The Useless by Daylight courting simulator, cheekily titled Hooked on You, is an fascinating paradox. This can be a mission that, for many studios, would exist within the type of an April Fools’ joke or Easter egg. However Useless by Daylight has a notoriously thirsty fan base, and developer Behaviour has leaned into this, giving gamers a devoted recreation the place they’ll get to know their favourite infamous Killers. The studio is publishing developer Psyop’s Hooked on You: A Useless by Daylight Relationship Sim.
The premise is straightforward: You get up on an island surrounded by among the sexiest Killers in Useless by Daylight, and as a substitute of immediately shanking you and hanging you up on a hook, they need to play seaside volleyball and smooch. The participant chooses which Killer they need to spend time with, attends seaside actions coordinated by awkward Survivors Dwight and Claudette, and performs the occasional minigame. It’s the logical endgame of the fandom’s horniness, and but the writing may be very earnest and charming.
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Picture: Psyop/Behaviour
If the participant is fortunate and makes the appropriate selections, they get to cuddle as much as one in every of these lethal Killers. In the event that they’re unfortunate, they get stabbed. The narrative additionally hints at one thing darker happening beneath the floor, virtually as if that is just a few form of misery-generating machine cloaked within the cheery vibes of a courting simulator. As a premise, that is nice. However the trick with a jokey idea like Hooked on You is that you simply truly must ship a full product. That is the place developer Psyop stumbles, consistently turning to the participant to ask “Isn’t this bizarre? A complete courting sim… a couple of horror recreation? Wild, proper?”
This isn’t a nasty recreation by any means; in reality, it’s surprisingly strong. When you’re a Useless by Daylight lore fan, it’s fairly healthful to speak to those characters about their grisly backstories and morbid motivations. Generally, Hooked on You is hilarious — or genuinely horrifying. There’s a operating gag a couple of close by island that’s a lot cooler, extra unique, and — oh yeah — has all the recreation’s licensed characters from horror franchises hanging out. The Trickster additionally reveals up as a shock visitor and mentions his NFT line. Then the sport effortlessly flips into depicting a spectral lighthouse pulling souls out of different realities to sprint them upon the unforgiving shores, or the Trapper proving himself to solely be able to a possessive, controlling mimicry of affection.
It’s a disgrace, as a result of Hooked on You has all of those nice traits, however on the finish of the day the sport feels terrified you may discover it cringe. Characters gained’t cease turning and mugging for the digital camera. They are saying “wink, wink” aloud after which say how wild and surprising it’s that they’re saying “wink, wink” as a substitute of simply winking. The narrator chides you for breaking the fourth wall too typically, earlier than cheerfully smashing it two scenes later to make a joke about why it is best to depart a great assessment for the sport on Steam. Each time I fall right into a groove, the sport stomps on my foot and asks me if I get that this entire premise may be very foolish, do I perceive that? Yeah, Hooked on You, I do, please let me get again to getting crushed by the Huntress’ thighs.
It simply comes throughout as Psyop being afraid that the participant is laughing at them and never with them. The narrative is targeted on preemptively reassuring you that the developer is aware of this can be a joke, and isn’t taking this severely, and yeah it would be fairly cringe if this was critical however it isn’t. It’s all very pointless, and I form of hope Behaviour and Psyop take one other swing on the courting sim style with out all of the self-conscious narrative muddle — as a result of the great things is very good.
Hooked on You: A Useless by Daylight Relationship Sim is obtainable on Steam. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a obtain code supplied by Behaviour Interactive. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.
