December Rewards and its Holiday time! So we've restocked!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - December 19, 2022

GamerDating's December Rewards! It's the holiday season, a time for relaxation, spending time with loved ones, and gift-giving. For many of us, it's also a time to get back into our favorite hobbies, like gaming. This year, we've restocked and added some exciting new titles to our collection. Whether you're looking for the latest releases or classic hits, we have something for every gamer to enjo This month, we are offering even more games

read more

Frozen Flame – a Survival RPG that needs a little thawing out

Posted By: Elena Walker - December 12, 2022

Frozen Flame is a multiplayer survival fantasy RPG, in a world once governed by Dragons and is now in the aftermath of what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. It was released in its Early Access form on the 25th of November by fresh-faced developers Dreamside Interactive. I’ll be honest – my first impression was that the game looked generic. The style was immediately reminiscent of the many aesthetic copycats of cartoony an

read more

November includes Core Keeper, Golf with your Friends and Moving with your subs

Posted By: GamerDating Team - November 01, 2022

GamerDating's November Rewards! It's November! Christmas is coming, games are flowing, and its time to plan your gifts! We aim to keep the subscription cost down, while we can offer indie games or popular titles so that you can game, whilst we find you a match. We offer games every month with our 2 and 4-month subscriptions. Our list of games is available to view, with updates each month. Subscription grants you the ability to read

read more

Fueled up a chaotic couch co-op reviewed

Posted By: Ryan - October 28, 2022

Space-borne chaos or a shiny re-tread of old ground? Couch co-op party games are a small, but still popular, genre. As evidenced by games like Overcooked and Moving Out, there’s a need for one-to-four-player games that rely on communication, a willingness to make mistakes, and an almost sadistic urge to test the strength of friendships. Make no mistake, much like its chaotic forebears, Fueled Up will also put your relationships to the

read more

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Closed Beta Preview

Posted By: Dan and Team - October 19, 2022

This weekend October 14th to 16th our team had the privilege to try Fatshark's closed BETA of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. We gathered together, jumped into Discord in varied group sizes and chugged through the delights of Darktide. You can play with any variation of your custom characters, a refreshing step away from Vermintide.   The Poundshop Paladin, WoodTier, Farske and Zahur gathered together to dip their toes i

read more

Games while you date! Imp of the Sun, Potioncraft, Spirit of the Island now available

Posted By: GamerDating Team - October 06, 2022

GamerDating's October Rewards! It's October, autumn is here, winter is coming and the new games are flowing! It's the time of year where curled up on the sofa, with hot chocolate and gaming all evening is ideal. We aim to keep the subscription cost down, while we can offer indie games or popular titles so that you can game, whilst we find you a match. Our list of games is available to view, with updates each month. We offer 2 or 4-

read more

Pokemon Killer Temtem? Ryan Reviews

Posted By: Ryan - September 26, 2022

TemTem - Pokemon killer? An indie, monster-taming MMO with PvP built into its foundation, and a full PvE story, was always going to be a sure bet for fans of the Pokémon franchise. Temtem goes out of its way to emphasise how much of its gameplay experience is focused around competitive play, so much so that it’s nigh impossible to escape, but, if PvP isn’t your thing, all is not lost! I’m not a huge fan of PvP in m

read more

Smooth Summer Update to make your experience better.

Posted By: GamerDating Team - August 22, 2022

Say hello to our summer fresh update!  In this update, we focused on some quality of life updates, better email interactions, improved performance and bugfixes. Our last big update was earlier this year when we updated messaging with the use of emojis, gif support, improved updates and optimisation. Now we have introduced a new notifications sidebar, improved email notifications and new anti spammer/bot measures to make your experie

read more

South of the Circle Preview

Posted By: Ryan - August 15, 2022

A narrative experience about the power of regret. Emotional, story-driven games like South of the Circle (SotC) are not, for better or worse, everyone’s cup of tea. Originally released in 2021 for Apple Arcade, it was developed by State of Play, published by 11 Bit Studios, and is a compelling story of ambition and love set around the Cold War. I played SotC on the Nintendo Switch to write this review and was pleasantly surprised by w

read more

Overcooked! Our sous-chef reviews a top coop.

Posted By: Will Smith-Parsons - August 01, 2022

Overcooked: All the fun of watching your kitchen burn down, none of the messy clean-up. Overcooked! is a top-down, high-pressure cook-em-up that pits aspiring chefs against the clock and a series of strange circumstances to prepare ingredients and cook dishes to the satisfaction of hungry customers. After each level, players receive a score and a number of stars based on how many orders were completed, how many were missed, and how many wer

read more

Tails of Iron, House Flipper, Foxhole and Overcooked! 2 added for August subscriptions

Posted By: Alex - July 29, 2022

GamerDating's August Rewards! It's August! The perfect time for some game dates, followed by nice walks in the evening. Our goal is to keep subscription at a low cost, offer unusual indie games or popular titles so that you can game, whilst we find you a match. Our list of games is available to view, with updates each month. We offer 2 or 4-month subscriptions which allow you to read and send messages to any user, your messages allow

read more

Gloomhaven, Kitaria Fables, Farm Together, and Tavern Master now available with subscription

Posted By: Alex - July 01, 2022

GamerDating's July Rewards! As we roll into July, the peak of the summer season, and we have new games for our subscriptions. Our mission is to keep subscription at a cost low, offer popular or unusual games so that you can start gaming whilst we find you a match! Our list of games is available to view, with updates each month. We offer 2 or 4-month subscriptions which allow you to read and send messages to any user, your messages all

read more

Wingspan, Cuphead, Children of Morta and Outriders available in our June subscription.

Posted By: Alex - June 02, 2022

GamerDating's June Rewards! It's June, new game time! Available for new subscriptions, we have limited stock, so first come, first served. Our goal is to keep subscription cost low, and always offer new games so you can find a match, start chatting and play a game with your date, preferably one of those new ones you've just got! Our full list of games is now available on our static page which we'll update each month. We offer 2 or 4-

read more

Games available in our packages

Posted By: GamerDating Team - June 01, 2022

Our gaming offers bundled in with our packages Check out our entire list of new games added and available. Our games we offer are separated between two options of subscription to GamerDating, a gold option and a silver option. Remember you can choose two silver games for the gold option instead of just one gold game if you'd prefer. Each month we add new games, restock and seek out the unusual games for those game dates and couples da

read more

10 Reasons to Date a Gamer

Posted By: Alex - April 13, 2022

10 Reasons to Date a Gamer There are many benefits to dating a gamer, be you a gamer yourself, or an open minded non-gamer who is looking to support their partner or perhaps even become a gamer. It is also not uncommon for couples with a gamer in the mix to convert the other and introduce them to what it’s like to date a gamer. We reached out and asked some of our successful couples to give a list of reasons why it is good to date a g

read more

April Rewards - Easter new games for your subscription!

Posted By: Alex - April 05, 2022

GamerDating's April Rewards! Spring Bunnies and Happy Hearts. It is the month of new love, relationships and the blossoming of true love. Love, date, game. Each week we add more new games that are available with your first subscription, and each month we update that selection. We keep our subscription cost low, and at the same time offer you games with your first month so you can play. So get gaming, get matching and find your ideal part

read more

March Rewards - It's spring and we have new games!

Posted By: Alex - March 09, 2022

GamerDating's Spring March Rewards! It's spring, everyones talking about Elden Ring, and it's time to give them a ring!. Sorry, I couldn't resist. The rhymes flowed, and I was on the road to overload .. and... and... and it's time to, just get on with this update so you can go on a Game Date. Each week we add more new games that are available with your first subscription, and each month we update that selection. We keep our subscription

read more

Valentines February Rewards - Latest games for you!

Posted By: Alex - February 16, 2022

  GamerDating's Valentines February Rewards!   Happy Valentines Day, and if you are here, maybe you have yet to reach out and connect with your potential special co-op gamer. Well reach out now! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. This month we've added a selection of new games, but also a selection of ideal co-op games or games to have

read more

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall - Swing and a Miss

Posted By: Alex - February 16, 2022

Swing and a miss, but literally. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall is a VR-exclusive action-adventure game. A game that I was super excited about, because who doesn't enjoy being a Stormcast Eternal! When the combat worked, it felt great, but the game didn't support that! I was super stoked for this, as a fan of all things Warhammer I leapt into the game with excitement, looking forward to playing a skilled Lord-Arcanum of

read more

Pupperazzi, cute game of dog photography

Posted By: Ryan - January 26, 2022

A wholesome, casual video game for lovers of dogs and photography everywhere. This review was written based on my experiences playing the Xbox Game Pass version on an Xbox One X. Pupperazzi has a simple premise: take pictures of adorable dogs. That’s it. There’s no overarching story, there’s barely any lore to speak of, and that’s okay. The world has been a dark place in the past few years and sometimes it’s ni

read more
1 2 ... 25 26
GD
User
Password
Forgot your password?

Password Reset

We've sent you an email, please copy/paste the code we sent you to the password reset token box, then create a new password below it

Email
Help We'll send instructions to this email
Password
Help Enter code from email we sent you
Password
Help Enter your new password
Password
Help Confirm your new password

Creating and Inspiring During a Pandemic: Animal Crossing New Horizons

Posted By: Jennifer - August 20, 2020

Game

Creating and Inspiring During a Pandemic: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This year has been a strange and scary one for everyone across the globe. We now find ourselves thrust into a new world of social distancing, self-isolation, washing hands and wearing masks. It has been a terrifying time no matter who you are, young or old, rich or poor. Yet gamers have had a bit of a respite with multiple games launching and into this apparently bleak landscape entered the much anticipated Animal Crossing New Horizons on the 20th March 2020.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Game Date

Animal Crossing New Horizons boasts multiplayer to engage the creative.

As a casual gamer who is fairly new to gaming, I had never played an Animal Crossing game before. With everything going on in the world, it was about a month before my curiosity got the better of me and I purchased the game. I wasn’t sure what to expect, with most of my experience with this kind of game coming from hours in Stardew Valley, but after listening to glowing reviews from friends I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did.

Upon loading the game, the player is launched into a bright, colourful world seemingly entirely at odds with our own, filled with people to be met and new lands to be explored. The opening cutscene explains the premise of the game in a fun and immersive way by introducing you to Tom Nook, the organizer and facilitator of your island getaway, as he finishes the preparations for your departure with your assistance. First, you are asked to choose your island, with an emphasis on which hemisphere you live in in real life. This is a particularly important choice as the game progresses in real time in line with your Switch’s internal clock, and appears to be the only choice in the game that you cannot change without completely restarting. Once that selection is made, the creating begins with your passport photo.

You are able to express your characters identity using a range of features, hairstyles and colours. While initially the choices may seem both important and limited, you are given opportunities to both expand your options and change your look throughout the course of the game. Interestingly, and rather unusually, while you are prompted to select a gender in the form of stylised male and female character heads, it appears to make absolutely no difference to your character model, or the way that your fellow islanders refer to you in the English language version of the game. While this selection may be more important in languages that have gendered vocabulary, you can change your choice at any time, raising the question of whether the selection is necessary at all. However, for those who wish to play as a specific gender, the option is there.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Character Design

Animal Crossing characters manage to pack all sorts of stylish looks and options.

 

Selections made, the adventure begins. You are transported to your island and given the first opportunity to explore through one simple, but very important question: where will you pitch your tent? Tom Nook puts a lot of emphasis on this task, and it is easy to see why, as you will not have an opportunity to relocate your home until much later in the game. While the choice may seem easy, you’re only pitching a tent, where you choose will have an impact on the available space you have for other buildings, something that isn’t made too clear at the outset of the game. And there are many more buildings to be placed, starting with your fellow adventurers tents!

While initially your community may seem small, there is plenty of opportunity to expand and grow as your island develops. From chameleons who love bugs, to fashion-obsessed goats, and cows with dreams of being a superstar, each character is uniquely designed with an interest that can spark discussion, and the closer your friendship becomes, the more rewards you can earn. Interact with visitors on your island, and you may even convince them to settle down and open a shop!

New Horizons visitors settle down and celebrate a shop opening

New Horizons visitors settle down and celebrate a shop opening.

 

Animal Crossing New Horizons also gives you several opportunities to interact with your real-life friends. Whether you choose to fly to a friend’s island via Dodo Airlines, sleep to investigate in your dreams, or upload your unique fashion creations for others to enjoy, there is something for everyone. There is a catch however. In order to access these features, a Switch Online account is required. At this difficult time, with many people looking to cut unnecessary costs where they can, this seems like an oversight when players using the same Wi-Fi network could be able to visit one another’s islands in the same way that local players could appear to one another in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

At this point you are introduced to your inventory, a perfectly designed thought bubble that will appear over your characters head to hold your items. Each in-game item has a unique cartoon representation in keeping with the thought-bubble aesthetic within the inventory, making it easier to identify. While the inventory space is small initially, it can be expanded as the game progresses. Since you have to hold your tools in your inventory in order to use them, this becomes very important as your pockets fill up fast! More space allows you to branch out and explore your island and the surrounding waters without having to worry about constantly returning home to store precious items.

The Inventory

New Horizons offers an improved inventory, a perfectly designed thought bubble!

 

Unlike many games with a large inventory space and an emphasis on exploring and collecting materials, there is no way to sort the items you pocket. This can make it difficult to locate important items like your tools quickly, which is where your tool wheel comes in. Acquired using Tom Nook’s reward scheme, this feature enables the quick selection of your favourite tools, particularly useful for catching bugs before they can fly away!

The Tool Wheel

The Tool Wheel is a quick selection offering your hard earned tools is a welcome menu.

 

Tom Nook invites you to explore your island and interact with your companions through a series of short quests beginning with teaching you how to gather materials for an island celebration. As you progress in the game, the quests that you receive ramp up in difficulty, but unlike many other games, the player is entirely in control of when they take these quests, and how long it takes to complete them.

It is from Tom Nook that you receive possibly the most important item in the game: the Nook Phone. Here, you can track the progress you make towards Nook rewards, the new fish and insects you catch, your crafting recipes, your custom designs, and even call for help if you need it. It is here that the true genius of the game is most obvious.

The Nook Phone

The Nook Phone, how better to have Tom Nook easily contact you, track you and keep tabs on you!

 

Crafting in the game is simple and easy to do, but doesn’t seem to add anything particularly new or different. Acquiring recipes from your fellow islanders, or washed up on a beach with a message in a bottle, you must select them in your inventory in order to ‘learn’ them, which may seem like an unnecessarily complicated process, and can cause difficulty if your inventory is full when you try to pick the recipe up. Once learned, you can use a DIY station to craft any recipe as long as you have the materials in your inventory. With a wide range of recipes to be discovered, and more added with every update, there is something to suit every style, to allow you to customize your house and your island as you see fit.

Fishing can be a little more complicated, as you have to wait to see the shadow of a fish in the water, and then tempt it to your fishing line without scaring it away. However, once you are able to master this skill, catching and collecting the fish can become addictive, the drive to collect all of them to donate to the museum fueling many hours of gameplay in itself. The emphasis placed on the museum, supporting and growing it by donating as many different fish, insects, fossils, and, later, art pieces as possible is a powerful message. The celebrations held each time the museum is expanded serve to highlight how important the arts are to society, while supporting it becomes easy as the game appeals to the instinct of every completionist to tick those boxes and earn those rewards!

Fishing tracker

Gotta catch em all... Fishing is a strong point, challenging and rewarding.

 

While initially, the game can seem slow and boring, with very few ‘quests’ presented and progression tied to real-time, it forces the player to shift their focus. So often, games encourage the player to focus on bouncing from objective to objective without stopping to appreciate the beauty of the world around them. Conversely, Animal Crossing New Horizons invites you to take a step back, slow down and interact with your environment and your neighbours. You are encouraged to help improve the island’s facilities and support the arts through the island’s museum, building a community and gaining more residents. If you happen to complete a few objectives along the way, you are rewarded with Nook Miles, which can be used to buy a selection of items to further decorate your island. All of the control is passed to the player, to choose what to focus on in what order and when.

Nook Rewards

Nook isn't all about debt, with Nook Miles awarding you as you play.

 

At a time when so many people feel out of control, disconnected from their friends and community, and locked in their homes, Animal Crossing New Horizons invites us to step outside, interact with our friends, and appreciate nature in a safe way. It gives us a space to create and express ourselves in ways many can only dream of. It does require a Switch Online account to get the full benefit of the social aspects of the game, and there are some issues with being unable to organize your inventory.  Placing buildings without knowing how many others you need can accidentally limit your island space, and catching fish and bugs can be tricky and tiresome at times. However, the ability to create and customize your character and environment to suit your style, connect with your community, and support the arts, empowers the player to learn and grow in their own time and in their own way.

Animal Crossing has unleashed a virtual respite, a world to enter, explore and express. We've seen honeymoons, marriage proposals, weddings and endless groups of gamer dates. Just checking Twiter reveals that Animal Crossing is amongst one of MANY games you can use as a dating location:

Mo Mo arranged a date with her boyfriend who was in a long distance relationship and stuck over the border:

With the canadian borders closed, my boyfriend seemed further away than ever. Thank you Animal Crossing for giving us a meuseum date night . pic.twitter.com/vdXh5lpTOh

— Mo Mo O’Brien (@momo_obrien) March 23, 2020

Imogen, who handn't seen her boyfriend since December arranged dates:

the last time i saw my boyfriend was in december, and he’s back in the uk, but we aren’t able to see each other due to lockdown
so, we’re meeting up in animal crossing for now 🎑🤍 https://t.co/80fYDYIkSw

— imogen (@_donlothario) March 26, 2020

Jake Green arranged a date with his GF and went into the museum, a common spot for a quick online game date:

Me and my gf haven't seen eachother for two weeks but tonight we had a little date in the museum and I cried a bit #AnimalCrossing pic.twitter.com/eTvaqNiFZY

— Jake 'two likes though' Green (@Jake_k_green) March 25, 2020

So, whether you love it or not, everyone can appreciate the comfort and happiness the game has brought to so many in a time of great uncertainty and darkness. With over 50 hours logged in the game so far and more expansions on the horizon, I’ll be letting my imagination run wild.

See you there!

GamerDating

© 2022 Gamer Dating LLC

  • Articles
  • Contact Us
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Affiliates
  • The Mission
  • Support
  • FAQ

Begin my quest

User
Help GamerDating.com is a community of adults looking for real relationships. We ask that you use your real name.
Email
Help Your email is safe with us - we won't spam you.
Password
Help Please input a secure password, we recommend Uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols, and at least 8 characters but it's not a requirement — be secure
Password
Help You've got this. Verify your password ;).
Your gender
Your Gender
  • Female
  • Male
  • Agender
  • Androgynous
  • Two-spirit
  • Gender Fluid
  • Gender Nonconforming
  • Gender Questioning
  • Genderqueer
  • Intersex
  • Pangender
  • Trans Man
  • Trans Woman
  • Transmasculine
  • Tranfeminine
  • Bisexual
  • Other
Help Select the gender that you would say you identify with
Their gender
Their Gender
  • Female
  • Male
  • Agender
  • Androgynous
  • Two-spirit
  • Gender Fluid
  • Gender Nonconforming
  • Gender Questioning
  • Genderqueer
  • Intersex
  • Pangender
  • Trans Man
  • Trans Woman
  • Transmasculine
  • Tranfeminine
  • Bisexual
  • Other
Help Who are you looking for?
Help Choose your date of birth. Members must be over 18. Or in some states over 21

By registering, you understand and agree to the terms of service