Dates & Wires

Dates & Wires is an otome spin-off of the cyberpunk webcomic Drugs & Wires. Set in 1995, it follows a newly single protagonist arriving in Stradania, a dysfunctional micronation, and spending two days pursuing romance at a nightclub. The six dateable characters each have their own lives and concerns, and you uncover what lies behind them through your choices.

Stradania’s eligible men

You can date six men you meet at the club:

• Dan: an existential crisis-prone man who lives on Rimbaud, imported cigarettes and unmarked pills.
• Fixer: opinionated and eager to discuss data tapes.
• Sandman: a mysterious hacker with few words and little visible emotion.
• Shitparade: an authority on terrible VR trips, always looking for someone to inflict them on.
• NoK00l: Stradania’s techwear king, who once spent a month’s salary on “tactical socks” and still brags about it.
• Jack: the club’s encouraging bartender, who serves novelty cocktails and is oddly unfazed by its creepy decor.

Choices and endings

The order in which you pursue dates affects later dialogue, scenes and options. Choices and play order can also unlock hidden scenes and dialogue, and each character has multiple possible endings. The game includes nine unlockable souvenirs: eight come from the main characters’ best outcomes, while the ninth is tied to someone special.

Content and music

Dates & Wires contains almost 60,000 words and takes about 6–8 hours to play. Its gender-neutral protagonist moves through two days of romance in Stradania, with music by NINGEN.

The Augmented Edition adds a full day of content, almost 2.5 times more words, updated sprites and animations, professional partial voice acting, and new music by MATT HART.