I finally did it, good god. I managed to get the missus interested in playing a god damn video game. I hope the end of the world isn't coming or anything...

...but there's a catch, of course. She wants the game to have romance in it, and I need your help to find a game for her. Do you know any good games that include a really romantic, engaging story arc for the characters? I can assist her with the gameplay, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The Runaway games here have a good amount of romantic subtext. And she may enjoy the Singles: Flirt Up Your Life series of games, which are kind of saucy dating sims.

Most of the Winter Wolves game focus on romantic plots or subplots, if she doesn't mind anime-style graphics.

Though there is no romance in them, Syberia series seems to appeal to women.

You could try To the Moon. Or maybe Cinders. Or Gone Home.

SANDS OF TIME

Winter Wolves Games focuses on romance games. I enjoyed RPG Loren The Amazon Princess.

EDIT: Oops, ninja'd by Sinistar.

Shannara is what grabbed my wife. It has some fun mild cutsie romance between 2 characters that did it just right for her. Of course, she despised the resolution of their relationship and played the game over and over and over trying to make it work out better.

Quake.

There's a great subplot involving a Shambler trying to find itself and ending up with Shub Niggruth.





Failing that, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is a good adventure game (point and click) with good character development.

Katawa Shoujo.

To The Moon is a fairly obvious one. Most romance options in RPG's feel like they are forced and/or afterthoughts, but I quite liked those of Planescape: Torment. The downside is that it's pretty heavy on the text department, which might provide her vessel with insufficient buoyancy.

Also Fahrenheit, but it's shit.

90-point underline bold italic:

Driftmoon: http://www.gog.com/game/driftmoon

Okay, romance-lite. But a really great game, whatever one's tastes, and I think it will serve you well as a title with which to introduce her to RPGs in particular and gaming in general.



And congrats on getting her to join in your hobby. Mine looks upon gaming as a fish would view a baseball game.

To the moon
Final fantasy x
Ico
Shadow of the colossus
Planescape torment (has one of the best dialogues I can remember about love!)
The Dark Eye Chains of Satinav (free get it fast http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vuvzb/iama_developer_of_blackguards_daedalic/)
Memoria (is the sequel of the dark eye)
Lone survivor
Silent hill 2
Alan Wake
Deponia series
The cat lady (very very recommended game! )

Some of them have romance others is a love story. Will keep adding games as they come to mind xD

How about Braid? It's a clever indie puzzle-platformer - I don't like platformers, but I like Braid - and the story is about finding the wistfully-lost princess. In other words, there's no action romance, but the plot is all about seeking lost love.

I confess I got stuck somewhere along the way, so I never did finish it.

http://braid-game.com/

How about the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age 2? At least, if you aren't into actual dating VNs, they won't bore you to death, while gaming together with your wife.

Or maybe some japanese visual novels like Kannon, Air and Clannad. Try and find the non-hentai versions of those. Great stories and graphics. And mood inducing.