Romance and drama in a ruined world
Scout: An Apocalypse Story is a free text-based simulation video game wherein you must survive the post-apocalyptic world with potential love interests. Developed by Anya, this indie dating sim game offers a rich story and choices that can both shape your personality and your eventual ending. This game gradually comes out with a chapter every few months, but it has enough text to make every update worthwhile. Its only big issue is with the save files.
Your destiny’s in your hands
The plot of Scout: An Apocalypse Story revolves around the apocalypse’s aftermath. Ten years after, only a handful of communities are still surviving in the wasteland that is now the world. You play as a 24-year-old scout living with a small group of humans. These humans have come together to make a living in the desert. One day, you finally meet other people beyond the borders of your usual hunting grounds—and this changes everything for your community.
The game plays out in the second-person perspective, entirely made up of text rather than half-text and half-visuals that you would usually find in dating sim visual novels. You get to customize your character’s full name, pronouns, and appearance so the writing will paint you well in the story. Additionally, you can choose whether to have explicit romance scenes in later chapters—and this option will pop up again if you ever change your mind.
There are four romance options available: two male, one female, and one whose gender you can choose. This allows you to have an LGBT romance route, depending on your gender. Much of the story revolves around this dating sim aspect, and the post-apocalyptic drama is mostly just the plot device driving this. Your dialogue and action choices still matter. However, these can either endear or repel the characters from you.
Only one minor hiccup
Overall, Scout: An Apocalypse Story is a great romance game to try out if you like the survival drama genre and text-based adventure. It’s easy to play since it just runs on your browser. However, its main problem is the saves do no register sometimes, especially if you’ve switched browsers or devices. Nonetheless, this is a highly recommended game to try out and keep track of with its updates.
