Romance Game

""Ahaha! Everyone loves me, huh? Gal games sure are easy.""

- Kizuna AI (translated), Episode 6 of her Doki Doki Literature Club! Let's Play

Romance Games, known in Japanese as ren'ai (romantic love) games, are a category of videogame that covers several mechanics and demographics. The distinguishing factor of these games is that the primary goal of the game is to establish a romantic relationship between the Player Character and one or more of the NPCs. Although the genre originates in Japan, they are also made elsewhere, particularly in the form of "Doujin-soft" (noncommerical fanmade games).

Most ren'ai games are Visual Novels (a type of Interactive Fiction) or Dating Sims (a type of Simulation Game), although many are hybrids, such as Role-Playing Game / Dating Sim or Action Game / Visual Novel. Many ren'ai games contain some erotic content; those where this is a major feature may be classified as eroge (short for "erotic games").

Romance games can be broken down into the following types:


 * Bishoujo Games In Japan, the term "Bishoujo (beautiful girl) game" covers any game for men that offers pictures or animation of attractive girls, regardless of gameplay style or narrative content (see Bishoujo Genre). In the West, the term is generally used to cover ren'ai games aimed at a male audience.


 * Otome games Otome (maiden) games cover any game aimed at a female audience that is not a Boys Love game; the majority are Visual Novels with romantic elements. Many are made by departments or subsidiaries of bishoujo game companies; for example, Tokimeki Memorial has an otome game spinoff, Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side.


 * Boys' Love Games Games aimed at a female audience that feature male-male romance. Like otome games, most are Visual Novels and many are made by departments or subsidiaries of bishoujo game companies; for example, Togainu no Chi was made by Nitro+ CHiRAL, a subsidiary of Nitro+.

Bishoujo Games

 * Amagami
 * A Profile
 * Bloody Bride: Imadoki no Vampire (A Playstation game, as well as one of the first complex dating simulations to receive a fan translation.)
 * Brave Soul
 * Canvas 2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~
 * Da Capo
 * Da Capo II
 * Fading Hearts
 * Fate/stay night (Technically counts. The romance is more important in some route than others, such as in Saber's route where is it essential to the development of the characters. Like all Type Moon games though, the romance is just one aspect of the game.)
 * Fate Hollow Ataraxia
 * Galaxy Angel gameverse
 * Heartache 101 Sour Into Sweet
 * Infinite Game Works
 * Katawa Shoujo
 * KimiKiss
 * Let's Meow Meow!
 * Love Hina Advance (A Gameboy Advance game that was one of the first romance games to receive a fan translation.)
 * Love Plus
 * Mitsumete Knight
 * Muv-Luv
 * My Virtual Girlfriend (an iOS game with polygon graphics)
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel/Iron Maiden
 * Other Age: Second Encounter (The first non-freeware game created by Zeiva Inc)
 * Poke Girl (worksafe iOS game)
 * Romancing Walker (An RPG with relationship elements, created with RPG Maker 2000, and given a rather flawed English fan translation.)
 * Romantic Encounters At The Dome (Written in English in 1988.)
 * Rumbling Hearts
 * Sakura Taisen
 * Science Girls
 * Sentimental Graffiti
 * Shira Oka: Second Chances
 * Sister Princess
 * Snow Sakura
 * Summer Session (written originally in English, and released as an indie game in 2008)
 * Surviving High School (also originally in English, released on cellphones, iPod Touch / iPhone, and DSi)
 * The Flower Shop (An indie game with simulation gameplay released in 2010 by Tycoon Games for computers. The iPod Touch / iPhone edition is a visual novel.)
 * Thousand Arms
 * To Heart
 * To Heart 2
 * Tokimeki Memorial
 * True Love Story
 * Tsukihime (Arguably a weird example, as the girls aren't really the focus, although they are still very important. The focus is more on the action.)
 * Twilight Cherry (has an adequate English translation, only on Apple iOS)
 * V-Girl (A 3G cellphone "virtual girlfriend" game, released in English.)
 * Virtually Date Ariane (One of many "virtual date" browser games which emphasize moment-by-moment gameplay rather than story. Its content is not safe for work, and the 3D graphics tend to fall into the uncanny valley, especially during close-ups.)
 * Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
 * Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na

Otome Games

 * Always Remember Me
 * Amnesia
 * Angelique series
 * Crimson Empire ~Circumstances To Serve A Noble~ From Quinrose, the same company that made Alice in the Country of Hearts (see below), this one includes RPG elements and is set in the same universe as two other games from the same company.
 * Chrono Days Sim Date
 * Date Warp
 * The Fantasia Trilogy
 * Fatal Hearts
 * Festival Days Sim Date (A Flash game with original characters.)
 * Frozen Essence
 * Girls Club Released in English in 1992 for 3D0 systems.
 * Hakuouki
 * This one has been released on the PSP in North America thanks to Aksys, one of a very few Otome titles that has reached North America.
 * Harukanaru Toki no Naka de series
 * Hatoful Boyfriend
 * Heart no Kuni no Alice (Alice in the country of hearts)
 * La Corda d'Oro series
 * Love And Order (An indie life/dating simulation game about an attorney, released in English during February 2011.)
 * Lovely Juliet (An episodic, stat-driven Flash game, translated from French to English.)
 * Lucky Rabbit Reflex
 * Magical Diary: Horse Hall
 * Matches and Matrimony: A Pride and Prejudice Tale
 * Mc Kenzie And Co (Released in 1995 in English on computers.)
 * Meine Liebe series
 * My Candy Love is a browser game from French company Beemoov inspired by Japanese games, intended for preteen girls, and available in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and German.
 * My Forged Wedding for iOS and Android
 * My Virtual Boyfriend (an iOS game with polygon graphics)
 * Neo Angelique (remake/spinoff of the original Angelique series)
 * Pinky Distortion (a story about a band manager, only available for iPod Touch and iPhone, with a flawed translation)
 * Oracle of Tao. It's an RPG, which is primarily involved more with a girl's romantic plot, than "save the world." (It has that too, though...)
 * Perfect Date 2.0 (an iOS game)
 * Pirates In Love (English version released for iOS in July 2011)
 * (P)lanets
 * Plundered Hearts A rare example of commercially released Interactive Fiction which centers around a female main character, and which includes at least one romantic ending.
 * Poke Boy (worksafe iOS game)
 * Princess Debut
 * RE: Alistair
 * Shall We Date Heian Love (has an adequate English translation, only on Apple iOS)
 * Starry Sky series
 * The Flower Shop: Winter in Fairbrook (A gender-flipped follow-up to the first Flower Shop game.)
 * Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side series
 * Under the Moon
 * V-Boy (A 3G cellphone "virtual boyfriend" game, which was available in English for a few years.)
 * Wonderland Sim Date (Also a Flash game, inspired by Alice in Wonderland.)
 * X-Note
 * Yo Jin Bo

Boys' Love Games

 * Absolute Obedience
 * Animamundi: Dark Alchemist
 * Enzai
 * Gakuen Heaven
 * Mini Gay Boyfriend (an Apple iOS game)
 * Omerta Chinmoku No Okite
 * Sukisho
 * Silver Chaos
 * Togainu no Chi
 * Lamento-BEYONDTHEVOID
 * Sweet Pool