Unconventional Dating Sim of the Day

Unconventional Dating Sim of the Day: A dating simulation game called Katawa Shoujo has been released after five years of development.

Katawa Shoujo is a “visual novel” starring the player as a boy who has enrolled in a high school for disabled children after being hospitalized for a congenital heart defect. As in the average dating sim, the object is to romance the girls at the school. The twist here is that each of these girls has a different disability.

Aside from its unique cast of characters, Katawa Shoujo is also notable for how it was created.

The idea for the game came from 4chan’s anime board back in 2007, and it was turned into a reality by a team of 21 developers under the banner of Four Leaf Studios. It’s entirely free, and the developers aren’t taking donations for the project.

Thus far, the game has been quite controversial. Some have criticized it for fetishizing disabilities, while others have praised it for deviating from accepted norms. And of course, there’s the position that dating sims as a genre are just plain icky.

What do you think?

[escapist]