“What’s yer name and where d’ya come from?”.
Looking back on Wales Interactive’s Five Dates in 2023, more than two years after its debut, reveals a fascinating glimpse into what life was like during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a game that leans heavily into the idea that the dating world has migrated online, forcing singletons to conduct awkward interview-style conversations with potential suitors. We certainly enjoyed it for what it was back in 2020, but we’d perhaps argue that it’s aged better as a sort of historical artefact; a brief portal into a world that most of us would quite happily forget.
Its sequel, Ten Dates, isn’t afforded the same novelty. While the pandemic marches on across the globe, many countries have taken to treating the virus as endemic, thus returning to some semblance of normality (whatever that looks like these days). With this in mind, Ten Dates is very much a traditional affair; a game that puts its focus squarely on face-to-face interactions within typical social settings. It’s undoubtedly missing the “novelty” of remote interactions that made the first game so unique, but the focus on real-life conversations makes for a more enjoyable experience all round.
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