My Rental Girlfriend is a simulation game developed by Genius Studio Japan Inc. To everyone else, you seem like a regular student. What no one knows is that you’ve always longed for a girlfriend. You envy your friends and you’ve never quite felt like you fit in. But one day, an advertisement for girls-for-rent fall onto your lap. Why do you have to risk rejection when you can just rent a girlfriend?

Find your perfect girlfriend

My Rental Girlfriend presents its story from the first-person point of view. In this interactive story, you are the main character. You have two close friends - Joe and Matthew. This presents your first choice or decision in the game. Taking Joe’s side means your character is a studious pupil who enjoys his classes while taking Matthew’s side means your character is a bit of a rebel who would do anything besides go to class. 

This exchange also presents you with your first dilemma: you’ve been ditched by your two best friends because they’re going on a double date with their girlfriends. You part ways, and you’re all alone at a park. Suddenly, you hear an altercation between an older gentleman and a young woman. You save the girl and begin to strike up a conversation with her. At this point, a pop-up will appear letting you know that you’re about to make a premium choice.

Premium choices are additional scenes and decisions in the game. If you have played Episode - Choose Your Story (which is also a visual novel game), you will usually find that one of the choices requires you to pay real money to unlock choices. The money will be converted into in-game currency which then pays for the paid options. It’s not uncommon for games like My Rental Girlfriend to have this feature, but you may find it off-putting that it was presented so early into the storyline. 

Basic game. Bold themes.

My Rental Girlfriend is among one of the many interactive story games available. It has the same controls and interfaces as all the other games. What does make it stand out is the storyline. There aren’t many games that explore romance-for-pay so if you like that kind of story, you’ll enjoy this game.