At first I reckoned this FMV game to be a sitcom similar to “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother”. When I started playing it, I thought the only thing that was missing was the laugh track. Fortunately, Five Dates is much more than an interactive romantic comedy. The cast is very good, every girl you date is unique and building relationships with them turned out to be very refreshing and enjoyable even for an introvert like me. [02/2021, p.35]

Five Dates is a solid entry in the FMV game genre, offering an interesting take on dating during the pandemic. While there is nothing revolutionary here, the way the game plays with expectations and subverts players impressions is interesting enough to give it a shot. Fans of the genre will likely enjoy this one.

It’s a fun, often heartwarming journey supported by likable characters and good acting, but the way that personality and choices are handled, along with the lack of a well-structured narrative climax, keeps Five Dates from being as good as it almost is. It doesn’t have enough “game” to sell itself on player challenge or interaction, and its lack of meaningful climaxes or endings means that it doesn’t quite work as a more traditional cinematic experience. Where it thrives are in its individual human moments, and, even with my complaints, those are the things I most remember looking back.

In Five Dates, the player is simply asked to randomly pick the most entertaining girl to date, creating the most agreeable boyfriend to match her. It may be amusing to see how many choices can be changed to create different outcomes, but Five Dates doesn’t live up to the potential its premise provides, and its too-malleable lead sees it land in no man's land instead.