Great moments in PC gaming are bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories.
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
(Image credit: Game Grumps)
Year: 2017
Developer: Game Grumps
Publisher: Game Grumps
Dream Daddy may be a game about dating the dreamiest dads known to science, but it doesn’t skimp on the other side of being a dad either. You know, the actual fatherhood stuff. Your relationship with your daughter Amanda is just as important as your relationship with the goth dad or the barista dad or the hard-drinking dad who lives like he’s in a Tom Waits song.
Amanda has graduated high school and is waiting to hear back from various colleges she’s applied to. Pretty soon she’ll be moving out and getting on with her own life, so this is your last chance to embarrass her—wait, I mean bond with her. A perfect opportunity appears when you meet local bear dad Brian and his daughter Daisy at the park. “She’s reading the Brothers Karamazov,” he says, before boasting about her high-school level reading comprehension skills.
Suddenly, it’s on like Donkey Kong. Or more accurately, it’s on like Pokémon. The bragging minigame that pits these two men against each other through the proxy of their children’s accomplishments plays out as a homage to GameBoy-era Pokémon, complete with special items like a photo from a spelling bee and some precocious art you keep in your wallet. As you and Brian square off it’s both deadly serious and completely absurd (again, like Pokémon). “Amanda won a photography award,” you brag. “Congratulations,” Brian responds through gritted teeth, losing 10 hit points as he does.
It’s super effective.
It doesn’t actually matter if you win or lose, which I’m saying because I lost. But I also bonded with my daughter later on thanks to a carton of ice cream and some bad television and eventually got the World’s Best Dad achievement for helping her fulfil her dream and head off to college. That’s what really matters. Dream Daddy is full of heartwarming moments, and knowing that—even if you did get drunk with Tom Waits dad that one time—you still pulled everything together for your kid when it mattered is an especially memorable one.
And when Amanda starts killing it at college, Brian is going to be the first to hear about it.