Boyfriend Dungeon
Via Kitfox Games
Table of Contents
02. Aesthetics
03. Accessibility
04. Content Warning
05. Verdict
Have you ever been hacking your way through a horde of monsters and thought, “You know, this sword is really nice. I wish I could date it”? No? Well you certainly will in Boyfriend Dungeon, a combination isometric dungeon crawler and dating sim where you date your weapons after fighting together in the “dunj”, the in-game slang for this hot new workout in Verona Beach, California.
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC/Mac
- Price: $19.99
- Release Date: August 11, 2021
- Availability: Digital Only
- Playtime: 5-11 hours
- Developer: Kitfox Games
- Genre: Dating Sim/Roguelike
- Languages: 🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇷🇺🇯🇵🇨🇳🇧🇷
You arrive in town at the beginning of summer, ready to spend the season meeting new people and having fun away from home. Your cousin, Jesse, helps you settle in and sets out to get you a date—you’ve never been on one before and are nervous about the whole thing. Jesse suggests you try out the dunj to boost your confidence, scheduling a sword fighting lesson for you with his friend…who turns out to be a sword.
Thus begins your adventure into dungeoning and dating.
Gameplay
There are seven weapons you can date—three men, one woman, two nonbinary characters, and a cat (the purrrrely platonic option)—and two more coming in future DLC. Each one has their own story to explore as you go on dates, and if you’d prefer to stay friends with them there are opportunities to say so. Polyamory is encouraged, so you won’t be dinged or miss out on content by dating everyone at once.
Character customization is simple and you can change your appearance at any time using the mirror in your apartment. You can set your pronouns to she/her, he/him, or they/them, and the dialogue will reflect that choice. Your closet starts off with a few clothes, including a hijab and a turban, and you’ll be able to buy or craft more with recipes you find in the dungeons.
The overworld shows your available dates, along with the dungeons and three shops where you can buy clothes, gifts for your weapons, or crafting materials.
Combat in the dunj isn’t overly complex. The levels are procedurally generated and have optional challenge rooms. Each weapon wields differently and has a couple combo moves, plus perks you gain by leveling up your Love Rank with them through dates, gifts, and fighting. Zines give you an extra ability, like breathing fireballs or putting nearby enemies to sleep, and your med pack comes in the form of a tasty drink: boba, hot coffee, iced coffee, or soda.
Whenever you reach a new Love Rank with a weapon, they’ll text you to set up a date. You’ll get to know each other over coffee, hang out at the beach, or go dancing at the club. Most dialogue choices will keep you in your date’s good graces, and you’ll have the chance to stick to being friends if you’re not interested in romance.
When you’re not in the dunj or out on a date, you’ll probably be in your apartment crafting or texting. The characters text a lot, so be prepared for your phone to buzz frequently.
Though Boyfriend Dungeon is a dating sim, there aren’t any branching paths or multiple endings to unlock. Ultimately, the game tells a linear story, but you get to choose which weapon(s) to take along for the ride.
Aesthetics
The visuals are, of course, gorgeous. There’s a nice variety in location backgrounds, from a lovely park to a cute cat café. And the UI is pleasant to look at without being distracting.
The character design is excellent, with a diverse cast of love interests who are beautiful in human and weapon form. Each one has an amazing intro animation of their transformation à la magical girls. The voice acting is great, and includes such talents as ProZD (SungWon Cho) and Octopimp (Alexander Gross). And the writing is fun, witty, and peppered with sword puns.
The dungeons each have their own atmosphere with unique hangouts to rest at with your bae blade of choice. Plus, the soundtrack is jam packed with bops, creating a chill, summer vibe.
Accessibility
Most of the dialogue is text, and only some lines are voiced, so there’s no option for subtitles. You can control the master, music, ambience, voice, and SFX volume levels. And there are options to turn off controller vibration and screen shake. Though there’s only one difficulty level, you can turn on the Goddess Shield to take -50% damage in the dungeon.
Only English has voiced lines, but the game can also be played in French, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese.
Content Warning
There are two content warning screens at the start of the game. One allows you to turn off text messages from the Mom character. These can’t be enabled or disabled once you begin the game.
The other warns that there are references to unwanted advances, stalking, and other forms of emotional manipulation. The developers have revised the warning for the Steam and Epic versions of the game and are working on updating it for other platforms. I’ll go into a bit more detail about that content below, so if you’d like to avoid any spoilers you can skip ahead to my verdict.
⚠️ Warning! Minor story spoilers ahead! ⚠️
The first person your cousin Jesse sets you up on a date with is not a weapon but a blacksmith named Eric who isn’t enamored with weapon people. Eric refuses to take no for an answer when you say you aren’t interested in dating him and stalks you throughout the game. He sends numerous text messages, and you can’t block his number.
Boyfriend Dungeon is telling a specific story, one that includes Eric and his increasingly creepy behaviors. Unwanted advances, stalking, violation of boundaries, and threats of violence are part of the events associated with his character. There are also references to past violence and kidnapping. He also makes reference to the loss of a child in an inappropriate joke (this has been removed from the Steam and Epic versions).
Eric’s character is unsettling and cruel, but his actions don’t lead to a bad ending for the main character.
Verdict
Boyfriend Dungeon is a fun, flirty dating sim dungeon crawler that tells a story of love and growth. I had a blast playing it, maxing out the Love Ranks for all the weapons and crafting every item I could. It’s not a complex dating sim with multiple endings, nor is it a super involved roguelike, but it is a fun combination of the two. The characters are interesting, going through their own growth along with you, and the dungeons are enjoyable if a little repetitive at the end.
Overall, I’d recommend it! 💛💛💛💛🤍