Sorry We’re Closed
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There’s a new game out on Steam called Halcyon Days of Taoyuan that looks to be a Stardew Valley set in ancient China. The description says “find love” as one of the features so I suppose it offers the same romance/marriage feature that SV does. It’s in early access but reviews look good so far.
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I’m going to suggest two games from complete opposite spectrums.
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Subverse
This is an adult visual novel with spaceship shoot outs and strategic battles. It’s on the nose Deadpool-like humor is a bit cringe but the silliness isn’t completely unenjoyable. Be warned as this is definitely a “spicy” game. -
Final Fantasy IX
I’ve owned this game since 5th grade and have yet to beat it (I always got stuck in Kuja’s Castle). The main cast features a thief and princess who catch the feels with the set dressing a romantic fantasy world.
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That’s a FF I’ve never played before. I’d be up to try that out. Also, I recall that the thief was named Zidane at the same time that Zinedine Zidane was the world’s biggest soccer star. I thought it was funny back then.
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For my pick I’ll go with… A Player’s Heart (free demo)
This is a lesbian romance where you play as a performer in an all-woman, fantasy-Victorian theater company. It’s entirely text-based, but otherwise has a lot in common with a classic Bioware RPG, where your character stats, relationship choices, and political dealings branch the story out into dozens and dozens of possible paths. Also it’s really gay.
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Dokyuusei: Bangin’ Summer: A pure dating sim from the 90s that was remade. There are adults only and all ages versions.
Date A Live: Rio Incarnation: A sci-fi visual novel with a strong emphasis on love and relationships. (The main story supposedly only takes about 15 hours if you aren’t trying to see everything.)
3 Likes
The final poll is here! Everyone can vote for up to two games. The poll will close this Saturday on Jan. 31st. Good luck to your anticipated games! :))
- Florence (Switch, Android, iOS/macOS, Windows)
- Unpacking (Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Android, iOS/macOS, Windows, Linux)
- Sorry We’re Closed (Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X|S, Windows)
- Halcyon Days at Taoyuan (Windows)
- Subverse (Windows)
- Final Fantasy IX (Switch, PS1/PS4, Xbox One, Android, iOS, Windows)
- A Player’s Heart (macOS, Windows, Linux)
- Dokyusei: Bangin’ Summer (Switch, PS4, Windows)
- DATE A LIVE: Rio Reincarnation (PS4, Windows)
0
voters
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Since I didn’t provide a description of Sorry We’re Closed, the following are some selling points in respect to the theme this month.
Sorry We’re Closed deals with multiple facets of love, from the romantic and ideal to the obsessive and the harmful. It explores a wide variety of relationships, some reciprocal, some very one side, some healthy, some deeply unhealthy. Both the protagonist and the many characters you meet face challenges that afford a complex look at what we define as love, the virtues and vices we associate with love, and the power dynamics of loving (and not so loving) relationships.
And it’s super Queer, so you can’t go wrong 
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Every time I try to help, I end up encouraging a tie. Oh well…….
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The tie has been broken! For now…
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And the winner is…
Sorry We’re Closed
This is a survival horror game released in 2024. It was published by Akupara Games and is the debut title from developers à la mode games, a two-person indie team, whose development began as a side project during the pandemic. It was ranked #8 for the top shooters in 2024 by Metacritic, considered one of the best games of the year by Eurogamer, and was awarded best Debut Game at the Indie Game Awards in 2025 while also nominated in the Black Voices in Gaming category. There is a physical edition of the game available on Serenity Forge for $45 USD. You can also find the press kit here. A year ago they did an AMA thread on r/HorrorGames that’s still up as well.
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Nice, excited to try this out and hear y’all’s thoughts on it! Shooters are pretty far outside my wheelhouse usually, but the art direction here is aces and I know BMO’s a big fan.
Edit: Looks like it goes on sale on Steam fairly regularly, so it should be possible to grab it at a discount sometime this month! I’ll try to post about it if I see a good deal.
3 Likes
For PC players there’s currently a 27% discount on Fanatical!
I looked over the store page and it looks amazing, but the tags “survival horror” “resource management” and “multiple endings”, which are all qualities in games that tend to stress me out. My impulse is to use a guide to get through the game but I think I’ll do my first playthrough without any guidance unless I end up real real stuck.
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Do what’s comfy for you! I use guides fairly often on my first playthrough of games. I’m not sure if I’ll use one for this one but I definitely will if there’s missables.
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I don’t know where everyone is located but the last week in DC is making me think Frostpunk would have been a good choice!!
But I’ve downloaded the game and I’m looking forward to checking it out
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Best deal right now:
Sadly it was 40% on GamesBillet just last week.
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It’s pretty light survival horror. Think Silent Hill rather than anything with intense survival elements. And they made the shooting elements easier in one of the last patches for gamepad users.
Don’t worry about the multiple endings or a guide during your first playthrough. There’s no correct ending. Just go with whatever your whims take you and enjoy the ride.
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I’ve made it to the train station. It doesn’t seem too difficult yet but I suspect things could get more difficult if you’re facing more than one enemy. I’m not the biggest fan of the combat that sees you switch perspective first before attacking. But I’ll get used to it, I’m sure.
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I like the story though, mainly because it’s super weird.
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I made it to Day 1! And then immediately saved. I got a few achievements for exploring and interacting with all of the things in a given area, which I found pretty neat. There is a part where the Dream Eater is chasing you through the library and I didn’t make it too far before he got me and now I’m wondering if there’s an achievement for outrunning him for a period of time.
I’m enjoying the art style. I like how moody everything is. I like the diverse characters. I like the gayness. It’s pretty great. I’m having fun. Oh, I also like how you can get a first-person view to look around the environment. I feel like the devs are going to hide something on a ceiling at some point so I’m just looking around eyeballing everything. Also makes for fun screenshots!
Also in Michelle’s apartment building, there is a stinky room with a bunch of mail spewing out of the mailbox and underneath the door and I’m wondering if there’s a dead body inside.
Also the first time you go to sleep and that love weirdo shows up is pretty spot on to what experiencing a sleep paralysis demon is like, even up to it hanging out beside you by the bed. Flashbacks to my first and only experience of that. Ick.
Anyway, I’m rambling. I’m having fun. Great pick so far.
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