Super Seducer is the brainchild of Richard La Ruina, Europe’s self-styled number one dating coach. A controversial figure, Richard’s game has been criticized in some quarters for its portrayal of women, and even banned from release on PlayStation, yet big content creators such as Amouranth, Mizkif, and TmartN have streamed it.
In the game, the male character – played by Richard himself – approaches women in bars, cafes, and even stops them in the street. He then proceeds to chat to them, choosing from various lines. The response from the woman will differ depending on the player’s choice.
The games do feature some dating advice, with La Ruina giving feedback on the player’s choice. Super Seducer is described on Steam as the world’s most realistic seduction simulator, but La Ruina told Dexerto that it is “very stupid and not to be taken entirely seriously.”
Yet Super Seducer 3, the latest game in the series, was rejected by Steam, and whilst La Ruina has submitted a censored version, it hasn’t been approved at the time of writing
Whilst Richard waits for a release date to be confirmed, we chatted to him about his career in dating, the rise of Super Seducer, the controversies, and how it found an audience with streamers.
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La Ruina admits that he didn’t kiss a woman until he was 21. Looking back, he says he was ‘bad with women’, but after reading some books, changing his fashion style, and doing some public speaking, he gained confidence.
He then felt that he was able to take the information he had researched and pass it onto other people who felt they needed help with dating. “I thought ‘I could teach this.’ So I put together a curriculum and started doing courses,” he explained.
As a fan of gaming since the days of the Sega Mega Drive, he started considering what he could do with technology and he had the idea of creating ‘a silly app for iPhone.’ However, Super Seducer only came into being when a games publisher approached him with the idea of creating a seducer simulator.
According to Richard, it was never meant to be totally realistic. Describing it as ‘very stupid’, he says that players shouldn’t treat it as a dating course even if it does contain some advice and scenarios based on his own experiences.
“It’s not serious,” he says. “It’s not Demon’s Souls – it’s just fun.”
Whilst it may not have been Richard’s intention to make a realistic dating game, the first game – released in 2018 – did attract negative feedback from critics, and even getting the first and third titles released has been difficult.
“The first game had problems because we made it before #MeToo. Then it came out right as that was all spiking. So, there were people, journalists, who hadn’t even played the game that wanted to get it banned,” he continued.
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Whilst some critics weren’t happy with the content, that didn’t prevent a number of streamers from playing the game. “The first game blew up when Videogamedunkey on YouTube played it,” Richard explained.
Them, when Super Seducer 2 quickly followed in 2018, content creators requested some codes. Huge streamers, such as Pokimane have also played it.
Richard enjoys watching them play his game. “I watch it with my wife. We sit down, we have iPads and computers, and we load up Twitch on all of them and see who’s playing. I also liked Amouranth, she was really funny.” He also mentioned Mizkif as another of his favorites.
He also listened to streamers’ reaction to the sequel – they felt that the game became too memefied and a bit too silly at this point, with even more ridiculous options than the first. The third in the series, when it is eventually released, will feature a couple of cameos from content creators, including NymN.
The game, together with his career as a dating coach, has led to Richard being recognized in the street. He recalled one incident that happened whilst out in Cambridge. “There was a guy who recognized me and he had his phone in his top pocket recording, and I didn’t notice. He was asking me advice and tips for women. He tried to get me to talk to women in the street and stuff.” Following the encounter, the guy uploaded the video onto YouTube.
Yet, while Super Seducer has given him more recognition, the third game in the series will be the last. Richard told us that they are at the mercy of Steam’s policies when it comes to getting their games released.
‘We wouldn’t want to make it and have Steam change their policies and we lose all our money and time that we invested,” he said. ‘It doesn’t make sense to have a game and rely on a single platform,
He would still like to make a Super Seducer VR game, he has doubts that Facebook would ever allow it to be on Oculus.
Yet that doesn’t mean that Richard will stop making games entirely. He will just need to change his approach. ‘It would make more sense to me to make a different game and have it on all platforms, because otherwise it’s super risky,” he said.
Super Seducer 3 has been submitted to Steam and is awaiting a release date.
