I left this game feeling very mixed. I really enjoyed most of it, but it feels like the beta version or play test of a game rather than a completed game. Starting with the areas without issue, the music is very solid, the zines are all fun to use, the crafting is excellent, and the enemies are all really fun to fight for the most part.

Next, the problems. The combat, while fun at times, has so many interesting ideas that feel almost finished. Out of all the weapons, the only one that feels finished in combat is the dagger. Every other weapon lacks combos or synergy with it's abilities. The axe for example has only two combos which get boring really quickly. Leveling up also feels lackluster when all you gain is health and monster damage scaling causes that extra health to be unremarkable. A stamina system or character abilities would make each level feel more impactful. Finally, there is no wave mechanic to stagger monsters spawning in and add extra strategy to combat. Monsters spawn in all at once and are mainly difficult because they swarm you.

Then there's the dating sim side. Though the story is mostly fleshed out, it doesn't feel like you have much of an impact on it. Rather than having a major impact on how the story plays out, the story happens to you with you only getting to choose which parts play out around you. Each character is fairly flat, with a few exceptions, and any of the dialog choices you make don't seem to make an impact on the story. You can give people gifts, but there is no in game system to track their likes. Though such a system is not needed as each character's likes are extremely basic and easy to guess. The cat gets the cat toys, the surfer the surfboard, the business man the cuff links, and so on. Those things wouldn't be big problems if any of the character's were fun to date. The minimal voice acting and lack of diverse character sprites results in you seeing and hearing everything pertaining to a character after an hour or so. On top of that, the dates are all boring, predictable, or cheesy in a bad way as it feels like minimal effort was put into the writing. A final thing to add is the lack of character customization. While the clothing options are all fun and there are plenty of them, there's a disappointing lack of hair styles and no way to customize your body type outside of gender.

All in all, I enjoyed my first play through, but won't be playing Boyfriend Dungeon again and can't recommend it. If you can get it half off like I did then it might be worth it for a lot of people, but there are also finished games you can get for the same price. Go spend that money on something like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood or a better dating sim.

This game is a fun short experience that plays pretty smoothly, looks pretty nice, and has some memorable characters(to me at least). I appreciate the inclusive cast of people with different skin tones, ages(not everyone is like 18-19, or 30+), body types, and gender identities. I'm not going to say the game is like life changing deep, but it does have some good, real moments that can stick with you. Stalkers are a real thing(obviously), and they use him to propel the conflict of the plot. There are other topics that the game touches on, but I will let those be explored by others.

I like the music that plays in the dungeons(it's chill electronica music), and the best zine imo was the fashion one. Fighting gameplay was simple enough to grasp, with a lil bit of spice depending on what weapon, augments, and zines you chose to play with. I played this game years ago on Game Pass for a few hours until I got to Rowan, so I knew this playthrough now that I owned it I was going to finish it with them. I really liked their character, and I'm probably going to make fanart of them.