Developed and published by Wales Interactive alongside Good Gate Media, Ten Dates is a new live-action speed dating game that is a sequel to the original title Five Dates. Building from the foundation of the original Five Dates, Ten Dates expands the whole formula with new people to meet, tons of scenes to unlock and a lot of replayability as you try to experience additional romance options with each of the new characters featured in the game. This unique game is played just like a movie where you must make choices and the game progresses your dates further based on those choices. This is our review of Ten Dates in which we pick up dates in a speed dating event and still end up being single at the end of the game.
Ten Dates revolves around the two main characters Misha and Ryan, both of them are good friends with each other and they both have their own motives for finding a loved one. When you begin the game, you create your dating profile on an in-game app called Daters which is the in-game equivalent of the real-life Tinder. Most of the details in this profile are submitted automatically and the only choices you make here include your personal interests, the industry you work in, and the choice of a profile picture. Once your profile is set, you will use this information in your dates later in different situations like character introductions and more. Ten Dates is a choice-based game and the game progresses based on the choices that you make. Each choice will make or break your date with the many love interests featured in the game.
The main speed dating event of Ten Dates is played in the way that all women stay at their tables and all men go around to their tables. You will start at this stage for your first date because you are all signed up for this speed dating event thanks to the profile you made earlier. After arriving here, you start talking with other people of the opposite sex to find out more about them. If things work out, you can move to the second date and then finally, the third date which is the final date of the event and you conclude the game at its end. The cycle continues for all of the candidates who you want to establish a relationship with until you end up with the one you really want to establish the relationship with.
While this may sound like a small thing to complete and it might be true because a single playthrough of the game might take you around an hour to complete however each of the ten characters that you can date in the game has tons of scenes that you can unlock along with some of the challenges as well. Apart from this, there is also the challenge of unlocking all three dates with each of the characters and you can only reach the final dates with people if you play your cards right during the previous dates. For my first playthrough, I had the choice of four people for my second date and by the time I was moved to the third date, I only had one option, so you have to make the right choices for unlocking all of the scenes, dates and completing different challenges which are activities during dates to fully complete Ten Dates. With each playthrough, you will start to understand more about the people you are dating and thus manipulate the options to really secure the deal.
For my first two playthroughs, I ended up getting dumped by everyone no matter how hard I tried but this is the beauty of a video game. If you get dumped by someone, you can just quit, restart, make some different choices next time and viola, you are together. I really love how Ten Dates plays out as the choices you make are not too much, It is an interactive movie more than a video game with dialogue choices because the videos you are watching are real people who recorded the videos in real life, and every reaction, every change in dialogue and every choice leads to a different video cast by actual people on the set. In a normal interaction, the choices you make might be around 4 or 5 in the whole scenario which is enough to keep you glued to the mouse and enough to not make the gameplay too destructive to ruin the smooth flow of the movie.
Both choices of the character in the game Misha and Ryan have their own set of love interests that you can date in the game. Four of them are opposite sex while one of the final ones is of the same sex which gives you the opportunity to date a person of the same sex if that is your thing. There is enough diversity in the game to keep everyone entertained. I loved the dynamic of every character in the game because they are all real people, and the dialogue delivery and acting are stellar. It does not feel like a cheap game with real-life videos. The action and dialogue delivery are top-notch, and it keeps you entertained throughout a session. There is a handy ‘Relationships’ screen that keeps track of every love interest and how much progress you have made with them. If you want to unlock everything and complete all love interests to over 100%, you will require a lot of replays since you will need to select a different option in every dialogue option that you get in the game.
Apart from spending time with your dates, once your current date is over, you will also chat with either Misha or Ryan, depending on who you are playing as, and share with them the details of your current love interests. Both of them are pretty good friends so you both look after each other and keep the other one updated on your interests. After completing three dates, you either find your perfect date or you either get dumped and then you can restart the game with any of the two characters once again and either try again with the same date or go a different path this time around. It might get a little repetitive after a while because the locations do not shift too much and the dialogue is pretty much the same most of the time. It only changes in scenarios where you make different choices than the last one but it will be after a few of your playthroughs that the game actually starts feeling a little repetitive.
This is actually my first interactive movie game or live-action video game or whatever you want to call it and I am glad that I reviewed this brilliant title. After playing Ten Dates, I am really inclined towards playing the first game Five Dates, and looking for similar titles as well. Ten Dates is a beautifully designed game with great video transitions in place and soundtrack. It actually feels like you are watching a movie where two friends are helping each other out finding someone to date. The simple UI, a lot of accessibility options, and the aspect of approaching each potential love interest in different ways really give you the freedom to try out different opportunities with each person.
Final Verdict:
If you have been playing live-action games or movie simulators, Ten Dates should be on your list as well because it features memorable characters that are not shallow and feel complex enough. Each one brings their own unique story, background, and personality into the mix and if you are always finding it hard to mingle with people in the real life, this game can teach you a thing or two about speed dating or opening up with different people and how to keep the conversation flowing. I love the overall production of Ten Dates and the direction as well. The game also features a lot of replayability as you try different options with each character. A really enjoyable experience that is suitable for a diverse audience. Must-play for all fans of live-action games looking for something different and unique to play.
Final Score: 8.0/10
