It isn’t uncommon to happen upon free dating sim games, but the quality often varies. However, one of the best examples of a high quality and worthwhile ones happened to drop in December 2023: A Date with Death.
A Date with Death starts by saying you’re ordinary, but have always experienced near-death experiences. Each time, you’d come away without being hurt. However, at the outset of the game, the Grim Reaper contacts you and says he is finally coming to take your soul. You then have a week to interact with him to determine your fate, possibly finding love with him.
While this is a visual novel, it is also a chatting simulator not unlike Mystic Messenger. Grim will talk with you in the client over the week, and those conversations shape the relationship you build. These might not all help shape the ending, but they build up insight into the character and make it feel like you’re connecting in a significant way.
It’s all handled incredibly well and is quite funny! Grim is quite a character. The formatting is fun. I also loved the fake ads designed to resemble the ones for mobile games littered throughout social media. (The Slay the Princess ones especially are fantastic.)
I also appreciated that A Date with Death is the sort of free dating sim anyone can approach and play. After the introduction, you can choose your avatar’s appearance, pronouns, and gender. Anyone can head into a love affair with Death, which really helps with the self-insertion elements. The avatar accessory options even include a hijab, and the layering options also allow multiple accessories in that section. I also didn’t expect the ability to choose exactly how your character might be described by Grim or in the narration, so the descriptive words section was another nice touch.
Also, if someone does end up really appreciating the game, there are options to support Two and a Half Studios and get more to do in the game. While A Date with Death is free, there is $6.99 DLC. The highlight of this is the extra ending. However, I also appreciated the additional dialogue added, as it helped with the replays I was already doing because I enjoyed it all so much. The extra customization options are fine, but the script quality and characterizations meant I enjoyed the actual written content and experiences more, and I suspect others may end up feeling the same.
The thing about A Date with Death is I want to hype it up as much as possible after going through the route and buying the DLC over the holidays, but I also feel like talking too much could spoil the experience. You could complete the game in an afternoon if you’d like, savoring everything even the free version of the dating sim has to offer. It’s such a compelling and novel little chatting simulator that I found time passed much faster than I expected with it. It was only after my first ending that I bought the add-on to go with it, and I felt it was well worth the extra investment based on the enjoyment I got out of it. But even if someone isn’t feeling like going all-in, it’s a free title people should consider checking out.
A Date with Death is available for PCs via Steam and itch.io.
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