people are missing, fall in love, and otherwise have a great time in Verona Beach.
Trigger warnings: The game features unwanted advances, stalking and emotional manipulation. The stalking and emotional manipulation are central to the plot and so you can't do anything sensible like blocking the stalker's number. The stalker character also shows up in several cutscenes. And unfortunately, you do have to answer the stalker character in order to complete the plot and see the ending scene.
There is the option to get texts from "Mom". The characterization of "Mom" in the game is a loving, supportive, anxious person, but if you are not in a state to get such texts turn the option off. Unlike the above, these are purely for flavor and do not impact the plot in any way.
Review: This is a surprisingly decent game. The combo of Roguelike and Dating Sim works pretty darn well. A lot of the relationship leveling up is done via dungeon crawls with a little bit of actual dating - you can give gifts, but it's rarely necessary unless you want to advance a character's storyline without having them as your partner in the dungeons (though you will have to do some crawling in order to get to some of those gift-giving moments).
Dungeon crawling can be a little repetitive (location and enemy-wise) but I found I enjoyed said repetition when I just needed to go hit something (where I couldn't in RL). You get to meet and work with a good variety of weapon-people so you can figure out who your fighting style works with best. There is no penalty for dying and you can level up to level 50. There are two dungeons and a bonus (added in a DLC). There are also opportunities in the dungeons to learn a bit more about your partner in various safe rooms throughout.
The dating sim sections are fairly short but you gain new abilities with your partners as you gain relationships with them. This shortness is both an advantage and a disadvantage - they don't get in the way of your dungeon-crawling, but these people seem to trust you and like you awfully darn fast. Also end up in your bed very quickly if you don't suggest anything other than a platonic friendship! You can also trigger some scenes where two of the dating characters interact for more relationship points.
This game is fairly queer-friendly. You can customize your name, gender, and appearance at any point in the game using the mirror at your apartment. Nobody cares about what gender you are, and you can easily end up dating a bunch of people (or have a Summer of Totally Platonic Friend Hangouts, if you're me). Of the group, five are male, three are female (one uses she/they), and two are non-binary. One of the characters you can develop a relationship but cannot date, and one character you can develop a relationship but cannot wield. There are no explicit transgender characters and the developers unfortunately have conflated asexuals and aromantics together.
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winterfish
Mini review/promo for Boyfriend Dungeon
Date: 2023-10-12 01:31 am (UTC)Media: Video Games
Genre: Dating Sim and Roguelike/Dungeon Crawler hybrid
Premise/summary: You have come to Verona Beach, California so that your cousin Jesse can set you up on the very first date - well, dates - of your life. Along the way, you can meet up with local weapon-people (humans who can turn into weapons) and delve into the local dungeon (dunj in the local parlance) to both become closer with them and to face your fears - maybe even make a little money! You can solve the mystery of why weapon-people are missing, fall in love, and otherwise have a great time in Verona Beach.
Trigger warnings: The game features unwanted advances, stalking and emotional manipulation. The stalking and emotional manipulation are central to the plot and so you can't do anything sensible like blocking the stalker's number. The stalker character also shows up in several cutscenes. And unfortunately, you do have to answer the stalker character in order to complete the plot and see the ending scene.
There is the option to get texts from "Mom". The characterization of "Mom" in the game is a loving, supportive, anxious person, but if you are not in a state to get such texts turn the option off. Unlike the above, these are purely for flavor and do not impact the plot in any way.
Review: This is a surprisingly decent game. The combo of Roguelike and Dating Sim works pretty darn well. A lot of the relationship leveling up is done via dungeon crawls with a little bit of actual dating - you can give gifts, but it's rarely necessary unless you want to advance a character's storyline without having them as your partner in the dungeons (though you will have to do some crawling in order to get to some of those gift-giving moments).
Dungeon crawling can be a little repetitive (location and enemy-wise) but I found I enjoyed said repetition when I just needed to go hit something (where I couldn't in RL). You get to meet and work with a good variety of weapon-people so you can figure out who your fighting style works with best. There is no penalty for dying and you can level up to level 50. There are two dungeons and a bonus (added in a DLC). There are also opportunities in the dungeons to learn a bit more about your partner in various safe rooms throughout.
The dating sim sections are fairly short but you gain new abilities with your partners as you gain relationships with them. This shortness is both an advantage and a disadvantage - they don't get in the way of your dungeon-crawling, but these people seem to trust you and like you awfully darn fast. Also end up in your bed very quickly if you don't suggest anything other than a platonic friendship! You can also trigger some scenes where two of the dating characters interact for more relationship points.
This game is fairly queer-friendly. You can customize your name, gender, and appearance at any point in the game using the mirror at your apartment. Nobody cares about what gender you are, and you can easily end up dating a bunch of people (or have a Summer of Totally Platonic Friend Hangouts, if you're me). Of the group, five are male, three are female (one uses she/they), and two are non-binary. One of the characters you can develop a relationship but cannot date, and one character you can develop a relationship but cannot wield. There are no explicit transgender characters and the developers unfortunately have conflated asexuals and aromantics together.