I’ve never really been able to wrap myself around raising sim games such as the Princess Maker series. The framing of them feels like it could quite easily teeter over the edge into something uncomfortable, and in more modern entries such as Umamusume outright parasocial (and often exploitative). But lo and behold, a game enters my consciousness that fits within this very genre that looks absurdist enough to quell some of those concerns: Tomak: Save the Earth Regeneration, a rerelease of the 25-year-old game that sees you caring for the goddess of love who’s lost her body and is living out of a plant pot.
