PC Critic Reviews

A short, devoid of any really serious game changing choices, or any long term progression. It is, however, a gorgeously constructed distraction.

I Love You Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator is fun for a free laugh, but will bore visual novel veterans with its one-note supporting cast. Stay for the art style, but feel free to grab your chicken to go if you’re in a hurry for something else.

The idea of dating the figurehead of KFC is a novel one, but I Love You, Colonel Sanders! is a joke with no punchline. Dipping into the absurd is fine, but the lack of follow-through makes this visual novel drier than the fast food chain’s biscuits.

What could you really expect from a fast food advertisement in the form of a visual novel? For what it is, you’ll get about an hour of humorous — but not hilarious — story to experience. You may learn a little bit about KFC’s founder as well. But more than anything else, the game’s detailed artwork of KFC menu items may make you want to go to the fast food establishment. By that metric, the game is a success. But as a visual novel, you’d easily be able to play something much better than I Love You, Colonel Sanders for free or just a few dollars.

KFC and developer Psyop are using the dating sim purely for the “what the f.ck” factor of dating a fast food mascot, which feels acceptable in what’s sometimes considered a “wacky” genre anyway, at least, at times, in mainstream coverage. It plays into a “weird thing from Japan” trope, which is something the developers call on — though not explicitly — to explain away the many unearned weird things that happen in I Love You, Colonel Sanders!, like a spork monster and the culinary student that’s literally a kitchen appliance.

I came away from I Love You, Colonel Sanders confused more than anything. It’s not actively hostile to the genre, but also doesn’t take the genre seriously enough to be funny to fans of it.