Matchmaker Agency Review - Is A Match Made In Heaven? [Insert Other Cliche Here]

Right, you soppy so-and-so’s: it’s Valentine’s Day – what better way to celebrate it than a gaming-themed, romance-based hooker-upper, in a Matchmaker Agency review. Out now on Steam.

A couple of disclaimers, for clarity and all, today is my wedding anniversary, and I am, without a doubt, the romantic one and a wielder of corn. BUT, dating sims aren’t my thing. I find them quite gross. Still, when offered a code by some lovely people, I couldn’t refuse. 

Let’s escort Sean Strickland out the door for a minute and listen to what Niji Games and MelonCat have to say. The setup is a first-person simulator cliche. Your grandfather has passed, and you’ve inherited their dating business. Christ, could it be any more original? However, there’s some exposition and while the Matchmaker Agency intro isn’t on par with Up, it’s touching and sets the scene.

Matchmaker Agency Review [Steam]

Gramps leaves the business to your folks, but as they already have jobs, they can’t manage it. The building is in limbo until you come of age and restore it to its former glory. As idealistic as matchmaking sounds, the underlying goal is to make money and pay off the building’s landlord, who wants it for himself.

There are three game difficulties in Matchmaker Agency: Story, Classic, and Cupid – the former is casual gameplay, and the latter is the complete package. Phwoar! Pick a name for yourself (if you don’t like the one you already have), then name the business and then you can run free in Amoraville for some profitable hook-ups.

Upon arriving in the dilapidated office, you’re greeted by a talking cat who serves as your tutorial guide but as a historian, revealing the ‘power’ of the business and what it means to the community. To be fair, Matchmaker Agency is quite charming (digging into my romantic side there), and the management aspect also caters for some decent gameplay.

Meet Thy Match

Matchmaking is a simple yet fun experience. Your client base will list who’s available and whom they seek. Matchmaker Agency is very inclusive and caters to all genders (all of them!), sexualities and ideals that don’t exist: 6ft 5ins, earning six-figure salaries and a simp, or sophisticated OF folk looking to settle down. In short, look for keywords and connect the dots.

One client might be looking for someone caring, which matches with quite a few, but perhaps they don’t like going out, which poo-poos on any potential relationships. After pairing a couple, you pick a location that best suits them and add an item. The latter is weird, but consider it a buff where it boosts any potential for romance. If the date’s a success, your reputation improves, and more importantly, you earn a commission.

Like any business, your brand needs exposure, so besides paying off the landlord, you must market your service. This includes billboards, radio ads, TV, and old-school brochures that people will probably chuck in the bin, glue to a junk modelling project, or wipe their bum on. Standing outside your shop is also an option as it’s free and passes the game time.

It’s A Date!

In Matchmaker Agency, you’ll pair the clients on your books, join them on their dates, and shape the outcome via event interactions. You’ve already picked the location and item; now you can select from multiple-choice options to work in the date’s (yours) favour. This was the weakest part of the game as it’s very hit-and-miss, with the same events of missing children, exes joining, and fathers showing up. Events are repetitive.

‘Hero’ clients appear too – inspired by celebs where setting them up rewards you with an achievement. There’s also the ongoing storyline with the landlord and Charles, the cat, plus a shop to boost the money and rep you make from a date, plus a bonus character creation from the menu. As a customisation whore, I love these features, but the options were sketchy at best. Styles would change after saving, and my actual age was at the end of the slider, often defaulting back to 21. So much for being inclusive…

Matchmaker Agency was surprisingly fun to play. While the events during a date are sort of the bread and butter of gameplay and unpredictable, the rest of it moved at a nice pace, there were some meaningful conversations, and though a lot of the characters looked the same in a different colour palette, they had enough depth to them that warranted a relationship with one another. Overall, it was a nice experience [I’m symbolising a heart with hands… now].