When you first hear of Date Everything, you wouldn’t expect that you are able to date the concept of Nightmares. The mysterious shadow’s storyline is surprisingly touching, as with all the 102 Dateables in the game- which has some cleverly crafted, heartfelt backstories.

In the game, you play a character who received a package from a mysterious person after being fired. The package, a pair of glasses called Dateviator, allows you to interact with your household objects and form relationships. 

The personification of Nightmare itself, this Dateable creeps in under your skin with their haunting voice and unnerving appearance- resembling your sleep paralysis demon. Your dates consist of their efforts to scare you, whispering people’s worst fear in your ear with incredible detail. Due to this horror-filled experience with Nightmare, they are flagged as Content-Aware.

Content Aware is an in-game feature that allows players to skip storylines with sensitive content. If you choose to skip, you can decide which ending you want with that Dateable and instantly receive their Collectables and SPECS points. Nightmare is one of 17 Dateables that is marked as Content-Aware.

How To Unlock Nightmare

As they aren’t represented by any physical object, unlocking Nightmare is slightly more tricky than the others. When you go to sleep by the end of an in-game day, clicking the bed to sleep has a 3% chance of letting you meet Nightmare instead.

Alternatively, the game hints for you to drink coffee before bed as it will supposedly give you nightmares. To do this, interact with Kopi as the last Dateable for the day and drink the coffee that she usually offers at the end of her conversations. Doing this guarantees you a conversation with Nightmare.

The dark shadow has three different heads- a unicorn, snake and lion with a furry body covered in watchful eyes. There’s a mouth on their chest and teeth that is strung together wrapping around their waist. Nightmare delights in scaring you but when you’re not affected by their hauntings, they lose their sense of purpose.

How To Change Relationship Status

To successfully befriend or get them to love you, you will need to be mostly scared of them. If you are completely dismissive of her scares while getting to know her, the conversations might indicate that you have furthered your relationship but you will be locked out of a Friends/Love Ending. It will give you the Hate Ending instead. Some players have reported that this might be a bug due to the inconsistency in their storyline- but it has not been confirmed as of yet.

How To Get ‘Friends’ Status

It seems that to be Friends with Nightmare, you can choose to not be affected by their haunting from time to time. Open up to them about your fears and get to know them. This effort to try and understand them will win them over.

On the fifth interaction, Nightmare will try to scare you after realizing that they are no longer scary due to the progressing relationship between both of you. Choose ‘high-pitched scream’ to help them cope with this feeling of inadequacy. Tell them to ‘embrace whatever this is going to be’.

By the next interaction, they will have accepted the idea of a friendship, claiming that friends know each other better and can ‘hurt you just as deeply’. Respond with ‘Wait, are we friends?’. Then, when she offers the chance to be friends, tell her that you would love that.

You can also go down the Love route but choose to be friends instead.

How To Get ‘Love’ Status

Similar to the Friend route, you’ll need to open up to Nightmare about your fears and get to know them better at every opportunity. But to ensure this Love Ending, you have to be deathly afraid of her scares every time.

In the fifth interaction, choose ‘high-pitched’ scream when they scare you for the last time. Tell them to ‘embrace whatever this is going to be’.

The next interaction, Nightmare tells you they have thought about it and realised that having a relationship indicates that ‘you have something to lose’. Ask her, ‘When you have something to lose?’. You have the option to be friends here, but choose ‘a relationship?’ to go down the Love route. From here, anything you respond with will grant you the Love Ending.

How To Get ‘Hate’ Status

When you constantly undermine their attempts to scare you, they will start to feel insecure, questioning their purpose if they can’t scare someone. They will put the blame on you and claim to resume their hauntings with more fervor and hatred. Nightmare now Hate you.

You can also go down the Friend route but say that you want to be more than friends when they offer you friendship. When they say that it’s all they can offer, reply with ‘Do whatever you need to do.’

How To Get Nightmare’s Collectables

Throughout your interactions with a Dateable, you can collect items called Collectables. These can be unlocked through choosing specific dialogue options and may not be possible to complete in a single playthrough. There are 3 Collectables that you can collect by interacting with Nightmare. All of these are horrific dreams that she has crafted specifically of your fears.

Collectable #1

Tell Nightmare that you fear abandonment. In your next interaction, they will make you dream of being abandoned.

Collectable #2

Tell Nightmare that you fear failure. In your next interaction, they will make you dream of failing.

Collectable #3

Tell Nightmare that you fear mediocrity. In your next interaction, they will make you dream of being mediocre.

Nightmare’s Realization Recipe

When a Dateable’s storyline has been completed, you have the option to bring them to life by Realizing them. This unlocks an ending where you see how they live their lives as real human beings. To Realize them, you need a Realization Recipe- the amount of SPECS points required. Each Dateable has their own unique recipe.

To Realize Nightmare, you’ll need:

• Smarts: 45 points
• Poise: 100 points
• Empathy: 35 points
• Charm: 70 points
• Sass: 0 points

There are times when you will not be able to Realize Dateables, despite finishing their storylines and acquiring the SPECS points. This is due to their Unfurnished Business, a term that means they are needed to progress other Dateables’ storylines.