You play as a spirited, nameable protagonist entering the elite boarding school of her dreams, Saint Sara Belle, in her junior year with the express purpose of dating some hot guys. However, her parents have only approved her enrollment for as long as she doesn't make everyone there hate her, as she had done in her previous school. Soon upon arrival, she learns that she's already been placed in the 'Jerk Squad', an after-school group of notorious unfriendables, complicating that deal...but at least the Squad has plenty of hot guys! Juggle your time between not only these Love Interests, but also side characters, optional after-school jobs, and even more side characters, and you might just get to graduation.
A Black Comedy spin-off, XOXO Blood Droplets, was released in 2019.
XOXO Droplets contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: The protagonist gives one to her official boyfriend, to the tune of some complaints for pretty much all of them.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Or accessories, rather. Accomplishing certain tasks in the full version nets you new accessories for the protagonist.
- Beach Episode: There's a school trip that takes place in a beach town. (Confirmed to be Sunset Bird as of Our Life: Beginnings and Always). Also, some dates take place at the beach, though whether it includes swimsuits depends on the season when the date takes place.
- Brain Bleach: At one point the characters play 'the type game', where you find out Jeremy wants a bellybutton piercing. If you say you're not interested in piercings (making the question moot anyway) the others react with the appropriate annoyance and disgust over having discovered this.
- Canon Name: Although the female protagonist is nameable, the default is "JB".
- Cheat Code: The creators have released a list of all the unlockable codes for use in-game. Some make the life sim parts of the game easier, while others are purely cosmetic.
- Class Trip: At the end of the first year in the game, a school trip takes place, featuring events where the protagonist interacts with the boy she's closest to (and gets an unlockable CG with him in his pajamas).
- Cosmetic Award: Unlocking some of the accessories could be counted as this, since some of them require getting particularly close to certain cliques... Or using cheat codes
- Determinator: The protagonist won't let anything stand in between her and her goal of capturing the hearts, or at least the attentions, of the boys, even if said obstacle is the boy himself.
- Downer Ending: The ending where the protagonist fails to endear herself to the student population and her parents pull her out of the school.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: One of the random events has Everett tell the protagonist that one of his friends asked for her number. It's possible to get this event even after he becomes your boyfriend, meaning that one of Everett's friends can ask him for his girlfriend's number.
- Guide Dang It!: Unlocking some of the accessories without using cheat codes is definitely this, since there's no way to know which accessories are unlocked with what actions/stats.
- Jerkass: All the main boys, in one way or another. Their group is even referred to as the ‘Jerk Squad'.
- The Many Deaths of You: Blood Droplets depicts the protagonist dying from bludgeoning, a bear trap, and other morbid instruments. To quote its store page, "The fun comes not from avoiding the potential horrors, but by seeing just how many ways things can go wrong."
- Multiple Endings: In the original Visual Novel, there's an ending for each potential guy you could end up with, as well as one for just being friends with the Jerk Squad. In Blood Droplets, there's an advertised total of 42 endings, most of which end in bloodshed.
- Non-Standard Game Over: The Downer Ending mentioned above.
- Pool Scene: One of the dates for some of the boys is at the pool, and unlike the beach this one will always have a swimsuit involved. However only some of the boys will have dates there - the other boys have to be taken to the beach if you want to see their swimsuits.
- Relationship Values: Alicia will tell you how much a boy likes you if you choose to call her. It takes certain amounts of affection before the boys will agree to be the protagonist's 'official boyfriend' as opposed to just casual dating, and just taking a boy on a date will drain his affection (though the tutorial notes it's not because he likes her any less, it's just that he needs more time before going out again).
- Schmuck Bait: In Blood Droplets. Go ahead, tell Shiloh that you're just using him as bait. It won't end badly at all.
- School Forced Us Together: A good portion of the jerks would refuse to associate with each other if not for the school forcing them into the same group together.
- Sequence Breaking: It's pretty clear that you're not meant to have a boyfriend before the second year, since the birthdays in the second year have different dialogue if you're dating the birthday boy in question while the first year's don't. Using cheats (or just focusing really intently on getting affection with your chosen boy) to get a boyfriend before then pretty much means this trope is in effect.
- You Lose at Zero Trust: Not with the boys (they won't admit they like you anyway) but if the rest of the student body dislikes the protagonist, it's a game over.
