Holiday Hearts: A Very Merry Christmas Dating Sim is a free simulation video game that has you experiencing a Christmas romance. Developed by Julia Kernan or simply “Julia,” this 2D dating simulation game is a short comedic story that combines popular Christmas holiday movie tropes and visual novel aspects.

Similar to Three Lesbians in a Winter Special, Holiday Hearts: A Very Merry Christmas Dating Sim’s theme is centered around a holiday so you should expect the story to not only be pretty short but also resolved fairly quickly. However, it still has enough content to be enjoyable.

A little romance with some Christmas magic

In Holiday Hearts: A Very Merry Christmas Dating Sim, you play as a nameable character whose gender you can choose. You’ve decided to move back into your hometown, Winterhaven, where Christmas feels extra special for some reason. To this end, you meet three potential male love interests whose presents you may end up opening on Christmas Eve. There are four endings available—with the last one being a secret ending. 

The gameplay here is pretty straightforward as a VN. You click through the story and choose from three different options every time you encounter a crossroads. These will usually influence the guys’ affection for you so you need to score high enough to get their ending. Alternatively, you can try and appeal to no one and aim for the secret ending. 

You can check how much they’re interested in you by clicking on the top-left mistletoe icon. However, the game is missing some key features. It plays well enough but the menu doesn’t really offer any settings you can tweak—like the text speed, volume, and the option to skip text. The worst issue is that it doesn’t have a save option and auto-save on certain parts only.

Still needs some tweaking

All in all, Holiday Hearts: A Very Merry Christmas Dating Sim is a nice little Christmas-themed indie game if you want some romance. While some of the missing features can be a hassle to deal with, the overall story and execution were well-made enough to make it an enjoyable experience. Regardless of whether or not you’ve watched Christmas romance movies, this is a great game recommended for dating sim games.