2014 video game
| Yandere Simulator | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | YandereDev |
| Designer(s) | Alex Mahan |
| Programmer(s) | Alex Mahan |
| Artist(s) |
|
| Writer(s) | Alex Mahan |
| Composer(s) | CameronF305 |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Stealth, action, visual novel |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Yandere Simulator is a stealth action video game developed by YandereDev for personal computers. The story follows obsessively lovesick schoolgirl Ayano Aishi, nicknamed "Yandere-chan", who sets out to eliminate anyone she believes is attracting her "senpai" Taro's attention. The non-canon Yandere Simulator: Mission Mode follows Ayano as an assassin pursued by Nemesis, while a prequel, Yandere Simulator: 1980s Mode, following how Ayano's parents Ryoba and Jokichi met in 1989, was soft-launched on October 10, 2021.
Beginning development in 2014, Yandere Simulator achieved a considerable amount of attention online the following year, leading to millions of downloads of pre-release versions of the game. The game has also endured a lengthy development, had numerous crossovers with other games, and been subject to several controversies. A spin-off Metroidvania game, Yandertale, was released on November 16, 2016, while a spin-off manga series, Nemesis: Retribution, was published from August 2019 to March 2022.
Plot and gameplay
202X Mode
In 202X Mode, the player controls Ayano Aishi (nicknamed Yandere-chan), an apathetic high school girl who has developed a crush on 18-year-old Taro Yamada, a student only ever referred to in game as "Senpai" who is the treatment to her "Aishi Condition", where the women of her family cannot feel emotion until they find their love at first sight. Over the course of ten weeks (whilst Ayano's parents are out of town tracking down "The Journalist"), a different girl will fall in love with Taro each week, becoming a target for Ayano to "eliminate". The player has the ability to kidnap, torture, poison, electrocute, matchmake, befriend, betray, frame, and drown rivals, befriend other schoolgirls, play small mini games, access a street where the player can earn money by playing a maid café minigame, spend money at shops to buy different types of items, and more. On January 1, 2018, the main characters of Doki Doki Literature Club! (Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki) were added as playable character skins, with permission from Team Salvato.
1980s Mode
Yandere Simulator: 1980s Mode, set in 1989, centers upon Ryoba, the future mother of Ayano, who as an 18-year-old had become obsessed with a popular Akademi Academy student named Jokichi (the future father of Ayano) to treat her own "Aishi Condition". Ten rivals stand in her way and a journalist is watching her every move, aware of her homicidal tendencies. In order to prevent detection, Ryoba must plan her moves out carefully. If she acts suspiciously or does not clean up after her murders properly she will gain a "guilty" point. She can counteract these by befriending fellow students and maintaining a good reputation. Ryoba is eventually brought to trial after eliminating her rivals; if she has collected more guilty points than innocent ones she will be found guilty and imprisoned. If found innocent she will kidnap Jokichi and keep him in her basement until he agrees to enter into a relationship with her.
Mission Mode
Yandere Simulator: Mission Mode is a non-canon storyline and a parody of Hitman where-in Ayano is an assassin hired by Info-chan on behalf of the yakuza to kill various targets around Akademi Academy (with Taro being her first victim), pursued by a rival female assassin known as Nemesis. In Yakuza Mode, the highest difficulty setting of Mission Mode, Ryoba is playable instead of Ayano, depicted as a fully-dressed yakuza with katana in-hand.
Characters
- Protagonists
- Ayano Aishi (nicknamed Yandere-chan) – voiced by Michaela Laws; the protagonist of 202X Mode, an high school girl attending Akademi Academy, who has developed love at first sight and the ability to feel emotion on meeting her "senpai" Taro, leading her to "eliminate" anyone else to try to confess on him.
- The Literature Club – Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki, character skins of Ayano with the same motivation.
- Ryoba Aishi – voiced by Michaela Laws; the protagonist of 1980s Mode and Ayano's mother, who in the past pursues Ayano's future husband Jokichi, and in the present subtly teaches Ayano as a child how to get away with murder.
- Supporting characters
- Taro Yamada (nicknamed Senpai-kun) – voiced by Austin Hively; the subject of Ayano's advances, a student oblivious to his own attractiveness.
- "Info-chan" – voiced by Cayla Martin, Megan Souza, and Amberleigh Elderweb; a red-haired lesbian information broker and hacker and the President of the Info Club, specialising in collecting and selling dark secrets, who provides Ayano with information on her rivals as well as poisons and weaponry to use.
- Jokichi Aishi (né Yudasei) – voiced by Austin Hively; Ayano's father and Ryoba's husband, the "Senpai" of 1980s Mode.
- The Journalist – voiced by Bradley Gareth; the main antagonist of 1980s Mode, pursuing Ryoba along with his assistant Sonoko Sakanoue.
- Akane Toriyasu – voiced by Kira Buckland; the Secretary of the Student Council, a "girly girl" who carries pepper spray.
- Kokona Haruka – voiced by Caitlin Myers and Hayden Daviau (choking); a Drama Club member and willing "test subject" writing a play about a serial killer, whose father is in debt to a loan shark. In Crush Crush, she is known as Generica.
- Kuroko Kamenaga – voiced by Kayli Mills; the Vice-President of the Student Council, who fills in for the absent President.
- Riku Soma – voiced by Jonah Scott; A Drama Club member in love with Kokona who attempts to photograph a kitten.
- Sakyu and Inkyu Basu – voiced by Kayli Mills and Kira Buckland; two quasi-immortal succubi half-sisters who enroll at Akademi Academy "looking for someone".
- Mae and Genka Kunahito – voiced by Marissa Lenti; the mother-and-daughter school guidance counselors in 1980s Mode and 202X Mode.
- "FUN GIRL" Saikou (nicknamed FunChan) – voiced by Yuko Sakura; a would-be Saikou Corp whistleblower and Megami's aunt, transported through time and space by her father, who as a half-ghost will torment Ayano whenever found. She is featured as a boss in Yandere Simulator and the Yandere Simulator DLC of Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals.
- Rivals
- Osana Najimi – voiced by Brittany Lauda; Taro's tsundere childhood friend and Ayano's first rival.
- Amai Odayaka – voiced by Kimberley Anne Campbell; the President of the Cooking Club and Ayano's second rival.
- Kizana Sunobu – voiced by Katelyn Barr; the President of the Drama Club and Ayano's third rival.
- Oka Ruto – voiced by Caitlin Myers; the President of the Occult Club, Ayano's fourth rival, and the main villain of Yandertale.
- Asu Rito – voiced by Dawn M. Bennett; the fit President of the Sports Club and Ayano's fifth rival.
- Muja Kina – voiced by Dawn M. Bennett; an air-headed, accident-prone trainee nurse and Ayano's sixth rival.
- Mida Rana – voiced by Marissa Lenti; a cougar substitute teacher and Ayano's seventh rival, who seeks to have a fling.
- Osoro Shidesu – voiced by Alexis Silvera; the leader of the delinquents and Ayano's eighth rival, who is the strongest student in the school.
- Hanako Yamada – voiced by Dawn M. Bennett; Taro's younger sister, who is the main antagonist of Mission Mode (as the assassin Nemesis), Ayano's ninth rival in 202X Mode, and a protagonist in Nemesis: Retribution and BITC.
- Megami Saikou – voiced by AmaLee; the student council president, Saikou Corp heiress, and Ayano's tenth rival, who is "the end of everything".
Development
Yandere Simulator is developed by YandereDev, a freelance game developer run by Alex Mahan and based in Temecula, California. He first pitched the idea on 4chan around 2014, and after receiving positive feedback, decided to begin development. Mahan has stated that the series Mirai Nikki and School Days were inspirations for the game. In order to work on the game full-time, Mahan opened a Patreon account in 2016; he has stated that prior to this he worked as a freelance programmer.
On November 16, 2016, a spin-off Metroidvania game titled Yandertale was released; a parody of Undertale, it follows Ayano Aishi as she fights Oka Ruto in Sans-inspired battle.
On November 16, 2016, a non-canon Mission Mode was released; a parody of Hitman, the mode follows the assassin Ayano Aishi as she is hired to kill various targets around Akademi Academy, pursued by a rival female assassin known as Nemesis.
On March 1, 2017, YandereDev announced a partnership with tinyBuild that would help him polish, promote, and publish the game. On June 10, 2018, YandereDev confirmed that the partnership with the company had ended in December 2017 due to tinyBuild's programmer and Mahan's code conflicting.
On August 31, 2020, the game's first demo was released along with Ayano's first rival, Osana Najimi.
On October 10, 2021, a prequel game, Yandere Simulator: 1980s Mode, was released. This game is a story mode that follows Ayano Aishi's mother, Ryoba Aishi, and follows the same storyline as the main story, inspired by 1980s slasher films. The developer has stated that this game was created to test the main game's various systems. 1980s Mode features VHS effects and a new soundtrack in order to differentiate it from the main story.
In September 2023, after an allegation was brought against Mahan by a 16-year-old girl claiming that he had been grooming her and released a recording and transcript of their conversation, several of the game's developers and voice actors, including Ayano's voice actress Michaela Laws, left the project. In January 2024, Mahan apologised for the "inappropriate" conversation that had occurred, stating that "I did not attempt to establish a romantic or sexual relationship with the girl after having my behaviour explained to me as commonly associated with romance, I can understand how it was interpreted that way sorry for having stupid, inappropriate conversations I never should have had", and that on opening a dialogue with the girl in question, Yandere Simulator would resume development.
On March 31, 2024, on the 10th anniversary of Yandere Simulator, YandereDev estimated that the final game "would come out towards the end of 2026, or maybe the beginning of 2027". On July 15, 2024, YandereDev released “The Hardware Update”, adding an in-game store at which to spend in-game currency on items. On October 21, 2024, YandereDev released the 1980s Revamp, giving the characters of 1980s Mode "a completely new appearance". On October 31, 2024, YandereDev announced the return of voice acting and the addition of visual novel features to the game, along with confirming the game's "supernatural elements" to factor into the main story mode. On January 1, 2025, YandereDev released "a new build with various additions, improvements, and fixes", announcing the game would be ported to be playable on Android.
Adaptations
Web series
YandereDev has released several animated prequel shorts delving into the backstories of Ayano Aishi and Osoro Shidesu: "Yandere-chan's Childhood" in 2017, and "Delinquent Backstory" and "A Childhood Lesson" in 2018.
LoveSick, a web series adaptation of Yandere Simulator written and directed by Abby Roebuck, animated by Sakura Media with permission from YandereDev, and sponsored by Amino, aired for nine episodes from June 6, 2017 to January 24, 2020.
Manga
A spin-off manga series based on Yandere Simulator: Mission Mode and entitled Nemesis: Retribution, written by Alex Mahan and illustrated by Vanelover and JIBJAB, was published from August 1, 2019 to March 19, 2022. Set during the events of Mission Mode, the series explores the origin and motivation of its antagonist Hanako Yamada / Nemesis.
Crossovers
On May 24, 2015, Pippi Osu, mascot from the rhythm game osu!, was added to Yandere Simulator as a NPC student of Akademi Academy, with Samantha Chan reprising her role, with permission from the game's creator Dean Lewis "peppy" Herbert.
On October 25, 2016, Yandere-chan (Ayano Aishi) and Generica (Kokona Haruka) were added as playable characters to the anime-style idle dating sim Crush Crush, with Michaela Laws and Caitlin Myers reprising their roles. Within the narrative of the game, after Ayano (later renamed "Ayeka") kills the original eighth girl Generica, she begins to date the player, with her primary weapon being a baseball bat. Generica later returns as a ghost to become frenemies with Ayano.
On January 1, 2018, the main characters of Doki Doki Literature Club! (Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki) were added to Yandere Simulator as playable character skins for Ryoba and Ayano Aishi, with permission from Team Salvato.
On June 24, 2020, Yandere-chan (Ayano Aishi) and Nemesis (Hanako Yamada) were added as playable characters to the French third-person shooter game BITC (Boobs in the City), with Michaela Laws and Dawn M. Bennett reprising their roles. In the game's narrative, Yandere-chan is depicted as an axe-wielding underclassman to the protagonist Coach, aiming to keep all other girls from him, while Nemesis is depicted as being "an artificial lifeform sent from the future to save Coach's life".
On January 9th 2019, Yandere-chan (Ayano Aishi) was added as a playable characters to the fighting video game Go All Out! on the Nintendo Switch, with Michaela Laws reprising her role. In her narrative, she is presented as having been isekaied into the realm of the game during the events of Yandere Simulator, aiming to kill Calamity to return to her Senpai.
On December 28, 2019, it was announced the characters from Yandere Simulator would be added as playable characters to the puzzle and action role-playing game Project QT early the following years, with Ayano Aishi (renamed Patti) and Info-chan (renamed Emily) ultimately being chosen via poll, with Michaela Laws and Cayla Martin reprising their roles. In her narrative, she is presented as having been isekaied into the realm of the game years after the events of Yandere Simulator, before mistaking the Project QT protagonist for her Senpai.
On June 28, 2023, a Yandere Simulator DLC was added to the multiplayer horror party game Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals by Glowstick Entertainment, featuring a Yandere Simulator map with Fun Girl as the boss of Boss Time, Police Officers as the bosses of Trap Time, as well as Senpai (Taro Yamada), Info-chan, and Nemesis (Hanako Yamada) as playable mortal characters, and Ayano Aishi a as playable monster character, with Austin Hively, Cayla Martin, Dawn M. Bennett, and Michaela Laws reprising their roles.
Critical response
Content and themes
The game has received criticism over its content and themes, with the most common criticism centering upon the presence of sexuality and murder. In their 2022 doctoral dissertation, Kristian A. Bjørkelo noted that some hearing about or playing the game found it transgressive due to the themes of sexuality and murder, while others took more exception to an update that would allow players to kill cats as a way of avoiding police detection. They further noted that Yandere Simulator was an example of a game that conflicted with "the idea that play is harmless fun, something that can be considered for children, a notion that can be referred to as the idealization of play... or the fallacy of play".
Cecilia D'Anastasio, writing for Kotaku, covered the debug version in a 2017 article; she commented that the game had received criticism for "glamorizing suicide, bullying and Bipolar Disorder—allegations that I strongly agree with, despite the game's merits as simulator for sociopathy." D'Anastasio went on to interview Mahan in the same article, who stated that the game "pivots on the archetype of an obsessed, violent stalker, rather than female stereotypes."
Yandere Simulator Twitch ban
In January 2016, Yandere Simulator was added to the list of banned games by Twitch for violating the streaming service's policies on extreme content. Mahan was a vocal critic of the ban, claiming that Twitch never explained what prompted its addition to the list and that he would have been willing to "modify minor, innocuous things that were never meant to be the focus of the game, but I would not be willing to remove gameplay mechanics, remove core features, or change the focus of the game", further criticizing the ban as a result of "self-righteous ideologies".
Progress
Fans have voiced concerns over how long development of the game has taken. Mahan initially responded to these concerns with an announcement in March 2017 that he would be partnering with TinyBuild; this partnership ended in December of the same year.
References
- ^ "What To Play Now: Yandere Simulator: 1980's Mode!". Verge Magazine. April 8, 2022. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
- ^ Maiberg, Emanuel (December 14, 2015). "What the Hell Is Up with This Homicidal Japanese Schoolgirl Simulator?". Vice Magazine. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- Vincent, Brittany (March 15, 2015). "VIDEO: Yandere Simulator Puts The Crazy In Your Hands". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- Makedonski, Brett (April 1, 2015). "YouTube bans Yandere Simulator anime panty shots, commenters are pissed". Destructoid. ModernMethod. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- Ashcraft, Brian (March 30, 2015). "The Schoolgirl Sim In Which You Kill People". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- Mendel, Xavier (April 7, 2015). "Yandere Simulator: Slice of Life Anime Meets Hitman". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
- Enndimurel (May 8, 2023). "Ce jeu vidéo qui a fait des millions de vues sur YouTube cache une sombre réalité !". Jeuxvideo.com.
- ^ "Yandere Simulator Dev Says Twitch Hasn't Told Him Why His Game Was Banned". Kotaku. January 22, 2016. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
- ^ Yandere Simulator Prologue: Yandere-chan's Childhood. YandereDev. July 26, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2017 – via YouTube.
- Priestman, Chris (March 13, 2015). "Learn How To Get Away With Murder In Yandere Simulator". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- Hansen, Steven (June 5, 2015). "Yandere Simulator lets you poison Japanese schoolgirls". Destructoid. ModernMethod. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- Priestman, Chris (May 21, 2015). "How To Make A Murder Look Like Suicide In Yandere Simulator". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
- ^ "Happy New Year!". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. January 1, 2018. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ^ Salvato, Dan (January 2, 2018). "It's cool, I gave him permission under the condition that their likeness isn't exploited or used for profit in any way" (Tweet). Retrieved January 2, 2018 – via Twitter.
- ^ New Gameplay Mode in Yandere Simulator: "Mission Mode". YandereDev. November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016 – via YouTube.
- YandereDev (October 1, 2024). "Ayano doesn't feel sexual attraction(…) Rather than being attracted to men or attracted to women, she's exclusively attracted to one specific human being in all the world, regardless of that person's gender. I'm not sure if there's a word for this; Uniromantic? Monoromantic? Either way, sexuality is not a component of it whatsoever. Her attachment to Taro (or Taeko, in the alternate timeline where Taro is female) is a physiological dependency resulting from her Aishi Condition, rather than physical attraction." – via Reddit.
- ^ Eisjon (June 15, 2018). A Childhood Lesson (Short Film). YandereDev. Retrieved June 15, 2018 – via YouTube.
- ^ Yandere Simulator Delinquent Backstory. YandereDev. May 7, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018 – via YouTube.
- Yin-Poole, Wesley (January 22, 2016). "What is Yandere Simulator, and why has Twitch banned it?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- YandereDev (June 11, 2018). "What's been going on for the past few days?". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (June 28, 2016). "The Secretive Creator Of Yandere Simulator, A Game About Murdering High School Girls". Kotaku. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
- "Happy Halloween!". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. October 30, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 2, 2017). "Yandere Simulator picks up publisher, developer guarantees completion". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- Shive, Chris (March 1, 2017). "tinyBuild Teams Up with YandereDev for Yandere Simulator". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ "Hey, whatever happened with that whole tinyBuild thing?". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. June 11, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- "「Yandere Simulator」の正式デモ版がリリース。先輩への病んだ恋心が止まらない少女が恋敵を次々に消していくステルスアクション". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). September 1, 2020. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
- Yandere Dev (August 31, 2020). Osana Is Complete And Yandere Simulator's Official Demo Is Now Available. Retrieved July 18, 2024 – via YouTube.
- Bevan, Rhiannon (September 29, 2023). "Yandere Simulator Devs And Voice Actors Quit Following Grooming Allegations Against Creator". TheGamer. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- Bevan, Rhiannon (January 2, 2024). "Yandere Dev Admits To "Inappropriate" Conversations With A Minor". TheGamer. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
- "The 10th Anniversary of Yandere Simulator's Development". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
- "The Hardware Update". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- "1980s Revamp Update". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. October 21, 2024. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
- "Happy Halloween!". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. October 31, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
- "January 1st Update". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. January 1, 2025. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
- LoveSick Season One. Sakura Media. September 4, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2018 – via YouTube.
- "Short Nemesis Manga". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
- "Nemesis Manga Sequel Released!". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- Lewis, Dean (May 24, 2015). "osu! - About the Mascots". osu! official website. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
pippi, stylised with a lowercase "p", is the osu! game mode mascot that joined on 2008-07. She is also known as pippidon in osu!taiko and appeared in Yandere Simulator as an NPC. The initial concept art was created by Sarumaru, the pippidon sprite was created by crystalsuicune, and the current art was designed by Daru.
- "Yandere-chan guest stars in Crush Crush!". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. October 25, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
- "BITC Crossover Announcement". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- Yandere-chan Classic Arcade – Go All Out!. ClouDNova Lab. September 15, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via YouTube.
Go All Out! patch 1.00.11 is live – Yandere-chan enters the battle!
- "Crossover Announcement and Poll". Yandere Simulator Development Blog. December 28, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
- Glowstick Entertainment (June 28, 2023). "Monsters & Mortals – Yandere Simulator". Epic Games. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
- ^ Bjørkelo, Kristian A. (April 8, 2022). Playing With Boundaries : Empirical Studies of Transgressions and Gaming Culture (Doctoral thesis thesis). The University of Bergen.
External links
| Doki Doki Literature Club! | |
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| Characters | |
| Related | Yandere Simulator |
| Hitman franchise | |||||||
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| Undertale | |
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| Created by Toby Fox | |
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- Upcoming video games
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