The Sweet and Unethical Business of Selling Feelings, One Donut at a Time

Daily Games

09/04/2026

The sizzle of dough hitting hot oil is a familiar sound, but in the world of High Times, it’s the prelude to something more. Imagine a near-future where the hottest new controlled substance isn’t a pill or a drink, but the mood-altering compounds baked into a donut. You’re not just a baker; you’re a licensed “Mood Confectioner,” and your shop, The Hotbox, is the stage for a story about romance, business, and emotional manipulation.

A Shop Full of Ghosts and Sprinkles

This is the premise of the upcoming visual novel from Filipino studio Yangyang Mobile. At the start, you’re left to manage the shop with nothing but plain vanilla dough after the owner sells off the expensive ingredients for a honeymoon. Your job is to rebuild, one customer at a time. But these aren’t just any patrons. They are your exes.

Inspired by the vendor-based gameplay of VA-11 Hall-A and the vibrant, ex-filled world of Scott Pilgrim, the game parades a cast of charming, fully-voiced past lovers through your door. There’s the punk rocker MJ Hayes, the peppy cheerleader Emmette Meine, and your rival confectioner, Harry Yen. As a canonically bisexual protagonist, you can flirt, troll, or try to genuinely reconnect with every person who walks in, navigating a web of shared histories and lingering feelings.

More Than Just a Dating Sim

Your role extends far beyond that of a simple vendor. You’re an amateur therapist with a fryer. When a customer is feeling down, do you give them the blueberry donut that encourages sincerity, or the white berry that makes them vulnerable and open? You can use these mood-enhancers to your romantic advantage, but you’re also meant to listen to their problems and prescribe the feeling you think they need. It’s a messy, compelling power to wield.

This strange world is made more tangible by its cheeky, self-aware writing. Characters get their coffee fix from “Starducks,” order supplies from “Hamazon,” and check their “Facenook” notifications. This consistent rebranding of our reality makes the game’s uncanny premise feel grounded. It’s a world full of jokes, but a serious tension lies just beneath the frosting.

High Times works best when it leans into that central conflict: you aren’t just flirting; you’re actively manipulating how people feel. In this pastel-colored world, the game seems poised to ask a genuinely thoughtful question about how we try, and often fail, to “fix” each other. It has the potential to be more than just a horny, easygoing dating sim; it could be a story that lingers long after the sugar rush fades.

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