In Japanese, “ren’ai” (pronounced “ren eye”) is a word which means “romance” or “romantic love”. Thus, a ren’ai game is one which has significant romantic elements in it, usually between a male main character and one or more female characters in the game.

The general focus of most ren’ai games is on storytelling and character relationships, and almost always uses handrawn 2D artwork in an anime style (with a few notable exceptions).

Gameplay of ren’ai games

Ren’ai games can be divided into a few different categories based on the types of gameplay involved. Ren’ai games are sometimes called “dating sims”, which can be misleading since many ren’ai games are not about dating, and not actually simulation games.

Visual novels - Visual novels are more like works of interactive fiction, rather than what Western gamers would traditionally consider computer “games”. The focus of visual novels is to tell a story, usually from the first-person, and mostly through text and static images. Gameplay can be limited to just making a few key choices in the entire game, which affect the final outcome of the story.

Dating sims - Not all ren’ai games are dating sims, but there are some games that can be justifiably called dating sims. In this type of game, the gameplay usually revolves around scheduling events (such as dates with one or more girls) and building stats over time to impress a love interest or advance the plot.

Adventure games - Some ren’ai games may involve gameplay that Western gamers would be more familiar with, such as exploring locations, solving puzzles, and possibly even some combat. But in order to be considered a ren’ai game, it must have a notable romantic element to it.

Miscellaneous - Finally, there are some games that have a ren’ai quality to them with gameplay not like any of the categories above. For example, there are some puzzle games in which the player is rewarded with new artwork or cutscenes after finishing each stage of the game.

For more information

If you would like to learn more about the different types of games, you can visit the Wikipedia pages for ren’ai games, bishoujo games, visual novels, or dating sims.

Or better yet, come to one of our panels or ask on our forums.