Courage for a Kiss
I’ve been given a pre-release copy of this game by the developer (I’ve experienced his previous two VNs, Jake’s Love Story and Nekokoro in similar circumstances) and I have to say, its definitely their best work yet. Like the previous ones, it’s a very simple high school romance story, spiced up by a few unusual gimmicks, but at its core very tame and by-the-numbers. What definitely improved, however, is the execution – the pacing of the story is very consistent and it doesn’t feel rushed despite frequent time skips. The heroines are likeable, even if their routes are too similar to each other and the setting feels alive thanks to the author’s usual attention to detail – many details you learn along the way and minor desitions you make gets referenced later down the line. The aforementioned gimmick, this time taking the form of a school play that evolves according to your choices – it’s very fun to observe both subtle and very-not-subtle differences in how it plays out for each path you take.
– Real player with 14.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Multiple Endings Games.
A nice little VN. Contains a couple of gimmicks, such as the play, which admittedly does change depending on your choices, but it’s not that interesting IMO.
The other gimmick is the trademark telltale popup stating someone will remember that. It doesn’t really do anything, since you can tell what 80% of choices will lead to without it.
It has plenty of typos, but they won’t bother you unless you’re a grammar nazi. Characters in the game are nice and flushed out in their own routes. There’s plenty of jokes, some good some not so good, but none of them terrible. The writing overall is pretty good with some cheesy lines here and there.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
Elisa: the Innkeeper
This has been a bag of mixed feelings. I appreciate the art and music. CGs are plentiful enough & no critical moment looks ignored. But the characters, the effing characters man, nearly everyone is a stiff stereotype too absorbed in their own way to ever break out of their molds. Moreover, the ‘good endings’ aren’t satisfying at all. Just one last decision at the end completely flips these characters who rigth up until then will have been acting like their way is unconditionally the right way, just to bring about that ‘good’ conclusion. I don’t know, maybe this is how the devs intended the plot and characters to be, but it soured my overalll experience somewhat :(
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Multiple Endings Games.
As far as Visual Novels go, this one has to be the most feature packed. The replayability is boosted by the ability to control the behaviors of not just the “main character” but all the supporting characters as well. Making one character a pervert, and making that same character smart and good natured in another playthrough.
There is one thing that bothers me though, and that is the Knight.
Possible Spoiler Warning
! The Prince is short tempered and stubborn, and the Merchant is level-headed but flaunts his wealth. Supposedly, the Knight was meant to be something in between these two extremes. Elisa even comments that the fact that he refuses to flirt with her makes her wants to try even harder… then within the next 10 minutes of game, he is already falling over himself to keep her around. He knows nothing about her, and she knows nothing about him. There was no character development, and yet he has become a totally different person just in the time it took her to change his bed sheets.
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
My Dream Sport Dating Simulator
Stop that! It’s silly!
What the hell was this? Sport dating… as in dating sports… After dating pigeons, cats, bunnies, monsters… eh, why not? It could be fun, I thought. It could be wacky, I thought. Well, it was wacky alright, so forcefully wacky that it wasn’t much fun at all. My Dream Sport Dating Simulator is a comedy game, but my god, I don’t think I laughed once.
You’re a sport(!) and you enroll the school for sports to become the next big thing. Then you meet others and hilarity ensues :| That’s it. That’s the story. Except, I didn’t find it very hilarious. Oh, and this is supposedly a dating sim. Well, there’s no dating either. There are 7 characters you can interact with and they will react positively or not to your choices (so like ‘love points’ in a dating sim), but ‘routes’ are extremely short. To get one ending for a character takes 20-30 minutes. The ‘dating’ consists of random jokes, some references and a lot of 4th wall breaking. You also get one mini game per route of varying annoyingness. Actually I loved the 80s training montage and the library one.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Singleplayer Games.
Great writing, very funny and witty.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Crimson Gray: Dusk and Dawn
Very fun and interesting little VN. Like the first game, your perception of the world and even your decisions are influenced by your characters mental problems, this time Lizzie’s instead of John’s, allowing you to see some parts of Lizzie’s character you only got hints of in the first game. Whereas the Crimson Gray had a lot of action segments, Dusk and Dawn is very heavily Slice of Life based in genre which builds into the life John and Lizzie are trying to develop for themselves. If you enjoyed the first game, you’ll absolutely love this sequel, since it really expands the story and your understanding of the characters. If you’re concerned with playtime, my initial playthrough was between 3 and 3.5 hours, and I’ve spent an extra 2 hours or so trying to sort out all the alternate routes, of which there are many due to this games high level of variance. Given the extremely reasonable pricing, I’d recommend this game to anyone who enjoys warped romance or psychological games, though I’d play the original Crimson Gray first so that you understand John’s character.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Honestly, I was actually somewhat disappointed by this one. After wracking my brain for hours trying to find the correct path(s) in the original, this sequal was just too easy. When I read that there would be “an emphasis on unreliable narration”, I expected to story to be more unhinged: that I would be seeing the world from Lizzie’s deranged perspective and and be unable to tell what was real and what was Lizzie being her normal unhinged self. I thought it would be much like the first game, where I was making life-or-death decisions on woefully-lacking information, except that in this game, instead of being unsure what Lizzie was thinking or how to best respond to that, I wouldn’t ever be sure if I was responding to the circumstances I thought I was.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Elisa: Seduce the Innkeeper
Below the dashes was written earlier. I’ve now played more of this, as well as other visual novels. The pace of this one is extremely slow, with a text speed that won’t adjust (though the setting is there, it seems to do nothing). Additionally, each scene lasts for many more lines of dialogue than I am used to, and the autoplay and skip are both still moving at the text display speed, just without having to click to move to the next. The adult patch does work after I installed it correctly (I had the wrong folder originally, but that was my fault), and the art is not bad, and is more explicit than even patched Huniepop. Still, the pace leaves me cold.
– Real player with 31.9 hrs in game
The english translation could use a better localizer to be honest. a good few times the wording felt off. the MC felt like a pretty creepy dude at times like the kind you don’t want to see irl. The art excellent for the most part. just a few scenes i think could have used more color mainly the countryside one felt bland(more flowers preferably). I enjoyed the girls this is just after my first playthrough where i got rebecca and caterina. if you can stomache Alfonso’s ceepiness and just downright predatory attitude and date some anime babes go for it. I did enjoy despite it’s flaws. but to the devs please get a better localizer for your content maybe spend a little more time in the story writing room and i think with your visuals you could really hit it out of the park if you fixed a few of your writing mistakes and the MCs attitude.
– Real player with 6.4 hrs in game
La Memoire
La Mémoire is a futuristic visual novel about longing and the struggle to bring back lost memories, set in a future where humans live alongside androids.
Story
The story takes place in the near future, where scientists and innovators have created near-perfect androids to help humans with their daily necessities. At first, they were only produced to help people in their homes, but then slowly began to penetrate the industrial sector as workers. Soon, they were replacing humans. Many were satisfied, but many were not. People began protesting against the use of androids in the industrial sector, resulting in a destructive revolt against androids by humans.
This led to severe damage in the industrial market. For the first time in widespread human history, human rights won over deeply corrupt leaders and governments, as there was nothing those in power could do to suppress the protests of the people, who had nothing to lose from the androids having taken their livelihood.
Today, androids are limited to performing housework or helping elderly people, focusing only on serving humans. Even though laws were passed prohibiting the use of androids beyond certain situations, there remains a black market for people who attempt to use broken androids for activities like manufacturing weapons, illegal dealings, and other shady activities. Thus, the world still is not truly at peace.
After Inazuma Kazuya lost his mother for unknown reasons, his father, a renowned scientist, took Kazuya to another city. But before Kazuya left, he promised to play with his friend Kotobuki Risu for the last time, only to find her killed in a car accident right in front of his eyes. Losing both his mother and his friend brought Kazuya trauma, which he blamed himself for.
Years passed, and Kazuya decided to move back to Ringo City and enroll in a private high school, Kiyoku High School. He determined that he was going to find peace for himself at last, thinking that he couldn’t live with such guilt forever. He lives in a mixed dorm with his new friends: Asami Mao, an energetic yet caring girl; and a mysterious girl with a penchant for music, Kamome Saaya.
For a time, Kazuya’s life went smoothly. Slowly but surely, he began to come to terms with all that had happened in his past and started to make peace with himself. But things turn upside down suddenly when Kazuya sees his once dead childhood friend. His hand suddenly shivers and his face turns white. All the memories about his childhood friend, accompanied by the guilt, sweep over him like a torrent in a deep sea. Kazuya then approaches the girl and abruptly asks her about everything he can. Much to Kazuya’s surprise, the girl doesn’t seem to know him. She only introduces herself as Kotobuki Risu. Her voice, her crimson-red eyes, her gesture, and everything else is just the same. Kazuya is positive that she is Risu herself. But why doesn’t she remember him?
Features
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Multiple Routes and Endings
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20+ CGs
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8-10 Hours of Gameplay
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Beautiful OST
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Windows, OSX, & Linux Support
Inazuma Kazuya
An infamous transfer student known for his cool, composed, yet kind attitude. Everyone also knows him as someone who is ‘not so good academically, but godly in physical activities’; something proven his participation in many sports clubs, which to this day beg him to join them or be a temporary member of their tournaments. Despite his childhood traumas, he returned to Ringo City to make peace with himself and his past, not knowing he’d meet his supposedly dead childhood friend, Risu, once more.
Kotobuki Risu
The supposedly once-dead childhood friend of Kazuya. She was turned into an android by her father because her father still wanted to see her smile, even in death. She lost all of her emotions and memories in the process, leaving her but an empty vessel of a ‘living’ android. She may appear precious and fragile, but under her cute and doll-like appearance, she is actually the strongest android in existence.
Asami Mao
Her smile is her best quality, and it’s something that everyone in Kiyoku High School can tell you. Rumor has it she can melt even the coldest heart, Asami Mao. Besides her cheerful, caring, and energetic nature, she has an abundant love for felines. She is also a good engineer—she has a penchant for building cute feline robots. How perfect can she be? None would seem to doubt her perfection; that is, unless they happen to know about the hollowness of it all. Her encounters with Kazuya changes her little by little, as she gradually feels that Kazuya has the same pain as she does.
Kamome Saaya
A mysterious elegant girl who barely talks and has a sharp gaze. Because of her dark stare, people often mistake her for being angry. She often got into problems because of this, mainly with upperclassmen. She dreams of becoming a great musician just like her mother once was. However, she struggles with this dream because of her own traumas.
Kotobuki Ryuu
A newly transferred student who takes the entire school by storm. He immediately overthrows Kazuya’s position as the most influential and popular student in school. Compared to Kazuya, Ryuu can seemingly do anything slightly better, and even more, he’s not a dimwit like Kazuya, and he is arguably more charming.
Kazuya isn’t bothered by Ryuu’s existence however, or so he tells himself. Yet, Ryuu claims to be Risu’s older problem, something Kazuya can’t accept - not just because of him knowing her so well, but because he can’t remember her even having siblings in the first place. Ryuu seems to know everything about Risu however, and has decided to help Risu regain all her memories together with Kazuya - but what is his real plan?
LoveSick Darlings
LoveSick Darlings is a grounded, realistic, emotional story about a close group of friends at school growing up and trying to understand their own feelings - as well as the feelings of those around them. You play as Syd, a sixteen-year old boy who goes to Foster Hill High - a school in a quiet Australian town. The school year is coming to a close and Syd has to decide whether he confesses his feelings to his crush - all this while juggling the several other friendships and potential love interests in his life.
Such as Maisy, the wild and outgoing girl who lives on the same street as Syd and calls him her “best friend.”
Jayda, the sweet and awkward artsy weeb who loves anime and video games and thinks the world of Syd.
And of course the cool and intellectual Steph, who loves books and music… and who happens to be the person that Syd has been crushing on all year.
Spend time with these characters in a close-knit friendship group over the last four weeks of school, developing your friendships potentially into something more! But be careful, each decision you make can affect the entire friendship group. Spend too much time with one character, and another may get jealous. Or say something mean to someone, and someone else may think less of you for it. Or alternatively: maybe if you say something mean, another character might like you more for it! LoveSick Darlings is packed with group conversations where you get to know characters by watching how they interact with others as well as yourself.
Determine the fate of Syd and all his friends as you help him make some of the hardest decisions in his life. Choose whether to confess your feelings, accept or deny the feelings of others, sabotage or repair broken friendships, and get to know Syd’s friends in a way that he never did before. Enjoy these last few weeks of the school year while they last, and make your limited time count to the fullest!
And ultimately decide: who will you ask out to the school dance?
Game Features:
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An engaging and emotional story rooted in reality and real relationships
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Gorgeous original sprite artwork
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Romance multiple different characters
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Characters with agency and who react in natural ways to your decisions, giving them more impact
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Week and day system where you choose how you spend your limited free time!
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Original soundtrack with 25+ songs
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30+ CG artworks
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Develop close relationships bit-by-bit with each character as you spend more and more time with them!
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No set “routes.” The game seamlessly flows between events and scenarios based off of your decisions in a natural way
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Multiple unique outfits for each heroine
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Highly customized playthroughs featuring dozens of variables that make each “ending” unique
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15 hours of gameplay per run - with dozens more hours in alternate endings and scenarios!
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Comprehensive “Player Review” system that assesses your relationships at the end of each play-through! It also tells you what each character thinks of you by the end, how to get other results, and maybe even hints at a few secrets!
And not to mention an increible cast of artists and creatives working on this game!
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Ippers: Original character design and sprite artist. They’ve done so much work for this game. You will notice their distinct style has given LoveSick Darlings its completely unique visual identity. This game simply wouldn’t be here without them.
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Phiphi: CG artist. Phi has done a great job of showing the characters in LoveSick Darlings in all kinds of situations and bringing their personalities to life in their artwork.
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Edhelsen: Colouring. They’re responsible for all the vibrant colours and little touches you can see on the sprites for LoveSick Darlings. Their work is amazing, and they’re an amazing person too.
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Maddy: UI and misc asset artist. She did several UI and text box elements. Made the logo, and did original art for sections of the story and various icons!
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Awan: Promotional artist. Has done a ton of additional promotional art for LoveSick Darlings!
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Tim Reichert: The offiicial composer for LoveSick Darlings and countless other VN hits!
Voice Actors:
LoveSick Darlings also features an all-Australian all-star voice cast! This game features partial voice acting from all these talents.
Voice of Maisy Anderson: Aimee Smith. The energy and passion Aimee brings to a character as big as Maisy is unmatched!
Voice of Jayda Silvestri: Emily Goeman. Her performance as Jayda is filled with so much love and care.
Voice of Stephanie Azoulai: Sarah Kennedy . The cool and kind Steph comes to life with Sarah’s wonderful and considered take on her troubled character.
Voice of Sydney Ivankovic: Alec Shea. Last but not least, Alec brings it home voicing our young and hesitant hero.
… Oh, um, and also me I guess! I am the writer, director, producer, and pretty much everything else you can think of for this game!
NOTE:
The game is still in production you encounter any bugs or issues in the demo at all, let me know ASAP. Contact me over Twitter (@LoveSickDarling) or via Steam, and I will make sure that it gets fixed :)
One Spirit
One Spirit is a coming-of-age visual novel set in an alternate timeline where the Cold War drags on into the 21st century. Exploring various political, cultural and philosophical themes, the game presents an engaging, thought-provoking thriller through the eyes of a group of marginal teenagers, their doubts, struggles and hopes.
In 2003, the Iron Curtain stands tall. The superpowers of the new age wage a silent war through the means of information, economy, culture and proxy. As the Cold War slows to a crawl, the Sysican Republic, a pro-Western satellite state in Eastern Europe, finds itself on the verge of political death as radicalism, conspiracy and war loom overhead.
One Spirit follows Yuri Danilin, an 18-year-old young man disenchanted with life, as he returns to his modest hometown in Nevilyovsk, Eastern Sysica. Having failed in his studies at the capital, he reunites with his sister knowing their time apart has changed both permanently. When news of a known local activist disappearing spread through the town, Yuri soon finds himself at the center of a downward spiral of violence.
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Uncover a deep and engaging story, set in an original world where the Iron Curtain hasn’t fallen, inspired by real events and reflections on them: experience the bleak feel of a war too long fought.
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See the world through the eyes of an alienated youth — casual but complex personalities set in a path of self-discovery and self-affirmation in a world that has robbed them of a future.
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Delve into six different subplots branching from the main story.
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Every subplot has a unique dynamic you engage with by making choices, efforts and sacrifices. Subplots develop a wide variety of topics stemming from Yuri’s fatal years of 2003 and 2004, from the intimacies of friendship to the secrecies of Sysica’s ideological underground.
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Decide carefully how to spend your time in Nevilyovsk: days are a limited resource. Your priorities and preferences will increasingly mark your journey.
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Enjoy high choice responsiveness, as the game’s slightest details react to your smallest choices.
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Explore over 30 different environments to reveal new details, points of view and events.
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Take part in a philosophical journey about human history, society, struggle and life, with roots in contemporary critical theory, psychoanalysis and existentialism, among other similar and dissident traditions.
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Dive into this grey world through a high-quality art style that evokes the melancholic, nostalgic feel of post-socialist Sysica.
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Explore hours upon hours of worldbuilding detail: a unique Slavic theme, a constructed language, a simulated history and a culture imagined from the ground up.
Real Life Plus Ver. Kaname Komatsuzaki
UI looks like a shitty eroge from 2002. Bad voice acting and audio quality, trash ass soundtrack that you should probably turn all the way down in order to enjoy the game. can’t go full screen properly, released in 2020 by the way. very short. you can probably 100% in about an hour (I have 7+ hours because I tend to jerk off)
CG is not too bad though, would definitely recommend playing with the patch, otherwise, shitty ass game definitely not worth $13, not when games like NEKOPARA are $10 and are on sale every few weeks.
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
Read the full review here: https://saveorquit.com/2020/06/27/review-real-life-plus-ver-kaname-komatsuzaki/
Decensor Patch here (NSFW): https://denpasoft.com/collections/all-games/products/real-life-plus-ver-kaname-komatsuzaki-18-dlc
Although this is a “dating sim” visual novel, the bulk of the story takes place when the characters are children, starting from 1999. The game wants to make you very aware of what year it is, because the characters' dialogue largely consists of pop culture references to movies, video games, and anime that came out in the specific year that the story is currently set in. (For example, in 1999, the main character Kouichi can try to talk Kaname into coming to see the YuGiOh movie with him when she wants to see The Sixth Sense.)
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game
SaGa SCARLET GRACE: AMBITIONS™
This game is brilliant - cuts out basically all the chaff that wastes time in so many games - you get from “what’s next” to “slaying fiends” as quick as I’ve seen in a turn based RPG with this amount of quality to its storytelling (that is to say, a cultivated world that is not a roguelike).
Inventory management is fairly streamlined, mostly improving gear periodically (burdenless “loot management”) - game holds your hand through much of the learning process, try to avoid guides and go a few hours to start and learn as you go - losing is fun! and game autosaves errytime you do a thing, and you can reattempt immediately with a minor boost regardless.
– Real player with 632.9 hrs in game
Personally, I like this game. I can’t recommend it for everyone or even most of you. If you go in hoping it’ll be like a previous SaGa game, you may be disappointed. If you go in expecting a traditional-themed JRPG, you may be disappointed. If you go in thinking there’s no way you can’t die five times in the first 30 minutes, you may be disappointed, but enough of the ways you’ll be disappointed and bring dishonor to your family my dear Urpina. Onward to what I like and a little story.
The game is touch screen, mouse, keyboard-only, and gamepad friendly. The soundtrack has been wonderful.
– Real player with 208.7 hrs in game