Game of the Year… so far.
Moonripple Lake! (2026): 10 out of 10: I really need to play more video games this year, because as we reach the end of July, I have a significant problem. My current game of the year is an adult-oriented visual novel in Early Access. That simply will not do.
Grand Theft Auto VI is supposedly arriving in November and may yet restore some dignity to the proceedings, but between now and then I should probably play something respectable involving French existentialism, childhood nostalgia, or a sad robot contemplating the nature of consciousness. Instead, I have spent my time exploring Moonripple Lake!, a game featuring mermaids, giants, supernatural conspiracies, small-town lunatics, and a frankly heroic quantity of nudity.
So, is Moonripple Lake! my game of the year because of the boobies? Well, they certainly do not hurt. However, I have played plenty of adult-oriented games, and most of them follow the same predictable formula. Here are three attractive women. Talk to them. Buy them gifts. Fill up the romance meter. Eventually remove their clothing. It is essentially the relationship system from Mass Effect or Dragon Age, except the relationship system is the entire game and nobody is trying to save the galaxy. Moonripple Lake! is different because it remembers that an adult game can still have characters, jokes, mysteries, world-building, and an actual plot.
The story follows an established couple who relocate to the strange little town of Moonripple Lake after some unfortunate investments in NFTs and cryptocurrency leave them searching for cheap rent and new employment. They are later joined by their mutual best friend, whose gender and physical attributes can be altered on the fly with the sort of cheerful flexibility that only video games can provide.
From there, the trio meet an enormous assortment of townspeople, including librarians, nuns, bakers, grocery clerks, redneck mechanics, hard-edged police officers, and enough enthusiastic nymphomaniacs to make one question the mineral content of the local water supply. What begins as a slightly eccentric small-town comedy gradually develops into something resembling H. P. Lovecraft crossed with Scooby-Doo.
That combination works far better than it has any right to. One moment you are navigating relationship problems or helping someone with a mundane local crisis, and the next you are dealing with giants, mermaids, possessed townspeople, ritual altars, and supernatural forces.
The escalating absurdity gives the game a genuine sense of discovery. Moonripple Lake feels like a real place worth investigating rather than a collection of menus designed to deliver the next sex scene. In fact, one of my primary complaints is that the Early Access build does not yet provide enough free roaming. The developers have created an unusually inviting town, and I want more opportunities to wander around it, uncover secrets, and meet additional residents with deeply questionable hobbies and have sex with them.
The artwork is excellent, despite complaints that some of it may involve artificial intelligence. Whatever tools were used, the final images are attractive, expressive, and consistent enough to serve the story. The adult scenes are thoughtfully staged rather than merely inserted as rewards, and, perhaps most remarkably, the dialogue does not make me want to poke my eyes out with a fork.
 The characters have distinct personalities, the central couple actually feels like an established relationship, and the writing understands that sexual humor works better when it is attached to people the player likes. Even the initially irritating local man who can become involved with the protagonist’s girlfriend gradually develops enough personality to grow on you, though he would not necessarily be my first choice for a summer houseguest.
There are weaknesses. The local bullies appear to have escaped from a particularly broad 1980s high-school comedy, and it is difficult to understand why two adults renting a house would have any reason to tolerate their nonsense.
Some characters begin as exaggerated stereotypes, and the limitations of Early Access are occasionally obvious. However, once your girlfriend is tied to an altar, a giant is preparing to violate the laws of both nature and good taste, and a Lovecraftian mermaid is possessing the minds of the townspeople, such concerns tend to evaporate. At that point, you either embrace the madness or go back to playing a deeply serious game about grief and inventory management.
Moonripple Lake! has great visuals, memorable characters, genuinely good writing, effective adult content, and a surprisingly deep, diverse, and entertaining story. It is funny, strange, sexy, ambitious, and considerably more imaginative than many games with ten times the budget and none of the nudity. I may not be proud that an adult visual novel is currently my game of the year, but I am not going to punish the game for succeeding where supposedly more respectable titles have failed.
