Video Game / Blush Blush

Lone wolf Volks, when he's not a...well, a wolf.

Blush Blush is a Unity Dating Sim Idle Game created by Sad Panda Studios as their second game, after Crush Crush. However, rather than wrecking the lives of various girls, you accidentally transform a variety of boys into animals and must turn them back to normal via True Love's Kiss. It's available for free on Steam, albeit in Early Access. There is also an NSFW DLC, under the name of Blush Blush: Uncut, available for purchasing or for players with the Panda Pass.

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This work provides examples of:

• Absurdly High Level Cap: The multiplier for resets caps at 14,000. Not even a fourth of that is required to reach the end point of the current build in a reasonable amount of time.
• Animesque: As its predecessor, the boys are all drawn in this style. Subverted in that while in animal form, they are more Disneyesque.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Interestingly, there have been some changes in this game that invoke this trope without them being implemented in Crush Crush.
  • There is no additional fee for buying gifts in bulk, as it was removed during a balancing update.
  • Sad Panda Studios has confirmed that the x64 boost that can be bought through diamonds will be its cap for the foreseeable future, as they believe players will want to work for the speed rather than buy it.
• Arc Number: Played for laughs, as it's 69.
  • Marshmallow's employee number in the zoo is #69247, or 69 24/7.
  • Anon needs 69 of two different gifts while romancing him.
  • 69 is a potential answer to Reece's math question, along with 42.
• Call-Back: Eli mentions seeing you on the street with Volks.
  • He's later on the receiving end when Scale mentions that a "unicorn" flirted with him on the subway.
• Cash Gate: As the love advances, so do the required gifts. Also notable is that the gifts for human form are different, and notably more expensive. Dates similarly get more expensive - in both money and time slots - as the boys are cured of their curses.
  • Anon in particular is notable in that his gifts are much more expensive than any of his predecessors and even a few of his successors before the maxed lover level.
• Continuity Cameo: There's a few from Crush Crush.
  • Volks' introduction has him saving you from an aggravated Bearverly.
  • A couple of the other Marshmallow people in Dmitri's introduction are dressed like Elle and Nina.
  • During Ichiban's introduction, a Marshmallow dressed like Mio is in line to get his autograph.
• Continuity Nod: Again, to Crush Crush.
  • Eli is canonically confirmed to be Iro's brother, while Anon is Nina's and Dmitri is Lotus'.
  • Poe mistakes Marshmallow's messages in his phone fling as responses from his phone's Sirina at first. He also mentions his professor being a science teacher moonlighting as an English literature one, which Miss Desirée happens to be doing according to her final CG.
• Distracted by the Sexy: The exact reason why the whole plot begins in the first place is that the main character was distracted by two boys having a go at each other. This is only revealed in the uncensored version.
• Eastern Zodiac: The main twelve boys each correspond to an animal from the Zodiac, but with a twist, such as a pegasus instead of an ordinary horse.
• Everyone Is Bi: In spite of some characters implied to have a preference for one or the other, everyone ultimately ends up liking a Marshmallow of either gender.
• Fame Gate: Dmitri, William and Scale all require a certain amount of reset bonus to progress through their relationships.
• Feather Fingers: Most of the boys comment on how hard it is to keep with with their routines lacking human like hands with the exception of Eli. He is playing on hard mode with his hooves but is easily able to hold drinks and eat popcorn.
• Forced Transformation: The game's inciting incident is you getting distracted by hot guys visiting the zoo and giving them magical transformation water instead of the regular kind, which turns them all into various talking animals.
• Good Luck Charm: Garret's lucky underwear. Unfortunately, it does not protect said wearer from magic spells.
• I Have This Friend: Nimh at Crush level:
  Nimh: Hey! You remember all those activities we were doing when I was a rabbit? Are you still interested in doing them with an almost-rabbit? I'm...asking for a friend?
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Part of the humor of the game is mocking the silly or cliché situation they found themselves in.
  • Dmitri at the acquaintance level.
    Dmitri: Not to sound ungrateful for your help, my little bird, but I don't suppose you could hurry this process up a little, yes? Perhaps with a generous purchase of diamonds...
• Lighter and Softer: Comparatively tamer than Crush Crush, with no dark evil that has to be eliminated (in fact, one of the Phone Flings is a demon that takes a liking to the player quickly).
  • Unlike Ayano, Cole doesn't murder a potential boy during his intro, instead killing a non-magical goldfish. A decent number of the boys don't take his threats seriously... if they even see him as a threat.
• Little Bit Beastly: After the kiss, the boys take on this form until reaching Lover status, when they become fully human again.
• Magikarp Power: The Farmer job starts out slow as molasses with only ten dollars worth of pay and requires fifty Time Blocks to work. At max level, it's automated, gives five billion worth of pay, and only requires five Time Blocks to work.
• Masquerade Ball: A possible date option after reaching Lover status, which shows the boys dressed up and either wearing or holding a mask relating to their former transformation.
• Must Have Caffeine: What Eli lives on after all-nighters and massive benders.
  Eli: I need electrolytes and caffeine stat. I may have partied a little too hardy last night, if you know what I mean.
• Mythology Gag: When Ichiban levels up above lover level, he'll say, "If I was in your shoes, I probably would've lasted 3 days tops." Markiplier played Blush Blush in order to see Ichiban, the character supposedly based on him, and managed to get him into human form in just under 3 days.
• Naked First Impression: Reece's first images in both versions of the game, due to being Naked on Arrival. Of course, there's a Scenery Censor in the SFW version.
  • Poe realizes too late that he's sent a picture of himself completely in the buff to a random person instead of his phone assistant in the NSFW version. He has boxer briefs on in the SFW version.
• Play Every Day: Get 7 or 14 days in a row for a pinup. There's also usually a daily bonus diamond, which takes an hour and a few time blocks.
• Pun: Loaded with them, with a lot of the characters having a fondness for it both in gameplay and dialogue. For instance, one of Eli's requests is for 314 pies.
• Rescue Romance: Volks and Kelby are both introduced saving the player from something; Bearverly and drowning, respectively.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Eli is not impressed by your fashion choices and invites (read: forces) you on a shopping trip.
• Scotireland: Anon has a very thick accent that seems to combine mannerisms from both countries.
• Shirtless Scene: The reward for reaching Lover level is a shirtless picture of the boy spread out on a couch. In the SFW version, at least.
• Shout-Out: Wouldn't be a Sad Panda game without loads of these, most of which are related to their animal forms.
  • Nimh gets invited to a tea party with a guy in a top hat and a dormouse.
  • Anon is really annoyed at people yelling Zoboomafoo at him.
  • Garret is a lumberjack who got turned into a big blue bull.
  • Still in his boar form, Dmitri will say Hakuna Matata.
  • Dmitri also mentions befriending a spider who calls him "some pig".
  • Upon getting Ichiban's friendship photo, he (as a tiger) says you're GRRRRRRRREAT!
  • Even if you don't count Eli's rainbow-maned Pegasus, Garret still says he always knew that friendship is magic.
  • William makes frequent references to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
• Smells Sexy: Your pheromones smell "pretty hot" to Volk.
• Spear Counterpart: The whole game theme is one to Crush Crush.
• The Power of Friendship: Conversed, discussed, and invoked.
  Garrett: So are you saying that, somehow, through the power of friendship, you can break the curse?
  • The Power of Love, on the other hand, is what really breaks the curse. It is similarly lampshaded and discussed.
    Anon: So yer sayin' that "feels = reals" or soma nonsense, and the power of love and friendship is gonna change me back? I cannae believe I'm stuck in some weeaboo bullshit fantasy game.
• Tickle Torture: When the boys are at maxed hearts and still in beast form, they tend to complain about being tickled. They don't seem to mind as much once human again.
• True Love's Kiss: Upon reaching the midpoint in your relationship with a guy, a (non-love) kiss makes them a Little Bit Beastly, with another relationship upgrade and kiss further on completely curing them.
• You All Look Familiar: Anyone who isn't the boy in question is an amorphous Marshmallow blob with clothes and accessories.

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