I had a date with a garbage can at gamescom and have no regrets

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Danny had a rather unusual date at gamescom 2024 – and brought along a new gaming highlight

If someone had told me in advance that my best gamescom date would consist of flirting with a dustbin and a candlestick, I would probably have believed them. I make no secret of the fact that my heart sometimes beats for the games that most people don’t even look at with their buttocks

But I never thought I’d get so excited about my garbage can talk.&nbspAlthough I was excitedly telling everyone and anyone who wanted to know (and even those who didn’t) about this event before gamescom, I didn’t expect to be even more excited after the event. Even though there were only a few minutes of gameplay and a developer meeting between then and now.

Have I made you curious enough so that you don’t immediately leave the virtual room when I mention the title of the game? Good. Because I’m talking about Date Everything.

Like Pokémon … with voices from Mass Effect and Final Fantasy

In Date Everything, the name says it all. You find yourself in a house, put on a pair of magic glasses and can suddenly have conversations with your garbage can, your chair or the toilet

There are over 100 characters that you can find. Not all of them are items. In the interview, the developer tells me that we can also have conversations with our existential fear:

Each of the characters is voiced entirely in English – and at a professional level.Voice actor heavyweightssuch as Laura Bailey (Critical Role, Mass Effect, Spider-Man) or Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16) are also on board.

So that you don’t lose track of so many characters, there is also a kind of Pokédex within the game that saves every encounter for you. In addition, there are sometimes more, sometimes less clear hints as to where you can find items and conversation partners that have not yet been discovered.

Not just something for the ears

In the short time I was able to play Date Everything during gamescom, I noticed three other things in addition to the fantastic synchronization:

  • The character designs are beautiful and coherent
  • The humor is wacky
  • The dialog is well written

Here you can see the speaker and the appearance of my new favorite trash can called Trash Cam:

The dialog is what I personally find most exciting and fascinating about dating sims. Because in Date Everything, too, the individual dialogs in combination with the soundtrack are an absolute highlight

In conversation with the developer, I also learned that all the characters have their own story to tell. Of course, some of their stories and developments are longer than others. Ultimately, I can make friends with each and every one of them, flirt with them or fall out with them so much that we become enemies. Of course, not only silly topics are dealt with, but also darker topics of conversation are brought to the table.

My buddy Trash Cam is even said to have a very exciting, deep story, but the developer on site didn’t want to tell me much about it. In my first conversation with Cam, however, he still seemed very dismissive. Is there an Enemys to Lovers story hidden here?

I have not yet been able to test how far the flirting option goes. The USK seal ofreleased from 16, which was emblazoned on the official stand on the exhibition grounds, gives me hope(?) that things are either getting hot here or that the themes are darker than the humorous façade initially suggests.

Neither way: Date Everything hides a lot of exciting things behind its silly facade. Even if you look at your household with … different eyes afterwards