Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (2017)

I'm not generally a player of visual novels. That said, I'd found the writing of DDaDDS very witty, fresh and often heartwarming. The relationship between the protagonist and his daughter are lovely and getting to know the new town was full of lovely, funny and awkward little moments. I found that while the game has gay overtones and ends with a very gay ending, it could have very easily been just about non-romantic relationships and connecting with people. I actually found it a bit strange that there was no mention of the protagonist being previously gay while forcing the game to end with a gay romantic success.

All in all, I enjoyed this very wordy game, and found the old-school minigames funny.

Damn, come for the happy gayness and stay for the wholesome family content! What a lovely little stroll into parenthood and hanging out with a whole lot of interesting dads.

I loved the minigames for the dates, and the writing, my god it's good. I love how your dad had a lot of personality - he's an anxious competitive hot mess and I love it. I also love that you can choose between a cis or a trans daddy, and that you can be bi or gay. Very cool!

Oh and team Robert all the way!

Also also that theme song is very addictive

I played this with my sister for like two nights back in 2020 and have finally committed to never completing it.

It's just so...... tumblr in a way that I feel qualified to assess and then be annoyed by. Self indulgent and shows surface-level shimmers of the kind of bland queer sexuality that has now become the standard for "representation." Always represented! Never presenting.

Was very of its moment I will give it that. Those who enjoy should feel free to continue! But a hater has to hate.

Ngl I was so here for the hot dads, but my favorite thing about this game is the relationship you foster with the daughter character. As someone who doesn't want kids, I appreciate the affirmation that I could be a good mother if I wanted to. It's a super close and unpossessive relationship, a much more healthy portrayal than your average father-daughter story.

Love the make your own dad function. Love that they threw in mini games. Love that you have the option to wear a binder or to be bi.

There were a couple of routes with endings that were a bit to preachy and judgemental for me - really the only reason I'm not giving this 5 stars. Just skip Joseph's and Robert's arcs. (Although you can still have a one night stand with Robert, just saying ;))

Sometimes you just want to kick back and not have to worry about leveling up and experience points and what have you. I hesitantly bought this game because of recommendations from people, but I'm not generally in to dating simulator games.

I was obsessed with this game almost immediately. Absolutely diverse cast, as well as diverse options for building your own daddy to woo a mysteriously homosexual cul-de-sac? Heart warming story line? Great graphics? Did I shoot wine out my nose from laughter? Yes, Yes, Yes, ABSOLUTELY!

As far as romance games go this one is super tame. There is barely any romance and only implied sex. I guess chastity was the point but it feels like a cop-out.

Still, the writing is interesting and nuanced (for the most part) and the storylines are interesting enough to want to finish them all.

The character and backgrounds are all really good looking. It is very static but looks nice.

There are some little minigame moments to break up the story but otherwise, this is a pretty straight forward visual novel, for good or bad, how you feel about those will probably dictate if this is something that might interest you.

No dating sim has really captured me the way that Dream Daddy does (and no, being gay doesn't contribute to that bias at aaaalll). What seems like a joke is actually a setup to a warm-hearted and humorous visual novel as you charm your way into the heart of up to seven different dads, each with their own very unique characterizations.

The gameplay is simple enough - make the right choices to succeed on dates, along with some basic minigames. The minigames are Unity tutorial-level affairs but fit the premise of each date well enough and aren't too much of a hassle toward the game itself. Some dads will be harder to nab than others, but the save system is gracious enough, with plentiful autosaves and fast-forwarding to avoid slogging through the same old.

It's short, especially if you constrain yourself to a single playthrough, but Dream Daddy is incredibly sweet, making you want to be a dad and also to warm yourself up to a type of relationship you never knew you wanted. You'll also die laughing from all the puns and dad jokes.