Game is officially published by KFC, promises a romance that will make you want to lick your fingers.

Last week, Pizza Hut Japan quietly launched the Tsundere Pizza, with enough passive-aggressive love to please even SoraNews24’s biggest otaku. But the Tsundere Pizza isn’t the only crossover anime-inspired fast food innovation happening.

Feast your eyes on this lovingly produced teaser video for a dating simulator in which the main love interest is a hot and handsome culinary student…who also happens to be KFC founder and front man Colonel Sanders.

But here’s where things get really weird. I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator isn’t a video-only parody, nor is it an unofficial, cease-and-desist-order-inviting fan game like Pokémon Uranium. It’s a full-fledged, professionally produced game that’s actually being published by KFC!

Developed by Psyop (who previously created 2016’s VR fortune-telling game Kismet and 2018’s magical summer camp story Camp W), I Love You, Colonel Sanders! puts the player in the role of an aspiring chef attending the same cooking academy as the smooth-faced Colonel Sanders. Other characters you’ll meet include haughty, cleavage-showing Aeshleigh, flamboyantly-posing Van Van, childhood friend Miriam, and Professor Dog, a dog that apparently teachers you how to cook.

▼ “Dog-approved” doesn’t seem like a high hurdle for would-be professional chefs to clear, but maybe Professor Dog has a particularly cultured palate.

Along the path to graduation, the developers are promising cooking battles, “battle battles,” a potential romance with the Colonel, and multiple endings. Oh, and the game’s list of features also, naturally, includes “11 herbs and spices.”

Much like a batch of chicken that needs just a little more time in the deep fryer, I Love You, Colonel Sanders! isn’t quite ready for consumption yet. KFC says the game will be ready for download through Steam on September 24, though, so you’ll be able to satisfy your hunger for the Colonel soon enough.

▼ No word on whether building enough romance points allows you to start calling Sanders by his first name, Harland, or, -gasp-, something even more intimate, like “Har-chan❤.”

Oddly enough, despite the obvious Japanese animation/video game influences on display (the teaser video is even filled with Japanese text), I Love You, Colonel Sanders! Steam page currently says the game will not have a Japanese-language mode, and is an English-only affair. Hopefully Psyop and KFC will add Japanese-language support somewher down the line, though, especially with Colonel Sanders being such a popular figure in Japan.

Related: I Love You, Colonel Sanders! on Steam
Source: YouTube/KFC via Hachima Kiko, Steam
Top image: YouTube/KFC
Insert images: YouTube/KFC, Steam
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he wonders if Bob’s Big Boy will eventually be added to the game as a DLC character/route.