nsfw screenshots
marrow #21 | posted 09 march 2026
ok so this is a low stakes lil review because i wanna gush about dating of the future (2025). an erotic visual novel set around the same time as 17776 [1] where you play as vee, a porn videographer about to step into the world of performing. also everyone's a robot because humanity has been kicked off the planet and may or may not have died, and in the next few weeks you're gonna hang out with and fuck six of them ^_^
okay so you know how franchises announce joke dating sims / visual novels for april fools [2]? the worldbuilding kinda makes me want to describe dating of the future as the joke vn for a game that doesn't exist. it's fully earnest and genuine though, mind. i just found it quite interesting that reading the background information from the glossary, i constantly felt like i wouldn't be surprised if the game's tone suddenly shifted towards heavier high stakes stuff. it doesn't, and is better for it, but it adds a really nice texture. your friends might be directly responsible for the state of the world but you're just some woman yknow.
and that is not to say the worldbuilding is just set dressing or that the game is just fluff. the characters' backgrounds as an abused underclass absolutely informs their arcs, and it's not in a generic fill-in-the-blanks based on previous media way. sonja's background as a limited edition catgirl robot isn't the same as rosie's role as an emotional support companion. it's all quite concrete and well thought out.
you know what also is concrete and well thought out? sex. how's that for a transition. this is an eroge about making porn, set in a world where systematic sexual abuse of robots was part of the reason for their revolution. the sex scenes are well thought out and hot and funny and beautifully illustrated! and i also quite liked how lola's route is about, among other things, the making of porn and art. also the actual porn shoot scenes are all so cheesy and fun...
and yeah i can't stress that enough it truly is a gorgeous game (with excellent music too). the pixel art is crisp and colorful, and there's some of the cutest expressions on earth in display.
in short: dating of the future is fucking awesome and it should not be allowed to remain in obscurity. it's what finally made me create a vndb account, so it could have any rating at all on vndb. go play it.
[1]: everyone go read what football will look like in the future nowwww. smiles.
[2]: something that may not be all that prevalent lol. if this reddit post is anything to go by (terrible words to write), all in all i don't think we have more than ten cases of that. the april fool's tag in vndb isn't too helpful with this, those are mostly fundamentally different...