Roommates (2014)

Roommates offers us an entertaining visual novel with hints of dating sim set in a student residence. The plot is interesting despite abusing clichés, it is easy to follow and the characters are very striking with several endings available. Unfortunately, being in English without the option of Spanish and contributing little or nothing to the genre takes away many points.

Welcome to the halls of Latin House – the dorm where you’ll be living for your first year of college in Roommates, a college dating sim from Winter Wolves. Whether you’re playing as shy nerdy girl Anne or as confident rockstar Max, it’s time to pull out all of the stops and make the most of your education far away from home. No matter which protagonist you choose to play as, the other will be one of your roommates, as will the chaotic artist Rakesh, the energetic campaigner Sally, the alluring and promiscuous Isabella, and the rule-abiding Dominic. You’ll have the opportunity to choose your classes, seek employment, participate in various special events with your roommates, and maybe even find love as the year progresses.

Roommates is a fun dating sim with interesting characters and a decent amount of strategy thrown in. Be prepared to pour hours into this game.

In general, it is difficult to recommend Roommates. On the one hand, the work is quite engaging as a slice of life filled with humor. On the other hand, the gameplay choices and the use of stereotypes and prejudices can be quite unpleasant. Even though I had a lot of fun with the game and found it a reasonable example of the genre, there are better examples of visual novels and simulators on the Switch.

While the stat-raising portion was sometimes frustrating, and the background music did occasionally become annoying, I found Roommates an enjoyable experience on the whole. I’m looking forward to replaying the game and hopefully reaching the ideal ending with every character. The progressive stories are fun to follow and the characters are oddly compelling. I’m not sure I’d have paid £20 for it, but at the time of writing it’s on sale, so I’d still recommend giving it a go if you’re a fan of the visual novel/simulation genre!