Date (Almost) Anything Sim

Some of the jobs out there may not be very glamorous, but they can be made more pleasant with the right attitude. Obviously, a great deal of will is required to see your life through different eyes, but maybe the results are worth the effort. Having a more positive outlook can also help you get closer to other people and maybe find life-long friends along the way.

Date (Almost) Anything Sim is a visual novel game in which you get the chance to work in a coffee shop and meet a variety of people as you prepare drinks for them. It’s not a very long, nor a very complex game, but it can be the perfect way to relax if you happen to have a bit of time on your hands. On the other hand, it can also get boring in a rush if you are expecting a deeper storyline.

The truth is that the game is not exactly serious, so it would be foolish to expect an intricate web of events to explain the plot. Instead, you are just a barista trying to get the right orders for your customers, and some of them may be interested in more than coffee. Dating and romance are an important part of the game, but even this aspect is kept as simple as possible.

One of the first problems you run into is the fact that there’s no tutorial, so the recipes for every order have to be guessed. If you are a coffee lover you may be able to get some recipes right on the first try, but total newcomers won’t have the slightest idea what a latte contains. Granted, practice and trial and error is all that it takes, although that may prove to be too time-consuming for some.

The dating part of the game is not very complex, since all you need to do is have a short dialog and pick the right answers. It’s nice to interact with the game instead of watching it unfold by itself, on the other hand, since that’s the case with most kinetic visual novels. Speaking of which, the artwork is not great either, since only the characters are hand-drawn, while the backgrounds are plain pictures with a few filters on top.

When it’s all said and done, Date (Almost) Anything Sim has a few interesting ideas at its core, but it’s obvious that the developer did not take the project very seriously. Thus, there are too many flaws for the game to be entertaining for more than a few minutes, despite the multiple endings.