Thirsty Suitors

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Thirsty Suitors
Developer(s)Outerloop Games
Publisher(s)Annapurna Interactive
Director(s)Chandana Ekanayake
Producer(s)Sunny Dube
Chandana Ekanayake
Anne-Marie Weber
Designer(s)Sunny Dube
Anna Krasner
Justin LaLone
Sadie Lee
Aung Zaw Do
Programmer(s)Ben Glous
Anna Krasner
Justin LaLone
Artist(s)Chandana Ekanayake
Lisa Fleck
Aleasha Ford
Darran Hurlbut
Emma Koch
Writer(s)Meg Jayanth
Chandana Ekanayake
Nadie Sharmmas
Leigh Alexander
Sunny Dube
Sadie Lee
Phillip Russell
Cassandra Khaw
Composer(s)Ramsey Kharroubi
EngineUnity[1]
Platform(s)
ReleaseNovember 2, 2023
Genre(s)Adventure, dating sim, role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Thirsty Suitors is an adventure video game about a young woman, Jala, who returns to her hometown for her sister's wedding and must navigate her relationships with her family and former paramours.[2] It has been developed by Outerloop Games and published by Annapurna Interactive.[3][4] The game was released on November 2, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.[5]

Thirsty Suitors received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot[edit]

The game starts off with a south Asian-American woman, Jala Jayaratne (voiced by Farah Merani), who is on the bus reading through an online dating quiz called "Thirstsona," that takes us into a surreal daydream narrated by a narrator being close to her sister Aruni. During this quiz, Jala needs to pick answers from multiple-choice questions about her life. Once Jala arrived in her hometown called Timber Hills, she enters a restaurant where her third grade boyfriend, Sergio, starts a conversation with her that turns into a turn-battled battle. After beating him, he drives her back to her home where her family lives. Sergio later on calls a meeting by Jala's exes who got word about her return.

Gameplay[edit]

The player can engage in various game modes, including skateboarding, cooking minigames, and character conversations which function like turn-based battles.[6] To build Jala's personality, the game's daydream sequence at the start lets players build her "Thirstsona" by making narrative choices based on what Jala is around her Thirstsona by three classes; Heartbreaker, Star, or Bohemian.

For the turn-based battles, players need to choose from taunts, attacks, skills and items that ties back to the game's story, either flirt your opponent to weaken them or enrage them by their thirsty mood. The more you fight from Jala's run-ins with her exes, the more backstory from her on the choices you make Jala from her Thirstsona. When you level up, your rank around your Thirstsona will choose around the three classes by what status you are in.[7]

Development[edit]

The game was developed by Seattle-based Outerloop Games, who previously released Falcon Age in 2019. The studio began their development process by selecting three ideas for games to present to others in the video games industry in a pitch deck; the idea which later became Thirsty Suitors received the most positive attention.[8] Co-founder and creative director of Outerloop, Chandana Ekanayake, noted that most of the individuals to whom Outerloop pitched the game were middle-aged white men, which caused Ekanayake to change his pitching strategy.[3] This change involved focusing on the dearth of South Asian narratives in games, and highlighting successful media with such stories, such as the film Bend it Like Beckham and the television show Never Have I Ever.[3]

After deciding to move forward with the idea behind Thirsty Suitors exclusively, Outerloop eventually secured financing from Annapurna Interactive.[8] Outerloop increased its headcount to fourteen to develop the game.[8] The game was announced in December 2021.[9] Early gameplay footage was shown in June 2022.[10] On July 28, 2022, the game was announced to be scheduled for release on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a demo releasing on Steam the same day.[11] In June 2023, it was announced that the game would release on November 2, 2023.[5]

Reception[edit]

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[12] 79% of critics recommend the game on OpenCritic.[16]

Sanya Ahmed of IGN praised its story that while it can feel like it rushed at times, its pressure of a judgmental family and reconciling with exes through exaggerated battles makes the game very worthwhile.[20] Eurogamer's Kaan Serin enjoyed the game as "a confident swing that takes commonplace romantic mishaps and turns them into epic, queer spectacles."[18]

A review from WIRED praised the game being wildly creative as a hilarious and refreshing game made for the South Asian community, brimming with its cultural heritage and features good food loving families but does not paper over the bad from Jala's LGBTQ+ identity.[24] The Escapist reviews the game as stylish and coherent by its artwork and with the music, animation and effects all supporting this though.[25]

Nicole Carpenter from Polygon wrote about the game being a maximalist in both its visuals and mechanics with no shortage of sincerity tied up in there.[26] Kyle LeClair from Hardcore Gamer reviews the game for its "well-crafted RPG mechanics and satisfying combat, but its gleefully wild and colorful style and superb dialogue and characters are truly its biggest strength."[27]

Siobhán Casey's Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game as a breezy, janky RPG with emotional maturity that is "downright exciting to play something that, in place of overblown fantasy worldbuilding, is more interested in reflecting cultures, demographics, and relatable struggles that rarely get a spotlight in mainstream games."[28] CGMagazine gives it a 7.5 out of 10 for a fun experience on a good coming-of-age story and some fantastic music and mini-games.[29]

Accolades[edit]

Awards and nominations
Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2024 13th New York Game Awards Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game Nominated [30][31]
27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game Nominated [32][33]
Outstanding Achievement in Story Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Character (Jala) Nominated
Game Developers Choice Awards 2024 Social Impact Award Honorable mention [34]
20th British Academy Games Awards Game Beyond Entertainment Nominated [35][36]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Saver, Michael; Pung, Julia; Stanton, Devon (January 4, 2024). "Made with Unity: 2023 in review". Unity Technologies. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  2. ^ Totilo, Stephen (June 29, 2022). "Award-winning Thirsty Suitors is a different kind of game". Axios. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Farokhmanesh, Megan (June 16, 2022). "'Thirsty Suitors' Won't Fit In. That's the Point". Wired. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Kaser, Rachel (December 10, 2021). "Annapurna and Outerloop reveal Thirsty Suitors, a new adventure game". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Romano, Sal (June 29, 2023). "Thirsty Suitors launches November 2". Gematsu. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  6. ^ Blake, Vikki (July 1, 2023). ""Stylish, story-driven" adventure Thirsty Suitors gets a release date". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  7. ^ https://www.polygon.com/23158624/thirsty-suitors-preview-annapurna
  8. ^ a b c Doherty, Kelly (January 26, 2022). "'Thirsty Suitors' and how your favourite indie video games get made". NME. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  9. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 10, 2021). "Annapurna Reveals Thirsty Suitors, an Action RPG About Skating and Dating". IGN. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  10. ^ Clark, Nicole (June 10, 2022). "Thirsty Suitors early gameplay shows off bright visuals and dynamic dance battles". Polygon. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  11. ^ Romano, Sal (July 28, 2022). "Thirsty Suitors confirmed for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC; demo now available for PC". Gematsu. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Thirsty Suitors for PC Reviews". Metacritic.
  13. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic.
  14. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic.
  15. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for Nintendo Switch Reviews". Metacritic.
  16. ^ a b "Thirsty Suitors Reviews". OpenCritic. November 13, 2023.
  17. ^ https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/thirsty-suitors-review-steam-deck-pc/
  18. ^ a b https://www.eurogamer.net/thirsty-suitors-review
  19. ^ https://www.gamesradar.com/thirsty-suitors-review/
  20. ^ a b https://www.ign.com/articles/thirsty-suitors-review
  21. ^ https://www.pcgamer.com/thirsty-suitors-review/
  22. ^ https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/thirsty-suitors#:~:text=It%27s%20a%20deep%20experience%20packaged,a%20joy%20to%20play%20through.
  23. ^ https://www.shacknews.com/article/137545/thirsty-suitors-review-score
  24. ^ https://www.wired.com/review/thirsty-suitors-review/
  25. ^ https://www.escapistmagazine.com/thirsty-suitors-review/
  26. ^ https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23941250/thirsty-suitors-annapurna-impressions
  27. ^ https://hardcoregamer.com/reviews/review-thirsty-suitors/477195/
  28. ^ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/thirsty-suitors-review
  29. ^ https://www.cgmagonline.com/review/game/thirsty-suitors-pc-review/
  30. ^ Kerr, Chris (January 4, 2024). "Alan Wake II and Baldur's Gate 3 lead 2024 New York Game Awards nominees". Game Developer. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  31. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (January 24, 2024). "Baldur's Gate 3 wins big at New York Game Awards 2024". Games Industry.biz.
  32. ^ "27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Finalists". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  33. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Thirsty Suitors". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  34. ^ Bankhurst, Adam (March 20, 2024). "Game Developers Choice Awards 2024 Winners: The Full List". IGN. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  35. ^ "Bafta Games Awards 2024: Baldur's Gate 3 and Spider-Man lead nods". BBC News. March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  36. ^ "20th BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. March 7, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.

External links[edit]

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