What are the best dating sims for PC? These simulation games and visual novels all feature carousels of cute, courtable characters ready for romance. Whether you’re moving into a sleepy seaside town searching for love or ready to find that spark with a kick-flipping dinosaur schoolmate, players have more options now than ever to date around.
While dating is at the forefront of these simulators, great examples of the genre are feature-rich, captivating settings, underlying intrigue, and unique art direction, some of which could even be considered the best PC games overall. The top dating sims tend to twist the traditional visual novel style and fork it into a new genre, such as adventure games or dungeon crawling – and, believe it or not, one or two even take inspiration from horror games. Regardless of where you want to look for love, this list has you covered with the best dating sims to play right now.
Here are the best dating sims in 2024:
I Wani Hug that Gator!
Sometimes, dating sims aren’t just about picking the right dialogue options to canoodle with the local bad boy. Occasionally, they’re a springboard for introspection on how we live life and the choices that define us. At first glance, I Wani Hug that Gator is the former. You are Inco, the only human student in a school for dinosaurs, alligators, and other anthropomorphic lizards.
This scaly student cohort is a little cold-blooded, but one stands out from the crowd: Olivia. As these two outcasts find each other, they embark upon a heartfelt journey of self-acceptance, healing, and coming-of-age. With an excess of meaningful choices and four endings to unlock, this prehistoric dating sim lets you embark on a whirlwind high-school romance that would make Steve Irwin proud.
Max Gentleman: Sexy Business
Dating sim and management game mechanics collide in Max Gentleman: Sexy Business, a Victorian tycoon sim with a wild side. After your family business is stolen, it’s time to craft your Gentsona and burst onto the scene of London’s high society to reclaim your family honor. Assign your board of pomade-endowed executives to take on your business rivals and fill your coffers as you take over the district.
Fair warning: Max Gentleman does include nudity, but it also comes with a content filter if you’d prefer to keep your naughtier exploits PG-13. However, this saucy indie isn’t just an exercise in skin-deep titillation. It’s also an inclusive, LGBTQ-friendly story of living out your fantasies as a Victorian gentleperson, letting you tip your bonnet and tweak your mustache at any prospective partner – whether that’s a buxom maid, a sleepy witch, or a handsome prince.
Sucker For Love: Date to Die For
We’ll admit, we’ve got more monsters, killers, and anthropomorphic lovers on this list than you probably know what to do with, but Sucker For Love: Date to Die For is a dating sim you won’t want to miss. Get your Lovecraft on in this sequel from DreadXP, hide from cultists, and accidentally summon Rhok’zan, The Black Goat of the Woods – a curvaceous eldritch god that seems to have everyone under her thrall.
Sucker For Love walks the line between adorable horror game and spooky dating sim, brought to life with hand-drawn characters and environments straight out of a classic ‘90s anime. If you’re not a fan of jumpscares, Sucker For Love: First Date is a great alternative for pastel-pink eldritch horror.
Coral Island
More life sim than dating sim, Coral Island is a cozy farming game with dating elements, much like Stardew Valley. That said, depending on how you want to play, the dating aspect can be among the most important moments of your daily life – and you’re here, so, like us, we’re assuming it will be.
That up there, that’s Mark – hands off, cos he’s ours – and he’s just one of a myriad of singletons waiting for your arrival onto the island. Spend your early days meeting everyone, sussing out who you’re interested in, then taking the time to learn what they like and dislike, giving them gifts to increase your relationship. What makes Coral Island dating really special is heart events – which happen with friends, too – and are short cut scenes that take place when you happen upon someone with a specific relationship level in a specific place.
From there, you can of course marry and even have children with your person of choice – as long as you give them enough gifts and increase your relationship level enough. That said, there is so much more that could be added to Coral Island when it comes to dating, and we know from previous changes that the developer is working towards adding more and more.
Doomsday Paradise
A multiplayer dating sim set right before the apocalypse featuring turn-based combat and deck-building elements wasn’t something we thought we were missing, but Doomsday Paradise introduces us to that hole in our lives – and then fills it. Let’s face it, none of us want to die alone, so when the end of the world is nigh, you need to keep deadly monsters at bay long enough to find your soulmate. Which 12 gorgeous singletons to choose from and over 100 different endings, there’s plenty to keep you busy, apocalypse after apocalypse.
Thirsty Suitors
Billed as a “breakup sim” rather than a dating sim, Thirsty Suitors hits the same emotional beats of our favorite dating sims. Protagonist Jala returns to her hometown to battle her toxic exes and meet the approval of her strict South Asian grandmother. Outerloop Games takes its cue from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with a core concept of fighting seven evil exes in surreal turn-based combat. Find and exploit the weaknesses of Jala’s toxic exes in heated confrontations that transcend time and space to find common ground and acceptance.
Alternatively, hop on your skateboard and explore your childhood haunts in Timber Hills, earn parental approval with dynamic cooking game sequences, and shape your Thirstsona to change the story. Whatever your dating history, Thirsty Suitors will tug at your heartstrings as it tackles complicated family dynamics and romantic drama against a zany backdrop of color, comedy, and turn-based RPG mechanics.
Little Goody Two Shoes
In this gorgeous, sapphic, anime dating RPG, you play as Elise, a young lady who finds herself on a terrifying adventure through mysterious, dark woodlands. Little Goody Two Shoes features horror elements as Elise comes face to face with the cruel monsters of this mystical land, but the good news is that our heroine also gets to romance a selection of eligible bachelorettes while she’s not fending off foes. Each of the romanceable female NPCs has their own storylines and cut scenes, and the game itself has multiple endings, depending on who you choose to woo.
Yog-Sothoth’s Yard
Yog-Sothoth’s Yard is a mix of genres; sure, there are dating elements here, but you’ve also got base-building, alchemy, cooking, special powers, an in-depth story, and RPG elements in an anime game style. As the owner of an old villa, you’re tasked with turning it into a luxurious and profitable hotel. Base-building mechanics come in here as you add rooms, decorate them, and level them up. However, you can’t do this alone, and your staff are a series of lovely anime girls with their own personalities.
As you expand your hotel and get to know them, some of them may want to get to know you a little better. You might choose to romance Little Leaf, a bionic maid, Haa Lou Ling, your talented chef, or even, um, Death – that is, if you’re willing to sacrifice your residents for her. Learn alchemy and level up your powers via customer interaction, grow plants in your magnificent yard, and help Haa Lou Ling cook delicious recipes, all while managing the best hotel around and romancing your waifu. What more could you want?
Hooked on You: A DBD dating sim
It might look colorful and cute, but, yes, that’s a deadly weapon in The Trapper’s blood-stained hands. The cleverly-titled Hooked on You is, you see, a dating sim based on the 4V1 horror game Dead by Daylight, giving you the chance to date one of four eligible, um, killers. Instead of literally hooking you on a meat hook and sacrificing you to the entity, in this game, the DBD killers are all trying to capture your heart – that is, at least, until you turn them down.
With options to date The Trapper, The Wraith, The Spirit, and The Huntress, there are nine different endings to try for, so Hooked on You has a considerable amount of replayability. In four of those endings, you’ll end up happily in love with a psychotic murderer, while in another four, you’ll have your heart broken. The final ending, only achieved once you’ve obtained the other eight, features everyone’s favorite K-pop killer. Be careful what you say to them all though, as saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could see you dead.
Boyfriend Dungeon
Starting out as a Kickstarter campaign, 2021’s Boyfriend Dungeon is a marvelous dating simulator mix-up that pairs romance with dungeon crawling. In Verona Beach, things aren’t exactly what they seem. First off, slaying monsters for cash is the norm, and your dates will double as weapons! As a new and desperately single resident of Verona, you are urged to explore the eponymous Boyfriend Dungeon and pick up loot that can transform into sultry singletons.
As you trawl through procedurally generated levels, you will get to know your prospective dagger dates and grow bonds that benefit you both in life and battle. Talk about beating loneliness one slash at a time.
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance
Explore a secret cryptid sanctuary as Stella, an awkward teen coming of age and trying to figure it all out. In this stylish dating simulator, players will navigate what it means to be a senior in high school. You’ll pick up collectibles tied to your cryptid crushes and make important choices to determine who you’ll end up with once high school meets its end. Raptor Boyfriend boasts a gorgeous world full of ‘90s nostalgia.
I Love You, Colonel Sanders
Yes, that’s the Colonel Sanders. Remember years back when KFC jumped on the gaming bandwagon and made a few jokes about releasing a chicken-cooking, next-gen gaming console of their own? While that (sadly) might not have come to fruition, one deadly serious joke was the KFC dating sim.
I Love You, Colonel Sanders isn’t about dating the aging Southern American chicken mogul though, and you instead meet the tycoon back in his youth, before KFC, when he is your handsome silver-haired classmate in culinary school. Knowing what you know from the future, it might not be a bad idea to try and work your way into his favor in an attempt to become the colonel’s business partner – or more.
Made by Psyop, the team behind Hooked on You, and commissioned officially by KFC, you just know I Love You, Colonel Sanders is the fun, tongue-in-cheek, finger-licking good dating sim you’re after.
Arcade Spirits
If you enjoyed Stranger Things’ dalliance with the ‘80s, then Arcade Spirits might be for you. This romantic visual novel is set in an alternative future where the games industry didn’t crash in 1983. Here, E.T. got to go home instead of being buried a few feet underground in the New Mexico desert. Play as a reluctantly hired employee at a Funplex arcade in this homage to all things neon. Work hard and make clever choices, as each decision may lead you closer to finding the one. Search for love in the shadow of coin-ops in this heartfelt, synthwave-filled 80s homage.
Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers is the sequel to 2019’s Arcade Spirits, and while it uses familiar storytelling tools from the original, its new characters and clever writing make it well worth a play. In the follow-up, the protagonist is an aspiring esports star on the hunt for trophies. After joining a team of players, you’re tasked with lifting their spirits, uncovering hidden storylines, and of course, finding romance.
Monster Prom
Finding a date to prom is always going to be a nightmare, but the team at Beautiful Glitch at least knows how to make it fun. In school halls filled with beautiful beasts of all kinds, you’re tasked with seducing a select schoolmate and quite literally fighting for love – think less Monster Hunter and more monster lover. This clever twist on the dating sim formula also supports multiplayer, leading to interesting clashes with friends over who gets who, inevitably serving unwanted high-school flashbacks. Along the way, players will be kept laughing by its absurd branching events and self-aware humor.
If you finish with the original, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp takes players to summer camp with new characters, mechanics, and mixology to shake up the dating experience. Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip is the latest release in the series and shifts the focus to surviving a romantic vehicular adventure. As well as flirting, you’ll manage resources while enjoying the quippy writing and charming ready-to-mingle characters.
Dream Daddy
Move to a seaside town and become the ultimate Dream Daddy. After settling in a new place with your daughter, you find out that the entire neighborhood is single and ready for your attempted advances. As well as plenty of dad jokes and strong voice-acting performances, Dream Daddy features a fun character creator where players get to decide what daddy archetype they’d like to be. You can be a ‘dreamy daddy’ or even a ‘rock and roll dad’ – the dating world is your oyster.
Within the flirty dialogue hides a range of moreish minigames. Brag Battle, for example, takes the fun of retro Pokemon battles and turns them into dad-on-dad combat. In this minigame, the way you brag about your daughter matters, whether it’s an old report card or a story about their helpfulness as each interaction damages the opponent or yourself.
The Sims 4
While broadly more of a life simulator than just a dating simulator, The Sims 4 features complex social and romantic mechanics and plenty of characters with deep lore. This allows new players with amorous intentions to embed themselves in the suburbs and woo who they may please.
Now that you can download The Sims 4 for free, it offers players a fully fleshed-out dating experience at no cost. For players looking to venture down the romance rabbit hole and a life full of trysts and meaningful relationships, there aren’t many stronger options. There are also boatloads of expansions available that come with a price tag but expand the world to bring greater realism to your endeavors. And when that doesn’t suit your needs, there’s always the best Sims 4 mods to download or The Sims 4 cheats to try.
Hatoful Boyfriend
Not your typical dating sim, Hatoful Boyfriend has you romancing birds that are usually classed as pests. As the only human attendee of an avian school for talented birds, players are tasked with finding a true mate at St. PigeoNation’s Institute. By becoming the ultimate sticky beak, players can meet birds of all kinds, but who will ‘peck’ your interest?
Attending classes at the institute, like Music or Math, will affect your stats and provide benefits to you in your romantic endeavors. All the while, you’ll also uncover the school’s dangerous underbelly and discover that Hatoful Boyfriend is equally about finding love and preventing the apocalypse.
Kaichu
If eldritch gods, cult killers, and talented birds can’t get your heart racing, how about a good, old-fashioned Japanese monster movie? A kaiju romance is the headline news in Kaichu, a dating sim that follows “gigantic romantic” Gigachu on a colossal quest for love. Test the compatibility of six eligible bachelors, engage in destructive courtship rituals, and defeat the world’s military – all for a scaly smooch with your chosen beloved. Along the way, news anchors Lucky and Brevity provide a running commentary to help you untangle the complex love language of kaiju. This dating sim is tailor-made for anyone who’s watched a Godzilla movie and thought, “I can fix him.”
Not found the one among the best dating sims above? Perhaps try our list of the most relaxing games on PC for something a little less stressful, or spend some time building up your own land with the best farming games, some of which also include a little romance.
