
You swim into consciousness. Your eyes remain tightly shut, but you’re already far too aware of how bright the world is. It’s quiet, and yet the noise in your head is deafening. Your mouth feels like it’s full of sawdust, and each passing moment brings with it a new aching pain. You lie completely still, knowing that the mere task of lifting your head will likely end in a mad dash to the nearest toilet bowl.
Most of us have experienced something like this in our lifetime. A hangover so darn severe that you swear never to sip another alcoholic drink again. Until next Friday, that is – it’s Happy Hour, after all, can’t miss it. Few of us, however, can relate to waking up next to a complete stranger (this writer certainly can’t). But this is exactly what One Night Stand is all about.
Presented in a visual novel format from the perspective of an unnamed man, it explores just what might happen if you were to wake up in an unknown woman’s bedroom. With no memory of what happened the night before, it’s up to you to explore your surroundings, gather clues, and talk to your mystery woman in order to piece together the story.
Utilising either the analogue stick or the Switch’s motion controls (Switch Lite owners will have to make do with the analogue stick), you can move a cursor around the screen and investigate any items that light up when your cursor moves over them. Depending on what the item is, it’ll either give you some information as to your whereabouts the night before, or it will provide you with a conversation starter with the mystery woman.
The woman in question with flit in and out of her bedroom throughout the game. You can investigate the room when she’s not around, and talk with her when she is. You’ll mostly have a choice of three dialogue options to choose from during conversation, and they’re varied enough to encourage multiple playthroughs whether you’re striving for a different ending or not. The situation is understandably awkward with the two characters, and you can either lean right into this (with predictable outcomes) or utilise the information gathered from the environment to drive the conversation. You’ll need to be careful though if your goal is to woo the woman – one wrong move can derail the entire conversation quickly.

With 12 possible outcomes, One Night Stand doesn’t force you down any particular path. Since the story is so short (you’re looking at maybe 10 to 15 minutes per playthrough), you’re free to experiment and try out different things. Want to gather up your clothes and get out as fast as possible? Go ahead. Want to snoop around in her wallet? Well, sure, that too, we guess. The point is that there is no right or wrong way to go about it. There’s no ‘true’ ending to strive for here. You can either try and make a go of it with your new bedroom partner, remain friends, or you can try your utmost to annoy her and get yourself kicked out onto the street in nothing but your birthday suit. It’s entirely your choice.
Graphically, the game is pretty minimal with a very muted colour palette. The art style is very unique, however, and reminds us very much of independent graphic novels. There’s very little movement in the game other than when the woman speaks, and even then the animations are limited and often repeated. We have to say though, that the woman’s movements are actually incredibly lifelike, and the game portrays her awkwardness brilliantly, right down to how she strokes her forearms and moves her hair out of her eyes.
There’s also very little sound, bar some soft, ambient music that plays at key moments during the game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. The game may well have benefitted from some decent voice acting, but the writing itself is accomplished enough that you really don’t need much else. This might have been an issue if the text was too small to read properly, but thankfully it’s clear enough whether you’re playing in handheld mode or on the TV, so there are no concerns on that front.
Conclusion
One Night Stand is a very unique experience that will likely feel quite close to home for some folks. It’s a very honest, almost heartwarming glimpse into the lives of two complete strangers brought together by a heavy night of drinking. The presentation may be a bit lacking overall, and some may be put off by the short length of the game, despite its many endings, but if you’re after a visual novel that’s a bit different from the norm, then this is it.
Comments 44
"Excellent writing brings the characters to life"
Having played this game in jest elsewhere, I cannot, and will not ever, take that claim seriously.
It's written like a Mincraft fanfiction about puberty.
Can't wait for the "they gave my game about sex a 7/10 oh the humanity" comments.
IGN - 'Too much bodily fluids' - 7/10
"Might simply be too short for some people"
That is golden!!!
"The woman in question with flit in and out of her bedroom throughout the game."
Huh?
@Paraka Yeah whenever I hear critics mentioning how "excellent" the writing is in a video game I take that claim with a grain of salt.
@Zuljaras 'Unique endings' too =0p
It's a lot cheaper than getting the train into town to go to the local gay bar, which also has unique endings and may have issues with length.
@JayJ - And this is coming from someone who is no literary genius. There are segments where you can tell they want her written "tragically" and it's so bad it's absolutely campy.
The writing here trying to make you feel her emotions is like saying the titan Smash Bros fanfic was written to bring awareness to animal cruelty.
@JayJ However, when someone admits that they "played this game in jest", like @Paraka does, it doesn't sound like they gave the game a fair chance, does it? I would also take their comments with a grain of salt.
@Kochambra - That's disregarding an opinion because you disagree with it. Because, well, isn't playing games something most don't do seriously? That's just a roundabout way of saying someone who doesn't like doesn't matter. At least call it out.
But since you're adamant; My interaction with this game was in a way a few friends and I chose poor games to riff on, this particular night there were many VNs in it. This game was so bad there was next to no riffing cause everyone was cringing to to it because there wasn't memorable moments for jokes, it was basically insulting itself.
So yeah, high horses, soapbox, blah blah blah. Stay edgy, bro.
@Paraka Lol! 😆
I rate this game a 6.9/10
Excellent writing brings the characters to life
Well, the author is a great enthusiast of Stephen King, so "excellent writing" is not something that I would believe that he knows.
It is ok to like King, but it is not ok to write that an awful and ordinary (sometimes naive and childish) writing in a game is excellent.
@sanderev someone had to! lmao
@m8e3point1415 - As I just stated we had it for one night (not sure if it was refunded, wasn't on my account) almost rapid fired three "endings" before we unanimously agreed to find something with more material. I think the only good joke was "Welcome to the background radiation of my life!" Every time she practically goes origin story on you.
Why does the girl look like Suigetsu?
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/3/3e/Suigetsu_H%C5%8Dzuki.png/revision/latest?cb=20171012002428
@nessisonett i choked on my coffee
maybe once it goes on sale for a buck
@Paraka "That's disregarding an opinion because you disagree with it."
If you mean that I'm disregarding your opinion because I disagree with it, that's not the case at all. I have no opinion about the writing of this game because I haven't played it.
However, taking into account that you played it when looking for "poor games to riff on", it sounds to me that you didn't give the game a fair chance and that you had already decided that it was going to be bad even before you played it.
Don't get me wrong, if that's how you enjoy games, more power to you. But personally, I don't think that playing the game in those conditions makes your opinion about the quality of the writing particularly reliable.
Well this is classy..
@Kochambra - You know what? That's a much fairer statement. So I am going to walk back my previous comment.
That being said; Even if my intent wasn't as geared or "ready" for writing epiphanies that night, our intents were ineffective because we found ourselves laughing at our own reactions. This is in contrast to the bad writing in Legend of Kay that night, as well as another VN that got "serious" to a point that we made fun of each other who had moments of enthrallment. To me, if we couldn't harvest anything off the writing because it practically insulted itself, one has to ask; How bad is it?
Hell, there is many here with the same sentiment, and I could bet they didn't have the intentions my friends and I did.
(Also: We do this seldomly, but it's cause we are also fans of MST3K and have experiences with the bad games. Doing a spooky one this Halloween too).
unless it has an ending were god i was wasted last night. Did i really sy the midget I wanted to sleep with a midget. Then Well thats one of the bucket list. Dosent deserve a 7
Yeah, snooping through the room of someone drunk enough to get on a stranger... That doesn't make you weird. XD In all seriousness, I never did this in my youth, other than at festivals a few times, but I would imagine my first thought would be a swift exit from what would most likely be a mistake. Lol
@DockEllisD HAHAHA!!!
I can really appreciate the originality here, yet don't think I'll be playing this anytime soon.
Nice review, though:)
@Paraka
"...we had it for one night."
That's what she said.
Would this be a good Christmas gift for my kids?
Well, I don't know if it's well written or not, but 10 minuts x 12 endings give us at least 120 minutes, so 2 hours of gameplay. Other games charge 15 bucks for the same amount of time.
The correct ‘ending’ is a fast exit. Unless she’s cooking something with bacon...
@Aerona Wish it was her nightie. What a tease. I prefer the pickup artist mobile games that could have fun interaction and practical advice.
” Might simply be too short for some people”
Thanks for not assuming everyone hates short games! Bite sized games are awesome and I will definitely be buying this.
Should chanhe the score system for this so its out of 9...
And give it a 6...
Am I right??
I find the concept strange enough but the absence of a female option even weirder. Are guys the only ones capable of waking up drunk next to a stranger?
I guess all things considered it would have been too much work for the developer to add a female path to go down. Hope whoever played this enjoys? It. I'm just gonna go out and live it lol.
Just remember use protection kids,lol.
I've never woken up that way and never will. I'm 34 and never had a drop of alcohol.
@whanvee Well, seeing as it takes at least two people for there to be any kind of possibility to be able to wake up next to someone, I'd say that part of the story is at the very least partially covered.
But agreed on the rest. Choices/options are nice.
"Cons: Might simply be too short for some people"
Can we PLEASE stop taking points off games scores because they're short? Is a short film a bad movie because it's not a feature-length film? Is a short story bad because it's not a novel? Do we measure the artfulness of paintings in square meters?
@dequesi It took me something like two years to complete Xenoblade 2, which is the reason I bought my Switch in the first place. In the meantime, I bought something like 20 other games, some of which I played a decent amount, but most of which got put on the "after I finish all of those other things" list. So after I finally finished that horrible game (horrible because of the time I spent on it; I actually enjoyed the game a lot), I decided to actually "finish all of those other things" (I'm over halfway through!), and it turns out the games that are super fun and memorable and don't take years out of my life are pretty much the best experiences I've had recently. So I totally agree with you, taking points off because a game is too short is totally subjective and not really fair to the game itself.
@SKTTR I totally get the "not what-I-want-from-a-game" thing, but to me, I watched the trailer and found myself surprisingly interested... maybe because it's the kind of situation where Hollywood is like "this happens all the time" and one that I'll never find myself in, but at the same time, I'm sure there are people who get into awkward situations like this, and that makes it interesting. I mean, it's role-playing. I've never wielded a sword as a young boy and somehow went on to become the most powerful warrior in the world and also fell the horrible evil threatening to end it, either, but I like those kinds of games, too.
A 7/10 sounds about right for a short One Night Stand.
Come back to me when theres a game about having a one night stand with gameplay mechanics reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Tenchu and Hitman all rolled into one where you have to stealth your way home before she/he (because women are guilty of it too) tries to create a commitment on a drunken mistake.
@Paraka yeah I mean no one goes into a game thinking that it’s going to be life or death. I do get the point though about Your view being skewed since you were going at it with the intention to roast it. I actually really enjoyed it. Some of the endings were kinda hard to figure out.
This game was pretty cool although considering the length this review I imagine could take a lot of what’s new and interesting about poking around the game. It tells you a lot of the things that happen. Things that wouldn’t be significant in a typical game but are interesting details in this one.
I found this a poorly written game, which considering the writing I was surprised to see a positive review. I kept expecting it to get into ethics or have some sort of twist but it really went nowhere.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...