Kickstarter has given birth to over a hundred games since its creation, including a tough spaceship simulator FTL: Faster Than Light, the frantic and sadistic platformer Cloudberry Kingdom, and the award-winning Shovel Knight. HuniePop is another such Kickstarter-funded project, this time a dating simulator that includes puzzle-based gameplay along with some RPG elements. While it largely accomplishes what the Kickstarter promised, HuniePop honestly feels less like a dating sim and more like a "fuck buddy” sim, and includes some of the most cringe-worthy writing I’ve seen in a video game.

HuniePop follows a nameless guy/girl whose luck with the ladies is ordinarily non-existent. The game opens with your character at a bar when suddenly a girl named Kyu decides to talk to you. After talking with you for a bit, she sees that you’re a mental wreck when interacting with the opposite gender, but before leaving she mentions that you will be seeing her very soon. That night a pink-haired fairy appears in your bedroom and, lo and behold, it’s Kyu! She is a love fairy to be exact, and her job is to get you laid. As to why, who knows? But we shalln't question it. Now, with your love fairy (who could possibly be a figment of your sexually-frustrated imagination) backing you up, you can begin your journey into a new lust-filled world. 

You're tasked with interacting with a variety of girls from morning till night, in the hope of raising their heart gauges to five (it starts at one), so as to get laid. The only way to do so is by asking them out on a date and passing it. To pass a date you must do what we've all done in the real world when dating, namely play a match 3 puzzle game. 

While it looks simplistic, HuniePop’s match 3 puzzle gameplay has a bit a depth to it and focuses on strategy rather than speed. First off there is no time limit - instead you have a move limit. There are also eight token types. The first four - Talent, Flirtation, Romance, and Sexuality - are used to fill up the date's love bar with points. When the bar is filled, you pass the date, increase the heart gauge (unless it's already full), and earn 'Munie'. The next token is Passion, which increases your date’s affection level. With each level up the amount of points the previous four tokens grant are also increased, making it vital to quickly increase your affection level. The sixth token is Sentiment. These tokens are used to give gifts during your date, each of which has its own potential benefit when used at the correct time. Next up is the Joy Token, which simply put adds an extra move to the move limit. The final token is the dreaded Heartbreaker token - each time you match three of these your love bar is reduced by 15%. While the puzzle gets somewhat tedious after the first couple of dozen plays, it is nonetheless a well thought out variant of standard Bejeweled gameplay.

As you complete more dates and raise each girl's love level, the amount of points needed to pass also increases. If you pass a date during the night time cycle and have at least four hearts in the heart gauge then you will move on to the final phase. Yes, I’m talking about sex, which again just as in real life is successfully performed by playing a match 3 puzzle game! Unlike the date version there is no move limit, instead the points in the love bar will slowly decrease. This version is all about quick token movements; speed is of the essence if you wish to bring your partner to their climax. There are also various outside factors that will affect properties of the puzzle, including the girls' hunger levels, intoxication levels, your skills, and her preferences. The latter are extremely important to know. Each girl has a liked and hated trait out of Talent, Romance, Sexuality and Flirtation. When you match their liked token it will be worth double the usual amount of points, while on the flipside the hated trait when matched will be worth half. 

Outside of dates, there are a handful of ways to interact with the girls. Firstly you can chat with them, which will give you Hunie (the game's currency). They will either ask a personal question, ask you to ask them a question (e.g. age, birthday, cup size...), or will quiz you to see if you remember their personal information. Each time you speak to a girl you use up two bars of their energy meter. When it hits zero they won’t allow you to talk or go on a date with them unless you buy them food with Munie to restore their energy. Energy levels affect the date puzzle, as the higher the bar is the more moves you start out with. During the night you can also use Munie to buy drinks for the girls, which similarly affects the date puzzle by giving you extra starting Sentiment. 

You can also buy the girls gifts. Each character has two types of gifts they like and one they love; when you give them one they love you will receive a random date gift from Kyu, as well as Hunie. After giving enough gifts you will unlock a new hairstyle for that character. There are a total of five hair styles for each character, as well as five clothing options (the latter are unlocked by completing dates). You can use extra Hunie to upgrade your skills, which simply either raise the point amount of certain tokens, increase your chances of making a power token, or lower the amount of damage Heartbreaker tokens do. 

The characters themselves were potentially one of the most interesting parts of HuniePop, but sadly they're extremely disappointing. You are given an ethnically diverse cast of eight girls to woo with your newfound charm (and four unlockable characters). The cast includes: Tiffany, a college cheerleader; Nikki, the introverted gamer; Jessie, the porn star; Beli, a spiritualistic yoga instructor; Aiko, a horny college professor; Kyanna, a single mother who works as a hairdresser; Lola the stewardess; and finally Audrey, the mega-bitch (yes, that’s her job). The voice acting is decent, the character backgrounds interesting, and the personalities diverse, but sadly all fall apart as characters for three major reasons.

Firstly, as alluded to earlier, HuniePop's dialogue is cringe-worthy, with scenes playing out like poorly written fan fiction. The next issue is the fact that none of the girls acknowledge or even interact with each other outside of the first time you meet them. All of these girls know one another, yet not one asks about why you’re trying to get into each of their pants at the same time. Even a simple relationship system like that found in Persona 3 - where a girl will get mad or ignore you if you start to raise your level with another girl - would have worked wonders. The lack of consequences for your actions hurts the overall experience, and limits the game's claims to being a dating sim. 

The final issue that rears its ugly head is the lack of character growth. Put simply there is none. The only character who shows any signs of change is Audrey, who stops being a mega-bitch to you, but all of the others never change no matter how you perform. When anything you do has no effect on the characters in such a character driven genre, what is the point of playing?

At the very least HuniePop’s characters are well drawn and the clothing styles are generally well-suited to each character. The game also features beautiful CG art that gets more risqué as you progress. On the other hand the backgrounds are a bit too dull for my tastes and often clash with the characters.

HuniePop will set you back $10 and it takes around seven hours to beat the initial characters (and another two hours or so to complete the unlockable characters). Most of your time will be spent playing puzzles, though, rather than interacting with the game's characters. There are also a handful of optional extras to complete, such as collecting all of the hairstyles, clothes, and gifting the girls each and evert gift. Sadly there is no formal ending to HuniePop, so you're not officially rewarded for completing everything.

HuniePop has the makings of a good game, but the juvenile writing really does drag it down. In most genres a game can feature atrocious writing and still be great, but a strong script is an essential component to a successful dating sim. If you're looking for an interesting match 3 puzzle game then HuniePop will satisfyingly scratch your itch, but if you're after a good dating simulator then I’d advise against HuniePop.