Kitty Powers’ Matchmaker: Deluxe Edition Review

Five years after her debut, British Drag queen and matchmaker extraordinaire Kitty Powers is glamming up the Nintendo Switch in Kitty Powers’ Matchmaker – and in the exclusive Deluxe version featuring new dating scenarios and character designs, she’s better than ever.

Your role is to run a matchmaking agency alongside Kitty. Right off the bat, she’ll walk you through the basics: after picking a client, you compare their desires and interests with those of the candidates in Kitty’s Little Black Book. Everyone falls under one of ten types, like “Geeky,” “Sporty,” or “Glam.” True love goes beyond surface-level likes and dislikes, though, so you’ll also account for whether they’re social or introverted, active or relaxed, and so forth. There’s a surprising amount of depth here for a game that’s also a mobile app. 

Picking your client’s date takes some detective work. There is no singular “right” choice, but there is usually a suitable option among the randomly-generated singles who are diverse not only in style but also in race and sexuality; the drag queen hostess is the coiffed cherry on top of this highly inclusive game.

Before the big moment, clients can get a makeover to ensure their look is catered to their date’s preferences (because it’s totally normal to chop off your hair and dye it bright pink just to score points with a blind date). Just don’t go crazy – primping up takes time, and they shouldn’t arrive late!

Your client arrives at the restaurant dressed to impress, right down to a secret earpiece through which you’ll talk them through every step of their date. Kitty is listening, too, and constantly dishing out hilarious commentary. After exchanging compliments on hair and eyes, your client’s date will declare what they’d like to eat – and so begins the first puzzle: remembering their tastes and figuring out which menu item they’d like.

Dates are essentially a series of memory-based minigames like the aforementioned one. Some involve chance, like when you have to guess correct cards in order to hold back your burgeoning flatulence. None of the games are timed, so there is no pressure (beyond the fact that you may be ruining someone’s love life with your inability to calculate a tip).

Each part of the evening is separated by conversation sections, where you’ll pull the “Love Handle” to generate topics. It’s imperative not to repeat topics, even if you’re on a second or third date. It’s also important to agree – and sometimes that means telling a little white lie. Doing so successfully requires spinning the Wheel of Misfortune; failing means earning an accursed strike with your date. As they say, “three strikes – and you’re single.”

At the end, your client will get to choose whether to move on, ask for another date, or declare their love! This dating process takes a short 10 minutes and represents the meat of the game. It’d be repetitive if not for the utter randomness of the minigames and characters, which keeps things enjoyable. The progression keeps the game fresh, too; you can spend money upgrading the Little Black Book as well as the salon and restaurant options. All the while, you’re accompanied by delightfully cheesy music straight out of a 1970s dating show.

P.S. – keep an eye out for follow-up letters from past clients to see if all those little white lies you made them tell caught up with them…