The Ten Best Video Games With Romance
Love is in the digital air! Affection is crackling through the circuits! Intimacy is shimmering onscreen in 4k resolution! Who cares if you don’t have a real life beaux to spend your days with? With video games, you’ve got plenty of virtual options! If you want to embark on an electronic love story that will stand the test of time, then comb your hair and put on some deodorant, you’ve got some eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to meet. These are the ten best video games with romance, for when you’re fed up with the real life dating pool. A virtual lover can never disappoint you, after all.
Baldur’s Gate 3
The gold standard video game dating sim, Baldur’s Gate 3 contains some of the greatest video game love stories of all time. The game takes place in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, and uses all the dice rolls and ability checks us nerds know and love. Speaking of ability checks, you’ll need to make sure that your charisma stat is high, because your adventuring party is full of pansexual baddies waiting for you to woo them. There’s a traumatized vampire twink who needs you to heal his emotional wounds. There’s a half-elf goth girl that’s just waiting for you to save her from the cult she grew up in. There’s a hairy bear of an elf that can also turn into a literal bear, and use his bear form to get busy with you. Barbarians with hearts of gold (and other machine parts), magic addicted wizards with evil goddess exes, alien warrior dommes to boss you around – there’s something here for everyone.
Persona 5
The culmination of the legendary JRPG, Persona 5 sees the franchise in top form. You’d better be in top form yourself, because this game features a gaggle of eligible bachelorettes for you to romance. While the winning choice is clear *cough* Ann *cough* the game lets you make all of your romance decisions yourself – including bad decisions. There are a few characters in this game that feel downright unethical to date – your homeroom teacher being one of them. The goth doctor is a moral grey area. You’re her patient, so that’s probably against the Hippocratic Oath or something, but the heart wants what it wants. If the heart really wants, you can even date all of the romance options at the same time – and then pay dearly for the consequences of your lecherous actions. Was it worth it? That’s for you to decide.
The Mass Effect series
Is the xenomorph from Alien on your “hear me out list? You’re not alone. Having the hots for semi-human extraterrestrials is a common occurrence, and the Mass Effect series isn’t here to judge. Instead, it’s ready to supply you with a plethora of alien hotties, assuming you can juggle romance with saving the galaxy. All life in the Milky Way is being threatened by a group of genocidal robot space squids, but life is always chaotic, don’t let your chance at love slip by! Especially when that chance’s name is Garrus Vakarian. Sure, Male Shepard and Liara T’soni are the flagship romance of the series, but real ones know it’s all about FemShep x Garrus – the romantic dance scene on The Citadel clinches it.
Stardew Valley
What’s more romantic than settling down on a farm and starting a family? For some city slicking single-lifers, that sounds like a nightmare come true. But if you’ve ever wondered what it would have been like if you didn’t move away from your hometown and got married like everyone else in your high school graduating class, then Stardew Valley is the game for you. After inheriting your grandad’s plot of land, you show up in Pelican Town as the dating pool’s newest catch. You can choose between six men and six women, all romance-able no matter your gender! Grow crops! Catch fish! Play music in the rain with Abigail! Hook up with Emily in a tent! Help Sebastian finish his novel! Help Shane get his life together (an impossible task)! Convince Hailey to ditch the town jock! Date the town jock yourself! The options are endless.
Fable 3
Unlike the other games on this list, Fable 3 does what a gamer recluse like you would think to be impossible: lets you date a flesh and blood human being. Well, virtually. Aside from a slew of eligible babes, Fable 3 offers you a shot at romancing your couch co-op companion. Have a crush? Invite them over to your place for a little Fable 3 gaming sesh, then pop the question in-game and let the fireworks display begin! Who wouldn’t be wooed by a lavish lakeside wedding worth 5,000 gold? For the budget conscious, you could treat your fiancee to a “muddy wedding” for the low, low price of 100 gold! Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Money doesn’t really matter when it comes to love, but maybe you could raise your standards just a little bit out of the dirt? For your potential partner’s sake.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077‘s world screams a lot of things, but “romance” isn’t one of them. “Murder” is one! “Alienation” is another! “Betrayal” is a third! However, despite the grimdark cyberpunk surroundings you find yourself stuck in, romance can still bloom like a flower up through the concrete. Just ask anyone who decided to take a chance on Judy Álvarez, the ultimate sci-fi sapphic romance to be studied in the history books of the far future! Aside from romantic partners, there’s also plenty of hi-tech hookups to be had. You can have trysts with all manner of Night City residents, from nightclub dancers to netrunner lovers. Just don’t get it on with the corporate shill Meredith Stout, you’ll feel icky afterward.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
What The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lacks in romance option quantity, it makes up for it in quality. The player is offered two choices in love: Triss and Yennefer – which is like deciding between if you want $10,000,000 cash or a briefcase full of diamonds. Both options are equally incredible. However, like in real life, your amorous actions can result in some emotional messiness – Triss and Yennefer are best friends, after all. This is the ultimate high fantasy love triangle, and no, you can’t romance both. Well, you can, but you’ll end up naked and chained to a bed – and not in a fun way.
Rune Factory 5
The latest installment in the Rune Factory series, Rune Factory 5 offers some of the franchise’s best romances to date. After creating your player character, you’re whisked away to a JRPG fantasy world – a way easier process than getting fatally hit by a truck, which is how it happens for most isekai anime protagonists. While farming, hunting monsters, and helping out townsfolk in need, you can also tend to the needs of your lonely heart – romancing a plethora of potential lovers in the village. There are twelve marriage candidates to choose from, allowing you to let your life branch off into a variety of different cozy ends. Just remember, if you make an in-game date, don’t forget about it. These characters really hate being stood up.
Doki Doki Literaturę Club
Doki Doki Literaturę Club is a genre curveball, a dark romance option that turns the dating sim on its ear. Set in a cotton candy sweet high school in Japan, you (the new kid) are pressured into joining the literature club by your bestie in order to overcome your painful shyness. Sadly, you’re in for a whole new world of hurt after meeting the club’s members. This sugary dating simulator devolves into downright horror as your classmates slowly reveal their ugly secrets and traumatic backstories. Obsession, self-harm, suicidal tendencies, once these characters start waving their red flags, it’s already too late for you.
The Harvest Moon series
The series that walked so Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing could fly, Harvest Moon is the quintessential cozy game franchise. You take control of a farmer attempting to do right by their community – grow the crops, help the townsfolk, and maybe sweep some lucky someone off their feet. While there’s a slew of games to choose from, fan favorites include Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, remade for the Nintendo Switch as Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. Gamecube veterans know that Nami from A Wonderful Life is one of the best romances in the franchise, but there’s also plenty of dateable babes in Harvest Moon: Animal Parade. Like the Harvest King! Who wouldn’t want to date him? He’s a literal god. Sure, he’s a little emotionally unintelligent, but human feelings aren’t really his thing! And you’ve gotta woo him with expensive gifts, but hey, at least he knows his worth! Like many of the other difficult characters on this list, you really can fix him. If only real life was that easy.
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