If you’re after a heartwearming dating sim, MiSide is not that game. It has all the trappings of a dating sim – an adorable anime girl, gifts you can earn to gain her favour and more. Plus, it’s rated a massive 98% on Steam. But there’s something very wrong in Mita’s world, and finding out could cost you your life.
With shades of the disturbing Doki Doki Literature Club, MiSide is a dating sim that gradually immerses you a world of horror. At least, that was my experience with the demo, and it’s left me so unsettled I’m almost afraid to tackle the full game.
Rated Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, MiSide is not a game for the faint of heart. If you thought the Overly Attached Girlfriend meme was creepy, she’s got absolutely nothing on MiSide’s Mita. She wants you to stay a while.. stay forever.
That seems to be her endgame, at least, but what makes MiSide’s horror so effective is the way it drip-feeds you its strangeness. I raised an eyebrow when Mita teleported me into her world but, hey, I’ve seen stranger.
Then, however, little things start happening – rooms shift, apparently because Mita wanted a change, you run into glitches that make The Matrix’s looping cat look mundane. Mita herself is split between expressing her undying love for you and making really, really sure you don’t look in that cupboard. You know, the one with the mysterious banging noises?
There are plenty of entertaining distractions, including a playable brawler where milk cartons duke it out, but you’ll never shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong, that there’s rot behind Mita’s polite, anime girl veneer.
MiSide is out now, and you can download the demo from Steam. Just be sure to check out the content warning, though, before you take the plunge. Mita’s world could get a little messy.
For more anime shenanigans, possibly with less blood, here are the best anime games or if it’s more frights you crave, check out the best horror games.
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