So, a brief overview of Boyfriend Dungeon!

What is it?

As you character’s cousin Jesse puts it, “Not sex dungeons!”

It’s a dungeon crawler (or a roguelike)/dating sim combo. The premise is that you’re a (likely newly-minted) adult that’s never been on a date in their entire lives. Your cousin lets you stay in his old apartment over the summer and sets you up on a couple of dates. Most of the characters you can form relationships with can turn into weapons and you can go into dungeons (or in the local parlance, you go into a “dunj”) to go fight your fears together. This brings you closer together and you develop a relationship - whether romantic or platonic, that’s your choice (one character only has a platonic route). You can then go on dates (or “dates”) with that character and gain new abilities to use in whatever dunj you’re hitting up that day.

Does it have a plot?

Yes, though not the world’s deepest one. You’re trying to date (or make friends). In the meantime, there seems to be a person kidnapping weapon-persons, damaging them, and leaving them in dungeons.

There are also a bunch of personal stories playing out that you’ll get to be part of (at least a bit) with each of the weapon partners, as well as a bonus story that you get when you progress through the local dungeons enough.

Are there any warnings?

Yes - very important ones and the warning is at the beginning of the game: “This game’s story involves exposure to unwanted advances, stalking, and other forms of emotional manipulation. Play with care and take breaks when needed.” (One of the devs mentions in an interview that you can essentially ignore the texts/ghost the stalker, but there may be bugs which may prevent the story from continuing if you do that. Don’t know if those bugs are still there, though.)

While not a warning, the game lets you decide whether or not you want to get texts from “mom” - mom is loving and supportive but a bit of a worrywart. Sometimes my runs include her, sometimes they don’t.

How long is it?

Fairly short as modern games go - How Long to Beat says 5 hours for the main game and about 11-12 for a completionist run.

How integrated are the Dungeon Crawling and Dating Sim sections?

You can’t really play without interacting with both sides.

On the Roguelike side, you have to have at least one “date” with each of the characters in order to unlock using them in your dungeon runs, and you have to max out at least one character’s relationship to face the final story boss. (Note that this does not mean you have to romance them, just to be at max level.)

For the Dating Sim side, you can build relationships fairly decently without hitting a dungeon, but some characters will not progress until you’ve progressed in dungeon levels, and there are some characters that will only be met by going down dungeon levels.

Voiced dialogue?

Not everything, but a good amount is voice acted.

Permadeath?

Nope! Dialogue early on indicates that your weapon-friend will get you out of the dungeon safely so that paramedics can patch you up.

I hear it’s LGBT+ friendly.

More or less!

• Your character can be male, female, or nonbinary.
• You’re not locked out of dating choices because of your chosen gender, which you can change at any time.
• Of the dateable characters, you meet five who identify as he/him, two as she/her, two as they/them, and one as she/them.
• Everybody’s pretty polyamorous and don’t care if you’re dating seven or eight other people. So you never get locked out of someone’s route just because you’re dating someone else.
• The game seems to assume everybody is bi/poly as Jesse sets you up with two male dates and one female date.
• You’re also welcome to have, as Jesse says, “a summer of completely Totally Platonic Friendly Hangouts”.

(A note for non-aro ace folk: The game assumes that if you’re fine with romance, you’re also fine with sex. There is no graphic sex but it’s very easy to end up in bed with someone.)

Spoilery details here if you want them