Adventure Corner: Kaichu: Kaiju Dating Sim

Welcome to Adventure Corner, a column where members of the RPGamer staff can give their thoughts, impressions, and pseudo-reviews for various adventure titles that don’t come under our usual coverage. Adventure Corner is aimed at delivering opinions on a wide range of titles including visual novels, point-and-click adventures, investigative mysteries, and so forth.

In this edition of the column, we take a look at Kaichu: Kaiju Dating Sim on PC.

Kaichu: Kaiju Dating Sim

The language of love can be hard to communicate with when you’re a monster. In Kaichu: Kaiju Dating Sim, players take on the role of Gigachu, a kaiju looking for a romantic connection, and willing to knock down monuments all around the world in search of the perfect partner. 

The premise is silly and straight to the point. As Gigachu, players select one of six different kaiju to go on a date with. Once a partner is selected, Gigachu takes their potential match out to different world landmarks and is asked a series of compatibility questions, all while the world is watching from their television sets at home. When asked a question, Gigachu has three options to select from, and through progressive dates, will receive more hints as to what their kaiju partner is interested in. Each kaiju has a different personality archetype, with shy, compassionate, and pragmatic partners all in the offering.  

Turpio is a shy one.

The game takes place in three acts, and how progress is entirely based on the compatibility questions. here are special deal-breaker questions that must be answered correctly to progress, and kaiju will respond non-verbally in different ways to give a clear indication of how well they receive the response. If they are happily breaking down landmarks, then it’s a clear success. If Gigachu fails to spark their date’s interest, monuments will take less damage, and there will be no smoochies at the end of the date. 

Many of the dating options are pretty adorable. From Turpio, the shy turtle-scorpion who admires Gamera but has a ton of anxiety, to Mossra, a single month mommy who wants a partner who is okay with her many babies. As players go on dates, they gain more information about their partner, which helps in the process of answering the questions. If the player is paying attention, it’s nearly impossible to get their responses wrong. If anything, one of the downsides of Kaichu is the fact that the dating element is missing a more organic quality to it, as the game is mostly just answering questions and watching monsters stomp famous landmarks. It almost needs another gameplay element, because as it stands, the game is quite barebones and a playthrough takes less than an hour to complete.

Gotta get all the smoochies!

Despite the simplicity of the gameplay and the lack of depth, Kaichu is an incredibly wholesome and adorable game to play. Every monster has its unique traits, pronouns, and dating obstacles to overcome, making each kaiju’s story unique. Given how short each playthrough is, the game has a great pace and doesn’t overstay its welcome. While there is some replay value in pursuing the other kaijus, your mileage will vary depending on how much you enjoy answering compatibility questions.

Kaichu is one of those games that will make your heart feel very full and will remind you that true love can be found even if it’s destroying priceless monuments in the process. The game is incredibly endearing, and its simplicity makes playthroughs a breeze. While the game is merely compatibility questions, if that is your jam there’s a lot to love here, but if you are someone who needs a bit more depth in your dating sim, you will not find that here. Kaichu is a sweet experience that is well worth its time, but it’s also a game where players must temper their expectations, as it stays committed to its premise without any deviations. 

Disclosure: This article is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.