To be cringe is to be free. I stand by this saying! The moment you unshackle yourself from the notion that something is embarrassing simply for existing, you will have a much easier time enjoying things. However. I do think I will be a bit embarrassed telling you about Rizz Dungeon: Skeleton Key to My Heart, a dungeon crawler where you are a useless failgirl who flirts with and subsequently recruits monster girls to do all her battles, because oh my gods why would you call a game Rizz Dungeon.

I am going to move past the title (the subtitle is good! Just the main title that will age like pre-rotten milk) to tell you more about the Video Game part because it’s good silly fun. Which is to be expected, as this RPG is from the same folks behind Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. So, here’s the main concept: your evil ex-girlfriend who is also a dragon has stolen your stuff, ran off to the pit of a dungeon, leaving you stuck because you suck at fighting. But what you are good at is flirting… and, eugh, rizzing.

The dungeon crawling works as you expect it to: you use your WASD keys to move forwards and backwards, and look left and right. You pick up keys to open doors, descend further into the dungeon, before eventually happening upon a monster girl (i.e., you enter a random encounter). Attacking is an option, but you don’t do much damage, so instead you can choose to flirt to build up your confidence meter. This requires timing a swaying meter, where hitting a heart results in a Critical Kiss, such a wonderfully ridiculous bonus that a chortle did catch me off guard.

Then, you can rizz them up (that’s what the kids say, right?) by reciting one of three pick-up lines at them. Not all of them will work, however, so you’ll need to pick up context clues. My problem with the title comes from the fact that it feels much too steeped in irony, because both the designs of these monster girls and the interactions with them genuinely feel quite earnest. These girls are monstrous, they are not stereotypically beautiful, and that’s quite neat! It feels a bit wrong to pair them up with a title using already quite dated slang.

While the full demo doesn’t include this, you can also take pit stops at an inn where you can have sleepovers with your monster girls where you can just have a chat, or learn some backstory, and “make meaningful choices that draw you closer to them.” The Steam page makes it very explicit that Rizz Dungeon is just a short game made by a small team, so don’t expect the most in-depth RPG you’ve ever played. But it’s charmed me, in spite of itself, so, feel free to pop it on the ole wishlist on Steam.