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GocdkeysLV 10Staff
14 dating sims and romance games on Switch, from Date Everything to Story of Seasons. Arcade Spirits costs €3.20 (no fees) as an EU eShop code at YUPLAY this morning.
Key facts
- Cheapest right now
- € Standard · Account · Global · Key4Games
- Live offers
- 14 offers · 13 stores
- Our pick
- Standard · eShop Code · Europe · Gameboost — €
Romance on the Switch rarely comes on its own. Sometimes it's the whole game, as in Date Everything, where the furniture in your house wants to go out with you. More often it lives inside something bigger: a farm you tend for a couple of seasons before proposing to someone from town, an RPG where the evening with your party matters as much as the boss, or a visual novel where each route is a different relationship.
To pick the best dating sims for Switch, we took every Switch game in our catalogue with offers in stock this morning, crossed it with the games Steam players tag as dating sims, and kept fourteen where romance is genuinely part of the point. A few that carried the tag didn't make it: some were too racy, one is a horror game, and two had no offers left. Scores come from Steam and refer to the PC version, since the Nintendo eShop doesn't publish player reviews: the share of positive reviews and how many there are. Each price is the base amount, with the coupon if there is one, followed in brackets by what you pay once the store adds its payment fee.
eShop code or someone else's account: what you're paying for
eShop code. You redeem it on your own Nintendo account and the game is yours for good. Nintendo codes are tied to a region, though. Only three games on this list have codes in stock today, Arcade Spirits, Shining Resonance Refrain and Aokana, and all three are European codes, meant for a Nintendo account registered in a European country. If yours is set to another country, they won't redeem.
Account. For the other eleven, what Key4Games and Difmark sell is the login for a Nintendo account that somebody else owns and that already has the game. You add it to your console and play, but the game is never in your name, and if the seller takes the account back, the game goes with it. We quote that price because it's the only digital option in our shops this morning, and we always say it's an account. If you'd rather own your copy, buy it on the eShop itself (we don't track its prices) or check the game's page for a physical edition, which some of these have. The setup is explained in how to activate a Nintendo account with a game.
Dating sims in the strict sense: Date Everything, Arcade Spirits and Thirsty Suitors
Date Everything is the game that brought the genre back into the conversation. You work from home, and a pair of special glasses turns the objects around your house into characters you can chat with, befriend, fall out with or date. There are more than a hundred of them. It's by Sassy Chap Games and published by Team17, and 93% of 6,766 Steam reviews are positive. There are no codes, only a Key4Games account at €16.41 (€17.40 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Arcade Spirits is a visual novel set in an alternate present where the video game crash never happened and arcades are still everywhere. You take a job in one and get to know the staff and the regulars, several of whom you can romance. From Fiction Factory Games, published by PQube; 94% of 440 reviews are positive. It's also the cheapest way into the genre with a game that stays yours: a European eShop code at YUPLAY for €3.20 (no fees). Key4Games sells an account at €2.16 (€2.51 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15, but for 69 cents we'd take the code.
Thirsty Suitors stretches the definition a little. Jala goes back to her hometown and has to face the exes she left behind, in turn-based fights, with skateboarding and cooking with her family in between, and plenty of family drama. Outerloop Games made it and Annapurna Interactive published it. 97% of 235 reviews are positive, a great score over fewer reviews than most games here. No codes in stock; Key4Games has an account at €14.44 (€15.34 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Farming and life sims where you can get married
In these, romance is slow: you talk to people, hand over gifts, turn up at festivals, and after a season or two you can propose. We go deeper into them in our list of farming games on Switch, so for most of them here's the short version.
Roots of Pacha takes farming back to the Stone Age. You help a clan settle down, discover crops and tame animals, and you can court and marry someone from the clan. It's by Soda Den and can be played in co-op. 93% of 3,810 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games for €12.27 (€13.08 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
My Time at Sandrock, from Pathea Games, makes you the new builder in a desert town: you gather, craft, take on commissions and get to know the locals until one of them becomes more than a neighbour. It's the most reviewed game here, 88% positive out of 24,271. Today isn't the day to buy it, though. The cheapest offer is a Difmark account at €15.95 (€16.67 with fees) with coupon Gocdkeys, above the €12.99 it usually costs (that figure is without fees).
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is Marvelous's remake of the DS game: you grow your crops and sell them every week at the town bazaar, with the usual line-up of marriage candidates. 93% of 3,213 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €24.26 (€25.61 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, also from Marvelous, mixes the farm with action combat in Azuma, a land inspired by old Japan, and you can marry here too. 87% of 3,002 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €24.97 (€26.35 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Potion Permit sends you as a chemist to Moonbury, a town that doesn't trust modern medicine, and you win it over by brewing remedies for whoever falls ill, with a dog for company. You can also date some of the villagers. MassHive Media developed it and PQube published it. Its score is lower than the rest of this group, 78% of 4,423, and so is its price: an account at Key4Games for €11.55 (€12.32 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Which RPGs let you romance your companions?
Shining Resonance Refrain is a SEGA JRPG with real-time combat whose hero carries the soul of a dragon. Between fights you spend time with your companions, and you can take some of them on dates. It has the weakest score on the list, 72% of 929, but it costs very little, and it's one of the three with a code: a European eShop code at Gamivo for €3.61 (€4.49 with fees) with coupon GCDKGamivo. Key4Games has an account at €2.30 (€2.65 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15. Every offer is on the page to buy Shining Resonance Refrain key.
Blue Reflection: Second Light is a JRPG from Gust, the Koei Tecmo studio behind the Atelier games, about a group of girls who wake up with no memory in a school surrounded by water. Your bond with each of them grows through one-on-one dates. 82% of 950 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €24.20 (€25.55 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Arcadia Fallen, from the small Galdra Studios, is a fantasy story told mostly through dialogue, with alchemy, choices that change what happens and several characters you can romance. 94% of 514 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €14.44 (€15.34 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, by Northway Games and published by Finji, covers ten years of growing up on a colony on an alien planet, from 10 to 20. You decide how to spend your time as the years go by, challenges are settled with cards, and the friendships you build, romances included, shape how it ends. 96% of 4,496 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €14.44 (€15.34 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
Romance visual novels: Aokana and 7'scarlet
Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue is a visual novel from sprite about Flying Circus, a sport played in the air with anti-gravity shoes, and each route follows the protagonist's relationship with one of the girls. 97% of 5,117 reviews are positive, the same share as Thirsty Suitors over far more reviews. It's the third game with a code: a European eShop code at Gameboost for €18.32 (€19.15 with fees) with GCDK13. Key4Games has an account at €12.81 (€13.64 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15.
7'scarlet is an otome game, a romance visual novel with a female lead, from Otomate, Idea Factory's label: a young woman travels to a remote town to look for her missing brother and finds a mystery there, along with several young men. 74% of 801 reviews are positive. Account at Key4Games, €25.28 (€26.67 with fees) with GOCDKEYS15, the most expensive game on this list.
If you'd like more stories to read, romantic or not, we've put together the best visual novels on Switch.
All fourteen side by side
| Game | Type | Steam reviews (PC) | Cheapest this morning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date Everything | Dating sim | 93% (6,766) | Account: €16.41 with GOCDKEYS15 (€17.40 with fees), Key4Games |
| Arcade Spirits | Romance visual novel | 94% (440) | Account: €2.16 with GOCDKEYS15 (€2.51 with fees), Key4Games · EU eShop code: €3.20 (no fees), YUPLAY |
| Thirsty Suitors | Turn-based RPG about exes | 97% (235) | Account: €14.44 with GOCDKEYS15 (€15.34 with fees), Key4Games |
| My Time at Sandrock | Life sim | 88% (24,271) | Account: €15.95 with Gocdkeys (€16.67 with fees), Difmark |
| Roots of Pacha | Farming sim | 93% (3,810) | Account: €12.27 with GOCDKEYS15 (€13.08 with fees), Key4Games |
| Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar | Farming sim | 93% (3,213) | Account: €24.26 with GOCDKEYS15 (€25.61 with fees), Key4Games |
| Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma | Farming and action RPG | 87% (3,002) | Account: €24.97 with GOCDKEYS15 (€26.35 with fees), Key4Games |
| Potion Permit | Life sim | 78% (4,423) | Account: €11.55 with GOCDKEYS15 (€12.32 with fees), Key4Games |
| I Was a Teenage Exocolonist | Narrative RPG with cards | 96% (4,496) | Account: €14.44 with GOCDKEYS15 (€15.34 with fees), Key4Games |
| Arcadia Fallen | Fantasy visual novel | 94% (514) | Account: €14.44 with GOCDKEYS15 (€15.34 with fees), Key4Games |
| Shining Resonance Refrain | JRPG | 72% (929) | Account: €2.30 with GOCDKEYS15 (€2.65 with fees), Key4Games · EU eShop code: €3.61 with GCDKGamivo (€4.49 with fees), Gamivo |
| Blue Reflection: Second Light | JRPG | 82% (950) | Account: €24.20 with GOCDKEYS15 (€25.55 with fees), Key4Games |
| Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue | Romance visual novel | 97% (5,117) | Account: €12.81 with GOCDKEYS15 (€13.64 with fees), Key4Games · EU eShop code: €18.32 with GCDK13 (€19.15 with fees), Gameboost |
| 7'scarlet | Otome visual novel | 74% (801) | Account: €25.28 with GOCDKEYS15 (€26.67 with fees), Key4Games |
If you only want one: Date Everything for a dating sim and nothing else, Roots of Pacha or Story of Seasons if you'd rather earn it over a few seasons, and Arcade Spirits if you want to try the genre for a little over three euros with a code that's yours.
Prices checked on the morning of 4 November.
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