Tender: Creature Comforts
- May 28, 2021
- Jie En Lee
Get on Steam"Tender: Creature Comforts" is a narrative game that explores modern dating in the era of swipe culture, set in a humorous intergalactic scenario. Players swipe through profiles, chat with matches, and experience branching storylines, but beware – the game comes with a content warning for toxic relationships. Written by Gideon Lazarus, with art by Jie En Lee and programming by Kenny Sun.
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Reviews
- Tender: Creature Comforts offers a unique and realistic portrayal of modern dating, capturing the emotional highs and lows of online interactions.
- The writing is well-crafted, with characters that feel genuine and relatable, making players emotionally invested in their stories.
- The art style is cute and engaging, enhancing the overall experience and making the game visually appealing.
- The gameplay can feel repetitive and shallow, with limited character interactions and a lack of depth in the dating experience.
- Many players expressed frustration with the inability to continue dating characters they liked, often leading to unsatisfying endings.
- Some technical aspects, such as clunky interface and minor grammatical errors, detract from the overall polish of the game.
- emotional24 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game elicits a wide range of emotions, blending humor with heartache and providing a relatable experience for players navigating complex dating scenarios. It offers a unique "I see you" energy from the developers, making players feel acknowledged and invested in the characters' journeys, even leading to moments of genuine emotional reflection and tears. While it can be emotionally taxing due to the depth of character interactions, the overall experience is described as both heartwarming and tragically relatable.
“It's hilarious, painful, and heartwarming.”
“It has this really touching 'I see you' energy from the devs, that makes people who have been through these scenarios feel seen and laugh about it.”
“For a game I bought on a whim expecting a few Tinder-esque giggles, this has a surprising amount of character depth and made me feel some very non-fictional emotions about fictional characters.”
- humor14 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for being hilarious, well-written, and heartwarming, with many players finding it both funny and engaging. The cute artwork complements the comedic elements, and the game is noted for its compelling stories that keep players entertained and laughing throughout. Overall, it is highly recommended for those seeking a humorous gaming experience.
“It's hilarious, painful, and heartwarming.”
“Fully recommended, funny, well-written little gem.”
“The artwork is super cute, and I encountered a few funny situations during my time with it.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay is centered around a unique concept where players swipe through various profiles, engaging in natural-feeling conversations with characters. While it lacks a cohesive story, it offers a variety of small scenarios that can lead to unexpected and humorous outcomes, enhancing the overall fun and interaction.
“A really original concept and gameplay; I enjoyed the different appearances and interactions, so I had fun.”
“The texting and response mechanics were surprisingly natural, making me feel like I was actually having conversations with the characters.”
“The gameplay consists of you simply looking through various profiles and swiping left or right.”
“Due to the gameplay, this game doesn't really have a story but has a ton of small different scenarios with each individual you can talk with.”
“Somehow I got gaslighted, ghosted, and pulled into a pyramid scheme within 45 minutes of gameplay.”
- story12 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game lacks a cohesive narrative, instead offering a series of small scenarios centered around dating interactions. While players can engage with multiple characters, the feedback suggests that a more focused approach on fewer, well-developed storylines could enhance emotional investment and storytelling depth. Overall, the experience is more about the gameplay and player choices than a traditional story arc.
“I got emotionally invested in a particular storyline with a match and actually ended up dating her second and ending the game with her even though I had like twelve other dates ready to go, haha.”
“There's no real 'story' outside of you hanging out on this planet for 10 dates after a recent breakup; beyond that, you can do whatever you like and see where your responses take you with your matches and if you'll score a date or not.”
“Due to the gameplay, this game doesn't really have a story but has a ton of small different scenarios with each individual you can talk with.”
“Not going into spoiler territory, but was it really necessary to let her storyline play out like that?”
“If they made fewer characters and fleshed those out, there would actually be a story worth reading.”
- graphics12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's graphics have received mixed feedback; while the art style is described as super cute and enjoyable, players are disappointed by the lack of visual representation during dates, as interactions are limited to a text-based interface.
“Not to mention how nice the art style is.”
“The artwork is super cute though, and I encountered a few funny situations during my time with it.”
“The art style is really cute, to be honest.”
“One of the most disappointing things is that you don't see any visuals for your dates, and you are instead going on each date via a text-based interface.”
- music8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The music aspect of the game features minimal background music, primarily consisting of light, ambient tunes that play during dates, with no continuous background music throughout the gameplay. While the ambient sound is appreciated, some users feel that the overall audio experience could be enhanced with more varied musical elements.
“Art's great, writing's great, ambient music's great and all that jazz but I want to bring attention to a few specifics.”
“There's no background music (BGM), just options for typing, receiving notifications, and some light spacey music only during dates.”
“There's no background music (BGM), just options for typing, receiving notifications, and some light spacey music only during dates.”
“There's no background music (BGM), just options for typing, receiving notifications, and some light spacey music only during dates.”
- character development4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted by engaging and authentic dialogue, complemented by charming character designs. However, some users feel that certain well-crafted characters are underutilized, serving merely as filler in the game rather than being fully integrated into the narrative.
“Beautiful and real feeling dialogue with some cute character designs to go along with it.”
“It seems like there are a few profiles with full character designs like [spoiler]Carmen[/spoiler] that are there only to refill the pool if you run out of people to swipe right on, and I wish they didn't waste such fun designs on something so utilitarian.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some users praising its overall performance while others note areas for improvement. Many players have experienced smooth gameplay, but there are reports of occasional frame drops and performance issues on certain hardware configurations. Overall, the optimization appears to be a work in progress, with potential for enhancement in future updates.
