A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Buy Now$14.99 USD or more

ValiDate: Struggling Singles in your Area is a visual novel about thirteen struggling singles navigating through soul-sucking 9-to-5s, quarter-life crises, and the harsh truths millennials learn as soon as they hit their 20’s.


Set in the Jercy City area, our cast of lovers trudge through the dregs of capitalism - a journey, a transition - a rite-of-passage that leads into uncertain mid-adulthood. On one side but not yet out on the other, 13 playable characters find romance amongst cosplay, trash mixtapes, and even poetry straight from the soul.

With over 30 routes to choose from and hours of content, the lives of these singles are in your good (or bad!) decision-making hands.

ValiDate is Rated M for Mature. This game contains mentions and references to drugs, alcohol, sexual assault, cheating, abuse, and other harsh themes. Viewer discretion is advised.

                                WebsiteTwitter | TikTok

  • 4 playable characters with 30+ routes. (Remaining 9 will be in future volumes)
  •  The ability to choose horrible decisions and see the entertaining fallout.
  •  #OwnVoices narrative writing by an all-BIPOC team/
  •  Original score by the Boy.
  • A beautiful array of artists of color's work to give each character their own individual feeling.
  •  Backgrounds taken from all around the world.
  •  Flawed characters undergoing narrative arcs handled with empathy and self-indulgence.
  •  Achievements for every single ending.
StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Release date Sep 29, 2022
Rating
Rated 3.6 out of 5 stars
(20 total ratings)
AuthorValiDate Game
GenreVisual Novel, Interactive Fiction
TagsComedy, Dating Sim, Indie, LGBT, Otome, Romance, Slice Of Life, Story Rich
Average sessionA few seconds
LinksSteam

Purchase

Buy Now$14.99 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $14.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

validate - linux build.zip 1.9 GB
validate - windows.zip 1.8 GB
validate - mac build.zip 1.8 GB

Development log

Comments

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(-1)

Why do some of the cast profiles have nationalities and others ethnicities?

(1 edit)

Update: issue resolved!

Sorry, let me get to that now!

Hi thanks for getting back to me so quickly! This was actually figured out, so I'll update/remove my original comment. :)

(+2)

Hi! I bought this game and I'm having trouble extracting all the files for the pc version. I keep getting a messages that the "path is too long". I'm not quite sure what to do. Thank you!!

Hi, please email us at contact@veritablejoystudio.com so we can help you!

Thank you so much! I sent the email

I have a question, when will the next sale happen on steam? I really want this game because of it art style! But I'm also trying to save for a few other games so I'm kinda conflicted T-T

(+1)

I've just recently bought the game on mac, and whenever I try to open it, it tells me that it's either damaged or incomplete... :(

(-2)

Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com so we can send you a steam code

Hi, I've been trying to download the game several times and over the itch website it'll download about 200mb then give me an unusable folder. If i download through the itch app it just keeps endlessly resetting after downloading about halfway. I've never experienced this with any other game on itch. I'm a windows user btw

(-2)

Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com for a steam code!

(+1)

Hello, I downloaded the game and am experiencing the issue of being stuck on the loading screen and cannot proceed any further, please help! 

(-3)

Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com so we can help you!

Okay will do!

(1 edit) (+1)

hey there ! i just purchased your game, unfortunately i can't even seem to open it :/ once the beginning credits are shown, i'm sent to the loading screen but it just keeps on loading forever.. i've tried restarting my computer 3 times but unfortunately it still won't work :(

i also read the instruction given to the mac players on the download page but i didn't really get what they meant.. please help me TT

(by the way i own a macbook air from 2016 and i'm on version 12.6 of mac os)

Deleted 1 year ago
(-2)

Hi! Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com. We may have to give you a steam version since you have an older version of a mac. 

hi, i did but i still didn't get any reponse :(

(-2)

Hi, please resend and put “Itch.io help” in the subject line. 


Best,

Did this ever get fixed? I am having the same issue with my computer and I just sent them an email

(-2)

For some reason, the mac build does not seem to work from Itch but only on Steam. Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com so we can give you a Steam code. 

yes, they sent me a steam code and it works on there !! (sorry for the late reply TT)

(+1)

vriska is in here 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I'm so excited! i saw this floating around tumblr forever ago and finally replaced my old busted laptop so i can play it!!!

Is there a way to get access to the demo again or no? I had only heard of this game today and wanted to try it.

(+1)(-1)

the demo can be found here https://validategame.itch.io/vdate-demo

Is there anyway for me to get a steam key for the game if I purchased it on Itch but want to play on Steam? Sorry if that makes no sense, but thank you for any help.

(-2)

No sorry you would have to buy it separately since we do not have the games connected via said platforms.

It is on sale right now for 69% off!

Hi! Is there somewhere to report bugs? I've played for 10 min and already encountered 2. The game seems promising otherwise.

(-1)

What platform and what bugs?

On linux, several bugs regarding how the text and sprites are displayed in Malik's route. For example, during the intro after Malik and Alice hugs, Alice's sprite is displayed way up:


If you got a contact email or something similar, I can send you screenshots of the bugs, where they happen and how to reproduce them, it will be easier than on the itchio comment page lol.

(-1)

Please email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com with all of your issues.

Hey I really enjoyed this game! I can't wait until the rest of the characters are playable

(2 edits)

Hey, so I bought this game on Xbox, and honestly I'm a bit confused. I played Malik as my main character, and I only have 5 date choices I thought it would be possible to date everyone( becuse Im trying to do all the male routes- like arahia to keaton) but it seems like Im totally locked out??? . also on Xbox its constantly on trial mode

ah so I guss if I looked at wiki it seems that you can only get with 4 people per main character :/ shame

(4 edits) (-2)

Hi, you have an option to play as Malik, Inaya, Isabelle and Emhari in the first volume. Each character has 5 dating/friend options and an Intro and an Epilogue route with a total of 7 routes per character in a linear story-telling format. Malik and Inaya are initially unlocked and you have to play through Malik’s intro to unlock Isabelle’s routes, and Inaya’s intro unlocks Emhari’s routes. 


The remaining 9 characters will be unlockable in future DLCs  


Please be mindful of using the wiki as a source of information, we don’t have control of what is posted there so information may not be accurate. 

(-1)

What do you mean by on trial mode?

Mac owner here, excited to play this when I am able now that I have it! Currently my macbook is pretty old and using later OS causes it to have issues, and unfortunately it appears that the game is not compatible with the macOS 10.12.4 I have as it requires 10.13 or later. Still glad to have this game for now.

(+1)(-1)

Hello! We are looking into this to see if we can make a version that's compatible with your version of MacOS.

If it is possible that would be more than amazing! Thank you for looking into it!

Hi, I have the MAC version and I downloaded the latest version of the game that was uploaded 5 days ago and the game won't load for me. How could I get this fixed? 

(-1)

Hello! We just uploaded a new version of the Mac build. Please download and let us know if you run into any issues!

(+2)

Hi! I'm trying to download the game and I keep running into this error message.

If you select “Do this for all current items” and then skip, game should work!

(+1)

I got the same error. If you hit skip when you start the game it'll just load forever on a black screen. For anyone else who gets this error it's your extractor! If you get this error your extractor can't handle the number of characters in the file. I'm on a PC and I downloaded Bandizip (free) on the Microsoft Store and it was able to unzip the file with no errors.

(+1)

Hi! I was super excited for this game I've been following you guys on twitter for months. I have a mac and when I went to download the game, i opened the zip file and just got a folder labeled "Contents" that had i guess all the background stuff from the game (im not super familiar with all the terms and stuff) but there wasn't an icon or thing to click on for me to play the actual game? 

I tried deleting it and reinstalling it but the same thing happened so hopefully there's something i can do about this? I'm really looking forward to playing!

Hi! Mac or PC?

I have a mac!

We just uploaded a new Mac build! Please update and tell us if you are still running into these issues! Thank you.

(+1)

The game opens now but it wont load. I've tried restarting it a few times and it's gone like 30 mins but still won't load to the main page

Hi can you email us at contact@veritablejoystudios.com so we can help you further. 

Hey there! 

I just purchased this game an hour ago and I saw the download files but I can't see them again. My email is Tayydominique@gmail.com. 

A bit confused here, if you had purchased on this account, every time you refresh this page the download link should be there. 

(+2)

Hello! I haven't played the game yet (probably going to wait for a sale) but I want to say that I love the artstyle of the game. You guys have this 'uneven-thickness' outline thing going on that gives it a rough-edged, more grounded feeling which seems to work super well with the messages and themes of your game! 

The background art is pretty impressive to me too if it was all drawn by y'all - that supermarket shot is wild in that its a bunch of weird vector geometric shapes that still look very cohesively like a supermarket aisle.

The chibi-style art looks super cute too and I want to congratulate you all on having such a consistent and distinctive looking game! I look forward to checking out the writing and other stuff soon.

Thank you! Our game is currently on sale on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1319850/ValiDate_Struggling_Singles_in_your_A...