Five Dates

Nice game. Vinny is a pretty cool guy, and the girls are alright.
But you know whose even better? My boy Callum!
Callum the real OG.
Should make my buddy Callum as a dating option, cowards.

For $5, I think this game is worth trying. It's not for everyone. I am not sure if it is for me. But I am a girl.
I want to see a guy version of this where the 'dates' are males and you can see how crazy men can be. LOL
In this game, you play from the point of view of a hetero-guy, Vinny, who is trying online dating for the first time. You are coached by your bestie, who is really funny. Vinny goes on web dates with various women. The women that are portrayed here have a lot of what are probably 'red flags.' Was that intentional?
I am only a few minutes into the game, but I find as a female it is really easy to guess what the female wants to hear. So maybe this game would be more fun if you were a guy and I can see guys using this as training on how to talk to women. I feel like the responses of the women are pretty believable so far and easy to deduce. I am a little confused as to what the objective of the game is?
There is a score meter that shows how well you get a long with your 'date'. I had one of the 'dates' basically be a druggie who ghosted me for a joint. -.- Then, I had another one that felt like she was judging me really harshly & I found myself trying to appease her. LOL
I am hoping the game ends with a moral of the story to just be yourself. The game is entertaining. But again, I would like to see a reverse version. So many of these FMVs are from the point of view of male characters. I think women are a gaming audience too!
@ Wales Interactive, if you are reading this. There is an customer-base of female gamers too.

Five Dates captures a very specific moment in recent history - the early pandemic lockdown dating scene - and does so with surprising authenticity. As a period piece, it's genuinely interesting to revisit that strange time when video calls became our primary way of connecting romantically.
What works best is how uncomfortably real the awkward video date moments feel. Anyone who lived through pandemic dating will recognize the weird pauses, technical difficulties, and forced intimacy of trying to connect through a screen. The game doesn't shy away from how strange and exhausting that whole experience was.
The writing can be hit-or-miss - some characters feel like millennial stereotypes rather than fully realized people. The pacing occasionally drags, and certain dialogue choices seem arbitrary. But there are genuine moments of chemistry and connection that land well enough.
At full price it's probably too steep for what amounts to an interactive movie, but on sale it's worth experiencing as both entertainment and a document of a weird time we all lived through. Worth one playthrough to see how your instincts play out in this digital dating hellscape.

Gotta love purposefully choosing the worst dialogue options and internally dying xD
Super well made game though and the actors were spot on, played it with a buddy of mine and it was great fun.

GRADE: C++. i really wish there was a neutral review option. this game is not bad its just kind of generic and not very deep or, to me, very interesting. I got it as part of a bundle with other FMV games (Full motion Video). I remember, in times long past, when everyone thought these FMV games were the future of video game because the "graphics" were so close to life like, and at the time it seemed that was the goal. And when they came out it was impressive Tech at the time. But besides the nostalgia, i generally like FMV games and there were more then a few i have played that stood out as fun or even great games. More then just some video clips strung together. This Developer has quite a few FMV games in their catalog and they use decent actors and generally good scripts and i have enjoyed several of their games already. But this game doesn't have alot of "GAME" in it. Its essentially just a visual novel but one with no real plot or story direction, a sort of "COZY" visual novel. But for some people i guess that's the appeal with these types of games. And for those people this is not a bad version of that, and this might be for you! i just personally like visual novels, as a genre, the least and the ones i do like usually have lots of other clever, or well done, game play elements and the Visual novel game play parts are not the sole or even main focus.
First of all this developer has several FMV titles and so far all the ones i have checked out have been worth the time i spent to do it. And with this game. like i usually do with most FMV games, First i played it through once myself with no knowledge of whats about to happen, besides the general game description on its page. Then, after ive played through it once or twice, i might boot it up a few more times when a friend comes over and hand them the controller and see how there movie goes. And then, for better or worse, that's it. And really this is descriptive of the whole genre and not just one specific game. After playing through it once, or sometimes twice, your self. You already know the broad strokes and There's just usually not much to encourage replay, besides seeing a few different responses to your choices or "MAYBE" watching one or two other people play through it.
This game, FIVE DATES, is a dating app sim. you get to check out some profiles and then go on some dates and then chooses who you like best at the end. then, if you really liked that, you can do it all over again and choose different people. Its a pretty linear setup where the videos play and just pause for second when you need to make a choice. So theres not much to "explore" in five dates. But the actors are competent and the game works well. Maybe If it were just one part of a larger narrative and my choices had some impact on the story then it would have held my interest longer. Or the inclusion of some fun mini games or something that felt like i was playing a game more then watching an episode of a reality dating show. HOWEVER its not so long as to wear out its welcome. And id say its Worth a play through if this game theme appeals to you especially if you get it on sale or as part of a bundle. Its not my favorite FMV game but as i said before i dont generally gravitate toward visual novel games. And only played this one because i like FMV Games and it came in a bundle with several other FMV games i did want. Still this is not a bad Visual novel game. But its also not a great or very distinctive one and if i could id give it a neutral rating, then i would.

Wasn't sure this would be for me, but I fell in love with the characters. They're all so different, but so believable and likeable. Had a lot of fun with this game, and the music is so good! It's only sprinkled in here and there, but I often found myself just bobbing along to it ... like I never skipped the end credits because of the music :)

This game has a good variety of options to make your way through it with all the different girls. I really liked that of the girls you can date, no two are alike. They are all unique and have different personalities with pros and cons. When I first saw all the profiles for the dates, I thought I would like Paige the most, but surprisingly, I ended up enjoying the dates with Shaina the most.
Shaina and the MC had a lot of natural chemistry that seemed effortless and true. Shaina's dates were definitely the most fun.
There were times when I thought the acting of people was a bit...off, especially from Callum - it seemed very forced and a tad too obvious that he was playing a character.
It also often felt like I was a third wheel on these dates, and at times, I felt very awkward watching things unfold on screen, lol.
The only issues I would urge to be fixed are that the volume levels do fluctuate with no rhyme or reason, so it was annoying having to readjust them so often. Also, the save function is no good. You cannot manually save. It saves just before you exit the game, and you are forced to pick up there. I wish you could make multiple saves and pick among them. It would make more people want to keep playing and try the various available paths and options.
I acquired this game when it initially came out and wasn't fully released, thus, it was free. Seeing the price now, I would say that the nearly 15 bucks for it is a bit steep for how short it is. But overall, I give the game a thumbs up.