The Crush House Review: A Scintillating Social Sim Fever Dream

is a delighfully unique title that's part social sim, part mystery, and part hilarious vaporwave fever dream. The "" comes from developer Nerial Games, which previously worked on, and indie publisher Devolver, known for work on games like and . is wholly entertaining and genuinely unique in the way it blends genres, sense of humor, and fun aesthetics, with only a few issues of bugs and repetition getting in the way.

Players assume the role of Jae Jiminez Jung, a producer of the titular 1999 reality show that follows the lives of four cohabitating contestants for a week. There are 12 characters available for casting every season, with almost 500 different combinations that will result in varied drama via the game's emergent narrative system. Each day, a growing number of distinct audiences must be satisfied — if not, the show is canceled. However, as time goes on and Jae begins helping contestants, it becomes clear there's more to the show and its locale than first meets the eye.

The game has 35 different audiences that may be tuning in each day, and Jae will be tasked with fully satisfying a certain number of them. Some are very specific and straightforward — for example, Pharologists, who just need shots of lighthouses, and the self-explanatory Foot Fetishists, are very easy to please.Others require more experimentation, like Divorced Dads, whose taste ranges from things like grilling to babes in bikinis, and Schadenfreuders, who many find different things cringey on any given day.

As players film, icons for each group will appear indicating enjoyment at certain things, and pleasing three or more at the same time will result in viewership being On Fire, speeding up overall fulfillment. Even after being completely fulfilled for the day, if fans continue to see content they enjoy, they can help pump up the numbers of others, raising extra hype and mobilizing communities to tune in. Strategizing how to best line up a shot is one of the biggest mechanics in the game