Ok, so he isn’t quite my husband yet, that’s something that we’re working on for 2025, but the statement still stands. If I never played this game I would have never met my husband-to-be. Despite our origins being quite “cringe” by modern standards, it almost seems fitting this is how we would meet each other in a rather comical way.

So first what is a “waifu” game for people that actually go outside and aren’t glued to their phone screens? Typically these games contain a wide variety of female characters, often in fan service like outfits and poses, targeting mostly straight men with their provocative design. Over the years games exploited the female form to best appeal to their core audiences since sex sells and it sells especially well when you can collect them. With the boom of gacha game, mobile game developers take advantage of the attractive designs to rake in 10’s of thousands, to even millions, of dollars a year. Despite the problematic aspects of the character designs, there are plenty of standouts with fun gameplay and world building. Admittedly, I initially chose to play the game for the illustrations, but I stuck around because the story was very deep and has made me tear up every so often with the tragic backstory they revealed. Also it was released on my birthday, I promise this will be relevant.

Photography by Amanda Teoh

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