Sucker for Love: Crush Landing

Fun game, but arguably the weakest in the series, unfortunately. I might have set my expectations a little too high after Date to Die For was such a phenomenal game. The story is good, but I don't think it quite lives up to the previous two games. I also felt like it was lacking a bit of the horror element that made the others so memorable. And maybe I'm just a freak, but I really miss how assertive and dominant the love interests were in the previous games. Hailey felt a lot more ditzy and clueless in comparison, which made the romance a little less compelling for me. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game and I definitely enjoyed it! But the first two were phenomenal, and I feel like you get so much more out of them, especially story-wise. This one just didn't quite hit the same for me.

The eldritch horror dating sim series does it a game with a game that is both charming, cute, and funny while still managing to have moments of genuine terror and unsettling scenarios/visuals. In some ways this one feels smaller than the previous games, having only one run through really as opposed to the first and second games having their multiple chapters with changes to objectives and what/who you're interacting with/fighting changing with each chapter. This game it's just you, a meteorite, and 3 segments of finding things in your apartment to keep the flame lit and feed her color. But the number of options you have, the way things change depending on what sort of stuff you feed to her, the slight randomness to who shows up at your door, the dozen or so endings that all depend on how you go through things. The game may feel like the smallest and shortest one but it simultaneously feels so much bigger and more open than the other two. As usual the sound design is stellar. The voice actors nail their characters and all manage to hit where they feel they need to on the spectrum of cute to funny to unsettling. The writing is good here though this may be the protagonist I least e…

It is a really good game and suuuuuuuuper cute heheheh <3

My review on Crush Landing is that it's good, but I still think it is a step down narratively compared to the previous two entries. Don't get me wrong, the art is fantastic, and the voice actors do an incredible job. The puzzle-game is kind of interesting as it requires experimentation and effort. I love the music as well. However, the truth is that the series more and more departs from what made the previous games interesting as so so so many interactions within the story happens with characters that are not the protagonists, nor in the support of said protagonists. I left Date To Die For (Suckers 2) barely knowing anything about R'oksi and her relationship with the protagonist, but it was still interesting for its persistence themes. I left First Date (Suckers 1) knowing both Estir and L'netta very well and believing the protagonist's drive and romance. Crush landing stars a nascent cosmic entity, so a lot of run-time is spent establishing knowledge and communication. By the time you both have a full blown mature conversation, the game's kind of already over. Hheiley is definitively cute, but so, so, so many of the game's interactions are in relation to what's happening around…

11/10 eldritch gods agree this game is bonkers in the best way.

I love Hheily. It's pretty fun to feed her different things and see how she reacts to it- I love seeing cute scenes come from it!