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Thirsty Suitors
Developer(s)Outerloop Games
Publisher(s)Annapurna Interactive
Director(s)Chandana Ekanayake
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 developed by Outerloop Games and published by Annapurna Interactive.[2][3]

Gameplay

Thirsty Suitors is an adventure 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.[4] The player can engage in various game modes, including skateboarding, cooking minigames, and character conversations which function like turn-based battles.[5]

Development

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.[6] 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.[2] 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.[2]

After deciding to move forward with the idea behind Thirsty Suitors exclusively, Outerloop eventually secured financing from Annapurna Interactive.[6] Outerloop increased its headcount to fourteen to develop the game.[6] The game was announced in December 2021.[7] Early gameplay footage was shown in June 2022.[8] 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.[9] In June 2023, it was announced that the game would release on November 2, 2023.[10]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[11]

At the 13th New York Game Awards, Thirsty Suitors received a nomination for the "Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game".[16][17] For the upcoming 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Thirsty Suitors for "Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game", "Outstanding Achievement in Story", and the scriptwriting and vocal performance of Jala for "Outstanding Achievement in Character".[18]

References

  1. ^ Saver, Michael; Pung, Julia; Stanton, Devon (January 4, 2024). "Made with Unity: 2023 in review". Unity Technologies. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Farokhmanesh, Megan (June 16, 2022). "'Thirsty Suitors' Won't Fit In. That's the Point". Wired. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  3. ^ Kaser, Rachel (December 10, 2021). "Annapurna and Outerloop reveal Thirsty Suitors, a new adventure game". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Totilo, Stephen (June 29, 2022). "Award-winning Thirsty Suitors is a different kind of game". Axios. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b c Doherty, Kelly (January 26, 2022). "'Thirsty Suitors' and how your favourite indie video games get made". NME. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  7. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 10, 2021). "Annapurna Reveals Thirsty Suitors, an Action RPG About Skating and Dating". IGN. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  8. ^ Clark, Nicole (June 10, 2022). "Thirsty Suitors early gameplay shows off bright visuals and dynamic dance battles". Polygon. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Romano, Sal (June 29, 2023). "Thirsty Suitors launches November 2". Gematsu. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Thirsty Suitors for PC Reviews". Metacritic.
  12. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic.
  13. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic.
  14. ^ "Thirsty Suitors for Nintendo Switch Reviews". Metacritic.
  15. ^ "Thirsty Suitors Reviews". OpenCritic. November 13, 2023.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (January 24, 2024). "Baldur's Gate 3 wins big at New York Game Awards 2024". Games Industry.biz.
  18. ^ "27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Finalists". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved January 11, 2024.

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