Developer: HuniePot
Publisher: HuniePot
Platform: PC – MangaGamer*, Steam

I never would have thought that HuniePop was going to be a game that I’d be playing for over 11 hours until 2 in the morning. At a glance, it looks like your typical mediocre anime dating sim. There are plenty of those floating around, so why bother with HuniePop?

HuniePop‘s premise is simple. You’re a random guy (or girl!) who suddenly meets a “love fairy,” and your attempts to hit on her fall extremely flat. It’s then that this love fairy, Kyu, realizes that she’s found the perfect candidate for her little project. Said project is to give you some proper dating lessons and throw you into the world of picking up chicks and, well, having sex with them. There’s not really any more plot after that other than learning about each woman you come across, but HuniePop is the kind of game that doesn’t really need a story to keep it afloat (though it’s something I’d definitely love to see in a possible future iteration).

There are two parts to HuniePop‘s gameplay: dating sim and puzzle. During the dating sim portions, you can converse with your lady of choice and shower her with gifts, food, and drinks. Performing such actions earns you “hunie” to upgrade your traits, which aid you in the puzzle part of HuniePop. Unlike most dating sims, carrying out any action, aside from switching from one girl to the next, does not make any time pass. This design choice was visible in earlier screenshots of HuniePop, but who knows the reason for its removal. In any case, it doesn’t matter too much, and makes playing the game less stressful (especially for people who aren’t experienced with dating sims).

Taking your honey on a date is where the puzzle portion of HuniePop comes in. Basically, it’s a match 3 style game. You shouldn’t aimlessly match any same colored tile, though. In HuniePop, you must play strategically! Sentiment tokens allow you to use date gifts, which offer very helpful bonuses. Joy tokens increase the amount of moves you have available. As for broken heart tokens, those should obviously be avoided. Each lady also has a trait they like the most and least. Take advantage of that fact by matching most desired trait tokens over other varieties.

If you’ve built up enough affection with someone and have successfully completed a night date with them, then you’ll immediately be brought to your bedroom and start the puzzle for that. Unlike the other dates, however, you must be super quick with matching tokens, otherwise your point bar will drop fast. Also, there’s a lot of moaning from your partner involved. When you’ve become victorious, you’ll be rewarded with a steamy CG scene.

For those looking for more, HuniePop also offers some secret characters for you to discover and seduce. Personally, I think each one is worth unlocking, so definitely keep them in mind. Each character in HuniePop also has hidden hairstyles and outfits. So take every girl out on as many dates as possible and spoil her with tons of gifts in order to unlock these super lovely items.

I don’t know what it is about HuniePop, but I have become incredibly addicted to it and, well… I actually love it. It has hilarious, albeit oftentimes cheesy, dialogue that is backed by wonderful voice talent. Most, if not all, the characters are great. The artwork is gorgeous and the music is pretty catchy. Oh, and of course there’s that lewdness I always adore. Please note that the Steam version is censored by default while MangaGamer’s release is not.

HuniePop definitely isn’t for everyone. It may offend some people. And some folks just plain aren’t into the anime style or adult nature of it. But for those of you that do like this kind of stuff… Give HuniePop a try. You might be just as surprised as I was.

4 out of 5 alpacas

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