somehow more offensive than it sounds

Random Select is a column from Polygon about under-the-radar video games. Every week, Polygon asks a writer to check out a game at random, downloading the game without knowing beforehand what it is. The catch? They have to play for at least an hour and report on their thoughts — honestly. This week’s game is the racing game I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother.

There are games that don’t take themselves too seriously, with silly innocence that makes the most preposterous idea feel like a lighthearted joke, like Hatoful Boyfriend, that pigeon dating simulator. I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother is something altogether different, the type of project people agree to do… maybe when they’re inebriated? When every idea sounds funny even though it actually isn’t. I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother feels more like a horror game than the goofy joke it purports to be.

Produced by the studio Kimulator’s Films, I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother uses actors to tell the story of Noah (Alain Lagacé), a 28-year-old man who recently created a profile on a dating app and lands his first real date with a girl named Michelle (Marie Gervais St-Amour). Designed as a visual novel with branching paths, I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother is a satire that aims for absurd outcomes with its broad characters and low-budget scenarios. I finished this game twice in about one hour, making it the kind of bite-sized experience you may enjoy when you have a couple of hours to unwind. That said, I can’t say I had “fun” playing it.

During his date, Noah offers food made of Play-Doh, is completely tone-deaf to Michelle’s intentions, and overlooks her feelings. He carries a camera in his trousers and even asks Michelle if he can take pictures of her to send in a group chat, where he exchanges photos of naked women with friends. When Noah learns about Michelle’s grandmother, Betty, he spends a lot of time wondering how he could seduce the old woman — with many of his ideas bordering on sexual harassment.

What makes Noah’s behavior horrifying is not his interest in Michelle’s grandmother, but how real this satirical character feels. He’s the caricature of men I saw exposed in a recent TikTok trend in the Brazilian community, where women shared the embarrassing audio messages they received from guys they’d dated. Some men demanded money back for dinner and gas, since the girl didn’t have sex with them. Others delivered two-minute monologues about their “fantastic qualities” while doing their best impression of a cheesy, irresistible heartthrob.

Noah is the epitome of this kind of outdated masculinity. He is self-centered, swinging from overconfident to doubting every action he takes. He is sensitive about his own concerns and insecurities, but completely disregards the woman in front of him as a person who deserves respect. He is somewhere on the I Think You Should Leave and Tim & Eric character matrix.

Noah is performing a character as much as the actor who portrays him, with his mustache, catchphrases, and faked interest in Michelle — but he’s trying to play a role he doesn’t understand. That’s why he asks for our help in deciding his actions. Most of the time, when I was prompted to choose the best response for Noah, it felt like trying to control an alien visitor in a human body. Should he be honest or not? Should he avoid being kissed or not? He doesn’t know! And if (big if) we’re supposed to empathize with Noah in some way, it’s all but impossible because he’s so unlikable.

The only place where Noah is confident about himself and his choices is within the fantasy he lives in his head — a fantasy where he is the man he wants to be. Half of the game takes place in the childishly hand-drawn artwork that represents his imagination. In one scene where Noah imagines winning the grandmother’s heart, a long list of options is displayed. The only one he believes would work is pretending to be a plumber, so Betty would offer to go on a date to pay for his work. In other words, he sees creating a situation where an elderly woman is forced to spend time with him to pay off a fake debt is the height of courtship. Being himself and sharing his feelings are out of the question. And yes, this game is supposed to be funny.

While I’m In Love with Your Dead Grandmother aims to deliver exaggerated jokes and calls back to early 2000s raunchy comedies, I couldn’t help but feel horrified. I hated the sound of Noah’s voice and I shivered whenever he imagined his “sexy moves” toward Betty. For a game like this to pull off what it’s trying to do, the jokes need to land. For me, they did not.