Itโs a Whole New World!
Depending on who you ask, Yandere Simulator is either an awesome game concept with an understandably-long development cycle, or a patreon-funded content machine thatโs kept people hooked for a suspiciously long wait. But regardless of how you feel, everyone can agree that the gameโs taken a bit too long to come out of the oven. This opinion was shared an expressed by YandereDev, the gameโs creator, in a video that served as a teaser for what was to come.
Entitled โPreparing You For Tomorrowโs Announcementโ, YandereDevโs video briefly summarized the difficulties faced by Yandere Simulatorโs development over the past few years, before a sudden realization and a fade to black hints that a solution may have been found. If the problem was a never-ending demand for new AI patterns, assets, unique mechanics, etcโฆ naturally, a workaround would be to change the scope of the game โ building something that didnโt require all the shiny new features a full game would demand. The newly-added โ1980s modeโ seeks to be that experience.
In the new 1980s Mode, you play as the mother of the main gameโs protagonist, and discover that a 40-year time gap doesnโt really mean much in the face of anime โromanceโ tropes. Youโre faced with a full suite of rivals for you to work through, and can finally play through something resembling a fully developed game.
The modeโs retro aesthetic is on-point, and provides a stark contrast to Yandere Simulatorโs primary experience. It still has a few carry-over assets from the main game, some of which are hilariously modern for a supposedly-80s style, but given the modeโs intent as a quick lore-friendly showcase of what Yandere Simulator is capable of, itโs understandable that a few things were rushed out the door.