Can Jala learn to love herself and heal the wounds of her past? Thirsty Suitors is a stylish, story-driven adventure that unfolds through turn-based battles, skateboarding, and cooking.
RPG Gamers summary“Thirsty Suitors,” the latest offering from Outerloop Games, is a unique adventure that cleverly blends gameplay elements from various genres to create an engrossing narrative about self-expression, familial pressures, and identity within contemporary culture.
Jala, our protagonist, finds herself navigating the complexities of parental expectations, friendship fractures, and past relationships while preparing for her sister’s wedding and the long-awaited arrival of Paati, the family’s feared and critical matriarch.
The main narrative lies in Jala’s confrontations with her exes, portrayed as cinematic, turn-based battle segments. These battles boast an innovative mood system, offering a nuanced approach to usual combative fare, with various special abilities, upgrades, and strategies available to exploit the opponents’ vulnerabilities. They range from battles with ordinary skate punks to clashes with previous lovers, each battle more unique than the last.
Breaking up the battles are opportunities to explore Timber Hills, with Jala engaging in various skateboarding activities. Players can grind, skate, and wall-run in intricate combos and challenges—all while unveiling the secrets of Bearfoot Park—providing a refreshing pace changer.
Thirsty Suitors also provides an interesting take on the cooking genre, with Jala attempting to mend familial ties through action-packed cooking sequences. These segments offer the player a tantalizing exploration of South Asian cuisine, adding a layer of cultural depth rarely seen in games.
Thirsty Suitors is a game that leverages the medium’s interactive nature to explore personal and cultural identity, reflecting a maturing industry’s capability to handle complex themes. Stay tuned for further coverage.”
