You wake up. The ceiling looks wrong. It’s too high. You try to move, but your body feels heavy, and the air is thick with the scent of old wood and graphite. Then, the shadows shift. A face—mammoth and beautiful—blocks out the light. This is Saeko. She’s a university student, she’s magically shrunken you to the size of a thumb, and she’s probably going to eat you. Welcome to Saeko: Giantess Dating Sim, a game that is way less about "dating" and way more about surviving a psychological fever dream.
Honestly, the title is a bit of a bait-and-white. You aren't exactly going on dinner dates at fancy restaurants. You’re living in a desk drawer.
Developed by the Japanese indie team Safe Havn Studio and released on May 29, 2025, this game has been making waves for all the weirdest reasons. It isn't just a "kink" game, though it definitely pulls from that corner of the internet. It’s a survival horror visual novel wrapped in a thick layer of 2000s nostalgia. You play as Rin, an androgynous guy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, you’re part of Saeko’s "collection."
What Saeko: Giantess Dating Sim is actually about
Most people hear "giantess" and "dating sim" and assume they know what they’re getting into. They’re usually wrong. This game is oppressive. It's gritty. It feels like a punk rock zine come to life. Director kyp has been very vocal about how the game was inspired by the 2000s web novel Saeko’s Week by Shizue Fueti. But while the original story was pretty dark and explicit, the game pivots. It trades the graphic stuff for a lingering sense of dread.
The gameplay loop is basically a death sentence
The game splits your time into three distinct chunks:
- The Day: You hang out in the drawer. You talk to other victims—people like Taki, the self-appointed supervisor, or Moko, who is... well, Moko.
- The Night: You talk to Saeko. This is where the "dating" happens, if you can call it that. One wrong word and she might just crush you or decide you're tonight's snack.
- Midnight: You mess around on a virtual cellphone, read emails, and try to remember what the sun looks like.
Every single day, someone has to die. As the new "supervisor" of the drawer, that choice often falls on you. Do you sacrifice the person who’s annoying? The person who’s given up? It’s a morality test that doesn't have a "good" answer.
Why it looks and feels so different
Visually, Saeko: Giantess Dating Sim is a bit of a chameleon. The drawer sections look like lo-fi pixel art, cramped and messy. But when you talk to Saeko, the art style shifts. She’s rendered in a clean, avant-garde style that makes her feel even more otherworldly and massive. It’s a deliberate choice by the artists at Safe Havn (a team of Kyoto University grads) to emphasize the power imbalance.
The music is another beast. It’s got this "Bandcamp indie" vibe—melancholy, slightly distorted, and deeply atmospheric. It captures that feeling of being a teenager in 2005, sitting in a dark room with a slow internet connection.
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Common misconceptions about the "Dating"
Is there romance? Sorta. Is it healthy? Absolutely not.
The game explores Stockholm syndrome and distorted affection. Saeko isn't a waifu in the traditional sense. She’s a predator. She's sociopathic. Some reviewers, like those at Siliconera, have pointed out that the game feels more like a story about "masking" and attachment than a true romance. You aren't trying to win her heart to live happily ever after; you're trying to win her favor so she doesn't swallow you whole.
Real facts for the curious:
- Platforms: It’s out on PC (Steam, DLsite, Stove) and Linux.
- Playtime: It’s short. You can see all three main endings in about 3 to 4 hours.
- Price: It usually hovers around $14.99 USD.
- Content: Despite the premise, there is no explicit sexual content in the main game. It’s focused on psychological horror.
The endings and what they mean
The branching narrative is where the "Expert" players really dig in. There are three primary endings:
- Genocide: You lean into the cruelty. You side with Saeko and watch the drawer empty out.
- Suicide: You push back, but the weight of the situation crushes you.
- Atonement: The "best" (but still weird) ending where Saeko actually shows a shred of remorse.
Getting to these requires careful dialogue management. You have to navigate her moods like a minefield. If she asks if she’d be a villain in a fantasy world, your answer determines whether you unlock specific collectibles like the "Figurine" or if you just end up as a stain on her desk.
Actionable insights for your first playthrough
If you're going to dive into Saeko's drawer, don't go in blind. Keep these tips in mind to actually survive more than two nights.
- Check the phone at midnight. Reading the emails and playing the mini-games (like Sukebo: The Final) isn't just flavor text. It unlocks achievements and gives you context for the world outside the room.
- Pay attention to Saeko's hands. The game uses her physical presence to signal her mood. If she's fidgeting or looming closer, you're on thin ice.
- Don't ignore the "little people." While it’s tempting to just focus on Saeko, your relationships in the drawer affect which endings you can trigger. Sacrificing certain characters early can lock you out of the more complex narrative paths.
- Save often. Since it's a visual novel, it’s easy to accidentally click through a dialogue choice that gets you killed. The "Nice Ways To Die" achievement is fun to get, but repeating the whole intro isn't.
Saeko: Giantess Dating Sim is a weird, uncomfortable, and beautifully directed piece of indie art. It’s a reminder that horror doesn't always need jumpscares—sometimes, it just needs a giant girl with a mysterious power and a very small desk drawer.
To get the most out of the experience, start by focusing on the Atonement ending path. This requires you to sacrifice Shimon on the fifth day to learn his "lessons" and then refuse to return to the drawer early on the seventh day. It provides the most narrative closure for Rin's character arc. Additionally, make sure to check the Dictionary in the menu frequently; it fills in the gaps of the game's lore and reveals the specific triggers for the 2000s-era items you find throughout the story.