Tell me more about the dungeons!

There are three:

• Verona Mall, where you’ll fight off enemies that resemble flip phones (with fangs), CRT TVs, VHS tapes, rotary phones, and record players. Most of these enemies have more dangerous versions as you go farther down.
• La Rosa, where your enemies are cocktail glasses, lips, lights, and stereos. Again, you’ll see more dangerous enemies as you go downwards.
• Verona College, the bonus dungeon where your enemies are desks, pens, staplers, and books (and drone minions in the final level). Same as above, most/all enemies have more powerful versions.

How many people can you go on dates with?

Twelve, though not more than one at a time. Two you can’t develop a relationship with (Eric and Olivia), one completely platonic (Pocket the cat), and the rest are dateable. Dr. Holmes you can only develop a relationship with after you’ve at least partially survived their floor and their relationship is based upon how long you (cumulatively) last.

Tell me more about the characters!

Dateable/Friendable:

• Isaac: The first weapon-person you meet and your tutorial partner. A sophisticated young man who wants to make the world a better place. His main storyline deals with his family, in particular his unreasonable father. You meet him near the beginning of the game on your first dunj run.
• Sunder: The second weapon-person you meet during your tutorial run with Isaac (unless your first monster for some reason kills you). He’s the co-owner of the La Rosa night club with Mandy. He’s definitely the sexy bad boy of the bunch and most of his storyline is basically learning about how he became sexy bad boy.
• Valeria: An artist and free spirit. A lot of her storyline is learning more about her past and getting involved in her future. She shows up on floor 3 of the Verona Mall dungeon.
• Seven: A K-Pop idol and part of a group called Blade Generation. Close friends with his bandmate Sungwoo. His storyline has him dealing with his personal issues, his band’s fandom, and a possible change in direction in his career. He shows up on floor 9 of the Verona Mall dungeon.
• Sawyer: A hapless college student who’s a history major. They panic a lot and have no idea on how to cook. A lot of their storyline has to do with either cooking or their college classes. They show up after you defeat the final boss of Verona Mall.
• Rowan: A mystic living at the edge of town that collects herbs. A lot of their story is them going from distrusting you to becoming your close friend/partner. They appear shortly after the BBQ scene.
• Jonah: A sometimes-employed surfer with a lack of self-confidence. A lot of his storyline has to do with him trying to keep a job and finding a job/career that he likes. Jesse’s ex, who he introduces to you during the BBQ.
• Pocket: A cat who is owned by a man named Tank. He’s capricious and often fights a stray white cat for reasons you don’t find out about until later. He shows up on La Rosa floor 2.
• Leah: A former competitive figure skater who now only teaches due to an injury. Her storyline has to do with her figuring out what she really wants to do for a living and what she enjoys. Shows up in the fourth semester (floor) of the Verona College dunj.
• Dr Holmes: A mad scientist and dungeon boss. Also Samantha’s boss/mentor. Shows up on the 9th floor of the Verona College dunj.

Other characters:

• Jesse: Your cousin, who’s several years older than you. He sets you up on several dates, warns you about a certain character (not Eric), and generally supports you.
• Eric: You go on a date and he becomes inappropriate. His actions drive the plot of the game.
• Olivia: A barista, cat lover, college student, and fan of Blade Generation. You go on a date that can end up with a tentative friendship, but she also features in Seven’s and Sawyer’s storylines.
• Mom: Optional, but she often texts you to ask about story-related things. Kind, protective, and a bit worried about you.
• Crowley: Rowan’s raven. He’s almost never apart from Rowan and is part of Rowan’s transformation.
• Tank: A friend of Jonah’s and the owner of Pocket. Unlike Pocket, he has opposable thumbs and therefore does all the texting in Pocket’s storyline.
• Jake: A former lover of Valeria’s along with his sister Jessica. They split up due to some differences. Jake appears in several of Valeria’s date storylines.
• Mandy: The co-owner of La Rosa with Sunder. Has a complicated relationship with him. Warns your character/avatar away from a relationship with Sunder.
• Samantha: Jesse’s fiance. She’s concerned about her boss (Dr. Holmes) and has a secret that you find out in a late-game cutscene.
• Vincent: Isaac’s father, who has some issues with how Isaac is handling his life and his firm.
• Kristine: Isaac’s secretary, who seems to like Vincent more than Isaac.
• Sungwoo: Seven’s bandmate who shows up late in Seven’s storyline. Olivia stans him in particular.

Other useful stuff

• Upper levels of dungeons have a fair amount of healing items. The red boxes definitely have healing items, but other containers might have them too.
• Your outfit is cosmetic except for your hat item, which will give you a varying effect. You have to craft most of your hats.
• You can change your magazine out by crafting new ones.
• If you see two of the characters on the street and you need to build relationship with one/both of them, go up to the characters. You’ll trigger a cutscene and get some relationship points based on your responses.
• In the Verona Mall dungeon, if you see a boarded up area with a blue tear-like effect, that’s a hidden area. Sometimes you just get treasure, sometimes you get a challenge room and treasure. There’s a similar room in the La Rosa, but I don’t encounter it very often so I can’t remember what it looks like.
• There seem to be five kinds of rooms in dungeons: A vacant room with no monsters, a room with monsters waiting, a challenge room, an ambush room (my term; don’t know the official one) where monsters suddenly pop in, and hangouts where you can talk with your partner and maybe get some healing.
• There’s a hidden shop that you can get to by putting $5 into the vending machine (if you’re in Verona Mall) or the ATM (La Rosa). You can pick up gift items, clothing, and some crafting supplies in this shop.
• Don’t be afraid to (re-)start from Verona Mall level 1 if you’ve got a new weapon-friend to get used to their capabilities. The earlier floors are more forgiving.
• Trying to get the “proud asexual” dialogue from Dungeon Boyfriend (the cutscene when you defeat the La Rosa boss for the first time)? Most of the characters have a very obvious “hey, let’s just be friends” dialogue/action choices except for Isaac. To keep Isaac on a platonic route, you need to make sure when he invites you to the Slicr thing to ask if there will be monsters (you’ll get a dialogue option to say “as friends”) and also either do not invite him as your BBQ guest or do not kiss him during that scene.
• There is no reason to visit Eric’s shop except for plot. Everything his shop contains can be picked up in a dungeon for free. Same for the other shops that sell mostly crafting ingredients.
• I’ve found it easiest to beat the final storyline boss (not Dr. Holmes, who is the bonus boss) with Pocket or Sawyer. Sawyer seems to be one of the better weapons for fighting Dr. Holmes as well.

Worldbuilding notes

• Some people are either only attracted to weapon-people or curious about weapon-people (based on Jonah’s storyline).
• Seven’s agent has him keep the fact that he can turn into a weapon on the down-low. (He’s the band’s Maknae or youngest member, and his agent wants him to keep his young, innocent image)
• Isaac says that weapon-forms heal fairly fast. Sawyer states they have a blacksmith as well as a doctor.
• There are two movies with plots that are discussed during the game - one during Seven’s storyline and one an optional encounter. One has a weapon-person mafia story, the other is a horror story with the typical foolish teens entering a particularly nasty dunj, and Seven comments something along the lines of “they should have brought a weapon-person”. You can also watch a TV show with Seven featuring a weapon-person character.
• There’s a tradition on your birthday to have a weapon partner cut the cake.(All weapons)
• There are apparently enough weapon-people around that there is popular media about them and you know what they are, but apparently dungeon-delving is particular to only a few places as Jesse has to explain the concept to you.
• Animals can turn into weapons, though it may be a rare ability since Tank didn’t know Pocket had a weapon form.
• Weapons are mostly what you’d expect, though there’s one character whose weapon form is harmless (and they’re very embarrassed about the fact).
• Even though the game is set in California, Sawyer mentions a couple of different constellations: The Stag, the Queen’s Throne, the Rose, the Open Hand.