Thirsty Suitors turns awkward flirting into stylish RPG battles

What’s more awkward than returning to your hometown? Returning to your hometown and getting hit on by everyone you grew up with. Thirsty Suitors takes that mortifying experience and turns it into a comedic adventure where every embarrassing run-in with a flirtatious townie becomes a stylish video game battle. It’s a bit like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, though without the morally murky power dynamics. I went hands-on with Thirsty Suitors as part of Tribeca Fest and was quickly charmed by its premise. Though it uses over-the-top video game imagery to visualize romance in all of its uncomfortable forms, it’s a sincere and emotionally grounded game that’s full of relatable (and mortifying) social experiences. In Thirsty Suitors, players take on the role of Jala, a woman heading back to her hometown for her sister’s wedding. The full game promises to put Jala through the ringer as she deals with both overbearing parents and a league of exes — not unlike Scott Pilgrim. The 2- minute slice I played gave a sense of what those interactions look like when transformed into eclectic gameplay. The demo begins with Jala on the bus home taking a magazine personality quiz. She’s quickly dumped into a colorful sequence where she skateboards from question to question in a Tony Hawk-like minigame. As she skates her way through the personality profile, her anxieties about returning home manifest in the form of her family and friends towering over her. That’s a small example of the creative lengths Thirsty Suitors goes to in order to visualize abstract emotional concepts. It reminds me a bit of Psychonauts 2 and the way it weaves characters’ worries into ingenious levels and set pieces. Few games have really nailed that idea outside of the Psychonauts series, but Thirsty Suitors seems to get what makes those games work. That was especially apparent when it came to the game’s first “battle.” Jala enters a diner only to come face-to-face with her third-grade boyfriend, Sergio, who shamelessly takes the opportunity to resolve decades of dormant sexual tension. The awkward encounter quickly turns into a turn-based RPG battle that’s downright hysterical. Jala, now equipped with an HP and magic bar, has to fight off Sergio’s flirtatious advances with a series of attacks that require precise button timing. The fight I saw in the demo seemed like a basic introduction, but it contained plenty of clever ideas. For example, I could emasculate Sergio to send him into a rage — a status effect that would either increase his critical hit rate or cause him to miss attacks. I could also make a flirty pose to inflict a “thirst” status effect on him, making him susceptible to special attacks. The RPG hooks are a clever touch, but they don’t take away from what still feels like a very human encounter. I’ve been in awkward hometown conversations like that before and finding a way out of them can really feel like a strategic battle. Thirsty Suitors understands that social interactions can often feel like a video game and takes that idea to its most logical next step. I’m curious to see what other ideas the final game has in store. I get the sense that the RPG battles are only one way it visualizes uncomfortable moments. If the full game can keep building on that foundation with equally creative ideas, I’ll happily fight off as many flirty weirdos as the game throws at me. Thirsty Suitors does not have a release date yet, but it’ll land on PC when it launches.
Thirsty Suitors still looks great The showcase kicked off with another look at the gameplay of Thirsty Suitors, which recently won a best in show award at this year’s Tribeca Festival. The game’s quirky dating sim meets turn-based RPG meets skating game premise looks like a joy to experience. We got a look at some of the player’s funnier attacks, like calling their ex’s mom. Unfortunately, Thirsty Suitors still has no release date.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R continues that game’s legacy as an enhanced remaster that does more than visually update the game and turn servers back. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R adds in new characters, voice acting, and gameplay tweaks that almost make it feel like a different game. In the years since the 2013 game this is based on came out, both JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and the fighting game genre got a lot more popular. Thankfully, my demo showed that this fighting game has only gotten better with age.
Although JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R didn’t get a remake-level visual overhaul, fans should still appreciate many of the graphical tweaks and just how pretty this game is. Even though I was playing a PS4, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R was one of the best-looking games at Summer Game Fest Play Days. The anime already has an extremely distinct art style and features a cast of overly-muscular characters, so it transitions to a fighting game almost perfectly. Pulling off special moves that you’ve seen in the manga and anime or calling out a stand yourself is super satisfying, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R will show them in all of their extremely detailed glory.
Even the voiceovers and character models got updates to match the voice acting and styles fans will remember from the anime. We don’t get many video games based on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, so it’s nice to see this one put in extra care to respect the source material and improve upon the original release. That said, graphics will only get you so far in a fighting game. It’s the gameplay mechanics that really ensure a fighting game lives or dies.
Thankfully, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R is a lot of fun to play.
The 2013 original was a 3D fighting game that plays more like Virtua Fighter than Jump Force. The standard attacks, combo, block, and dodge moves to be expected from fighting games are here, but characters can also summon their stands and basically get a second fighter to attack and zone with. Fights also have some other cute oddities, like having an assist character to strengthen some of your attacks or being able to taunt the other player when they are knocked down to take away some of their special meter gauges. That taunt feature specifically is not only hilarious but feels very JoJo and adds palpable benefits to what’s usually just a visual gag in fighting games.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R does add a couple of new gameplay additions that players will definitely notice, including hit stops and jump dashes that give that game more competitive depth, as well as flash cancels that let players quickly cancel their current combo if they don’t want to change their approach or the moves they are using I didn’t have enough time to kit out and learn combos and how to string them together, but I can clearly recognize just how these features will positively deepen JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R’s meta. With auto combos for new players and revitalized online play too, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R hopefully won’t have a problem attracting new JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure fans to this fighting game. Whether you enjoyed the original release or want to see what a good JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure game looks like, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R should be on your radar. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R launches for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on September 2. If you want to try it before then, a demo is available on PS4 and PS5 until June 21.