Sometimes it is hard being a giant monster, often crushing buildings carelessly as they wander through cities, hounded by the military wherever they might go. It must be even harder to get a date. What is the equivalent of Tinder for someone that is 60ft tall? How does a towering beast connect with others?
Kaichu: The Kaiju Dating Sim answers these questions. As a combination of 2D visual novel and multiple-choice dating sim, it seems like it might be easier to find 40 storey love than I imagined.
The player takes control of Gigachu as they emerge in search of a potential romantic interest. The first act is to stomp across the globe and engage with one of six other mega-mutants (ranging from a living magma-mountain to a non-binary sentient space mushroom) and then go on a date in front of a choice of different monuments.
The date consists of a single screen with Gigachu and their paramour standing in front of the monument while the love interest presents Gigachu with a series of questions and the player chooses from one of three reactions. Choose correctly and the date will end in a cuddle/kiss (as well as the destruction of the monument) and the relationship between the two will increase. Complete enough successful dates and the player will get through the high lows of the game’s acts and, hopefully, true love.
Kaichu does a really good job with its story as it flits between people reporting on Gigachu’s travels and presenting the silly questions on each date. It does a good job of paying tribute to creature features of yesteryear while also adhering to the 3-act template of a romantic comedy (cute-meet, conflict/separation, reconciliation). The tone is light and breezy even while demolishing Angkor Watt or the Golden Gate bridge.
The gameplay element is slim with each date asking similar questions and Gigachu’s answers changing depending on who they are pursuing. It is hardly a big fault in the game given what you are trying to accomplish, which is rote memorisation of the romantic partner’s preferences.
I don’t want to be too harsh on Kaichu but there was this constant nagging feeling as I courted my object of affection that the game sends the wrong message as to how dating works.
The objective in each encounter is to match your responses with what the other monster wants to hear. It is not so much about finding a soul mate as melding yourself to be what the other creature wants to see and hear. This was not so much a case of a meeting of mega-hearts and more an exercise in subterfuge to get a behemoth to like me. The colours might be bright and cheery but the dating ended up feeling a little hollow as I was rewarded for, basically, lying.
That might be too heavy for a dating sim where a giant moth and a Godzilla bond over smashing the crap out of the Tokyo tower while fending off a military mech, though. If you switch your brain off it is a bawdy good time.
The package is slight, for sure, but as a simple indie game it should entertain during its short run through.
Conclusion
Kaichu is light and silly but for dating sim enthusiasts it might be missing the depths of the genre. For those looking for short bit of fun it is worth engaging with.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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