The 5 best indie dating sims you can play right now

It’s international kissing day, and we wanted to count down some of our favourite indie dating sims where you can make the most of the day and get some smooches in!

It’s international kissing day, and we wanted to count down some of our favourite indie dating sims where you can make the most of the day and get some smooches in! All of these games are available to you right now and are a great time, we’ve been sure to get a mix of all kinds of dating sims, from pigeon romance, LGBT games and even horror games, this is our best recommendations for the genre, and we’re sure anyone could enjoy these games.

Dream Daddy

5 Best Indie Dating Sims

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator is a game where you play as a Dad and your goal is to meet and romance other hot Dads. You and your daughter have just moved into the sleepy seaside town of Maple Bay only to discover that everyone in your neighbourhood is a single, dateable Dad! Will you go out with Teacher Dad? Goth Dad? Bad Dad? Or any of the other cool Dads in this game?’

Whilst this is a controversial title as some members of the LGBT community have accused it of playing on stereotypes, this Game Grumps title has also been given much praise as a well-written dating sim with some great art and design, on top of this there are plenty of minigames for you to jump into in-between dad dating!

Hatoful Boyfriend

5 Best Indie Dating Sims

‘Congratulations! You’ve been accepted as the only human student at the prestigious St. PigeoNation’s Institute, a school for talented birds! Roam the halls and find love in between classes as a sophomore student at the world’s greatest pigeon high school. Finding happiness won’t be easy, but it’s not all academic – there’s always time for a little romance in this delightful visual novel/avian dating sim.’

Alright, ok, this is a silly one. Starting out as an April fools joke but eventually becoming one of the biggest dating sims of all time, this title has you romancing birds, and I’m not talking anthro birds they’re just… birds. Good luck with that! (Seriously, though, it’s a very fun time.)

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Doki Doki Literature Club

5 Best Indie Dating Sims

‘Welcome to the Literature Club! It’s always been a dream of mine to make something special out of the things I love. Now that you’re a club member, you can help me make that dream come true in this cute game!’

Don’t pretend you don’t know this game, and I won’t pretend I don’t know what this game is. If you somehow don’t know the mega-super-hit DDLC, it’s not what it looks like, be wary of the ‘psychological horror’ tag in the game’s description and read the warning on startup carefully, this isn’t for the faint of heart, I mean it.

Monster Prom

5 Best Indie Dating Sims

‘There’s only 3 weeks left before prom and you haven’t got a date yet..and you’re a monster. But that’s okay ‘cause at your high-school everyone else is too! These are the stepping stones into the world of Monster Prom, a one-to-four player competitive dating sim that has you thinking: I never knew I was into that!’

The Monster Prom series is maybe the biggest new dating sim series around, there’s something like three or four games, and the first only released in 2018. It’s got cute art, some great mechanics and is generally just a little different and quirky. Whilst I’d personally prefer if a lot of the characters were a bit more monster-y, this is still a fun and engaging dating sim and one of my favourites on the list!

Helltaker

5 Best Indie Dating Sims

‘You woke up one day with a dream. Harem full of demon girls. You’ve opened the portal in hopes of fulfilling your wildest desires. Hellfire burns through your lungs, death awaits around every corner and everything looks like a cutesy mobile game. You are in hell.’

This is a short game, but one that we put right at the end here because what is in here is fantastic, and it’s free to boot. Featuring fantastic art and design, great and distinct characters and puzzle gameplay that really makes it stand out, this is the first one I’d recommend you play from this whole list.

And that’s it! We’ve got some scares, lots of monsters, and even dads, and what can be better than those three things? We hope you have a romantic day and hope you enjoy the games! For more of the latest indie news, reviews and coverage stay here at Indie Game Fans.

Liked this list? Why not try Josh’s List of 5 Indies that Belong in a Museum or Jamie’s List of 5 Relaxing Indies to Chill With.