PaigeFTW: The Game That Texts You
My sister recently has been absorbed in Mystic Messenger, a dating sim that eschews the traditionalism of titles like Steins;Gate or Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom by focusing strictly on what defines modern love: texting.
Yes, it’s the next stage (sorta) of the dating sim/visual novel genre: the game that texts and calls you at set intervals to progress the story. The premise is that you, young maiden, accidentally join a “secret party-planning association” staffed entirely by sexy men. Somehow there’s a dark story, potential for death and, of course, lots of romance.
It’s your standard dating sim fodder, if we’re being honest. The genre has its tropes and never leaves them behind. The path to love is always riddled with inexplicably graphic violence. That’s an article for another day.
What I find most interesting about this game is that it is one of the few that really embraces its mobile format. Most apps focus on, well, on-the-go gaming. Just check in, play a quick round of Puzzles & Dragons, and buzz out. It’s mostly just convenience that a computer or console can’t give, but also nothing a handheld like the Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Vita couldn’t do.
But Mystic Messenger, operating under the assumption that its players always have their phone on them, regularly updates throughout the day with missable group chats, phone calls and private texts. If you can’t pick up, the game will remember, and there will be consequences. (Though, since it is a game, you can also buy back time with real money, of course.)
Can it be inconvenient? Certainly. But the verisimilitude of having to rush through a rapidly scrolling group chat to find your spot to interject has to be commended.
I’m not saying this game is great masterpiece that you need to rush out and download, of course, because it’s unbearably cheesy most of the time, even for someone who likes dating sims. Yet it serves as a quiet reminder that pushing technological boundaries means more than just dazzlingly rendered graphics.
