It’s hard to get back into the dating game, especially when you are from Earth and just moved to a new planet! Kenny Sun, Gideon Lazarus, and Jie En Lee’s Tender: Creature Comforts is an online dating sim where you meet other aliens and go on dates. Just like real sims, you see profiles and swipe right for good ones and left for not so good, then chat with them and hopefully go on a date. 

The goal is to go on dates and find the alien of your dreams. You can go on 10 dates and then your visa expires and you need to apply for a new one (I.e game over and start again) You’re profile is ambiguous so you can date men or women or even animals cuz hey they are aliens after all! If you match with someone they will message you or you can message them. You have a choice of three dialogue options, which can be nice, sarcastic, or even a bit mean. You can even say “get lost loser” and unmatched them. 

Tender is very much like a real dating app. You have to wait for people to respond – sometimes they never respond back or respond once then never again – and if you pick the correct responses enough you go on a date! You can even get ghosted! Or do the ghosting if you want. There are even aliens who message you who turn out to be “bots” or even try to sell you crap. 

Tender is especially fun if you have experience with real dating apps because it makes you feel like you are really dating! I actually get mad at the aliens for not responding back and when I go in a great date and the responder says “let’s just be friends!” Ugh! 

The dates are all linear and you make a couple dialogue choices along the way, if a date is going terrible or ridiculous (which they often are!) you usually have the choice to run for the hills, or keep up with it. You can’t get hurt or anything, it’s all for fun so stick around and see what happens! You actually might end up in an Amway presentation!

The only thing that bothered me is that there are times in Tender when the choices all seem to go one way. Like if a date is being a jerk your options are mainly to tell him off. However, if it were real life I would choose to mess with the guy instead. But mostly you get contrasting options. 

It’s not really a “win or lose” type game. The game is over after you on ten dates or you go on a successful date and end up becoming a couple. Of you don’t meet someone, then you redo the visa and start again. Sometimes you might end up the same person that you dated the first time but now you can choose other options and see! You may have to go through several visas before you meet someone, just like real life! 

I really liked Tender: Creature Comforts And feel it’s great at emulating a real dating app. The dates are fun and ridiculous and sometimes will send you running for the hills. It’s fun to chat with  your matches but sometimes it would be nice to have more varying options. I give it 4 outta 5 baby dragons

It’s available now on Steam and on Apple or Android for only $9.99! Grab it before the alien of your dreams runs off with some gelatinous humanoid blob!