Helping Your Boyfriend

Helping Your Boyfriend tells the story of Nina, a young woman confined to bed for an extended period due to a leg injury. She lives with Adrien Winchester, a doctor who always appears gentle and attentive toward his girlfriend. Outside of work, Adrien restores old dolls to give to children, and Nina helps him with the task. However, seemingly ordinary activities take a sinister turn as she begins to notice unsettling signs within their home.

Helping Your Boyfriend: Life with Adrien

Repairing dolls through horror-themed minigames

Helping Your Boyfriend puts you to work, not just reading dialog but taking part in doll-repairing minigames. You will have to work on different parts in the game, using tools such as scissors and scalpels. Follow on-screen instructions to cut threads or open sections, and to place components in the correct positions. The mechanics are simple, but the visuals encountered during the process make for an unsettling experience. Sometimes Nina sees things such as blood and organs, but Adrien tells her there is nothing wrong.

In between the minigames you can talk to Adrien and hear him talk about his work at the hospital. Even spookier stories like a surgery with a tumor with hair and teeth. Adrien also regularly gives Nina her medication, before she goes to sleep. But things change when a stranger shows up in the middle of the nite and gives her a pill. From that moment on, Nina begins to question everything she believed in.

Interactive dialogue and questionable choices

Helping Your Boyfriend blends visual novel-style dialogue with psychological horror elements. You follow the story through dialog, see how characters react and try to figure out what is really happening. Things that seem like small details like the phone number on Nina’s arm can turn out to be important clues. And she tries to keep this information from Adrien, unsure she can trust him.

Exploring the house and finding a way out

Searching for clues in the rooms

Once she's able to move about suddenly, Nina begins to explore parts outside of the bedroom. You must look at objects, check strange spots, and pay attention to things like family photos, locked doors, or a newspaper article about a recent murder. These discoveries make Adrien's story more and more puzzling. The game doesn't explain everything right away, so you must piece together clues to uncover the unsettling anomalies in Nina's life.

Evading Adrien and facing the truth

Some parts need to be fast while Adrien is not at home. You have a limited time to explore main areas and get back to your room before he comes back, spending too much time looking at objects could mean you fail to meet your objective. Later, it is revealed that the mysterious man is Adrien's younger brother, Ian Winchester. Ian says he also was a victim of Adrien, and Nina could be in trouble if she continues to trust her boyfriend.

Helping Your Boyfriend combines investigation, minigames and time-sensitive escape sequences to build tension. You need to pay attention to dialog, memorize clues and decide who to trust as the lines of Nina's memory become more and more blurred. If you’re looking for another game that needs focus and quick reflexes, try Mind the Gap.