I don’t consider big new features for Yandere Simulator very often. Each big new feature means 2~4 weeks of writing code, in addition to all of the time that will be spent fixing whatever bugs are discovered. However, it’s actually a bit inaccurate to call this a “new” feature, since I’ve been planning to include it in the game for quite some time; if you want proof, just talk to Budo Matsuda and ask him to explain the purpose of the Martial Arts Club.

What exactly am I talking about? This video will spell it out for you:

Because Yandere Simulator is intended to be a stealth game, it’s not really the sort of game that you would expect to contain a beat-em-up combat system. Killing people in Yandere Simulator is meant to be a one-button affair, with the character’s current level of sanity affecting the length of the attack animations. However, I still believe that, even in a game like Yandere Simulator, there are situations that call for non-lethal violence.

The delinquents are the biggest reason to include a non-lethal combat system. Fighting a delinquent should feel different than fighting a normal student, or else delinquents have no reason to be a separate class of character. There’s no reason for Yandere-chan to kill them, since they would report her for murder but wouldn’t report her if she beat them up. Delinquents are also much tougher than normal students, so they are the only characters who might conceivably have “health bars”, making them prime candidates for a combat system that requires multiple successful strikes.

The reasons don’t stop there, though. If every rival’s “personal problem” (such as a loan shark) can only be solved through one method, the game wouldn’t have much replay value. However, if every rival’s personal problem can be solved through various methods, then the player will feel more inspired to replay the game and solve each girl’s problems in every way possible. Beating up students would just get Yandere-chan expelled, but beating up people outside of school won’t necessarily have the same consequence, so a non-lethal combat system would be helpful for adding extra rival-elimination scenarios to the game, thus adding more replay value.

Furthermore, let’s talk about Yandere Simulator’s biggest flaw; it’s a stealth game that takes place in one environment. One environment! That’s going to get old really fast, unless we have:

A second large environment (small town outside of school).

Other environments where Yandere-chan must travel in order to complete an objective.

These other environments should probably be small, so that the game isn’t delayed for a year while tons of elaborate environments are built. If the environments are too small to use stealth in, but large enough to fight in, then the most sensible use for them would probably be combat arenas. No matter how I look at it, the game would benefit from “missions” about leaving school to beat up a group of people as part of a larger scheme that will ultimately eliminate a rival.

At least, that’s the way I see it. If the game’s fanbase feels like beat-em-up combat would be too out-of-place in this game, or like it would delay the game for way too long to justify its inclusion, then I’ll probably avoid it.

Just keep in mind that if we don’t get a beat-em-up system, the delinquents will have to be fought using Quick Time Events instead.