LoveChoice
A brief review based on first impressions. A complete one will follow up soon.
If you looking for a beautiful and touching love story, you should check this one game asap.
Believe me on this one, you won’t be disappointed.
A big story starts from a friendly conversation on gamedev con, and you’ll be given choices as it unfurls, as well as some kind of “hints” regarding to what to do or what to say. But it’s not only about the dialogs, I was amazed that sometimes you’ll need to look for clues or “active points” right inside of… action area, where our heroes are in the game’s window. Please, do not use guides or walkthroughs, just try and find solutions by yourself. It’s not too hard, and satisfaction is guaranteed.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dating Sim Choices Matter Games.
First when i read the reviews on the store page, I saw that people said they have cried with this game so I thought that there are some deep story or good Characterization in this game but the game doesn’t have a personality of its own. Its not clear that the game wants to tell a real story or wants just a story to play with our emotion. At the first story you see some tips to use on your real life relations but the story itself is far far away from being real, for the second story (which I have real experience in a long distance relationship) the story of game sounds like Hollywood movies and it doesn’t make sense with the tips in the game at all but its the best story in the game and touches some emotions. after all the last story is even the worst one and besides the very very bad story and story telling, its one of the worst P&C games i ever played.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Tricolour Lovestory
Firstly, in the event SakuraGame developers read these reviews, I hope to communicate my only disappointment in this title. The translation is simply terrible. Much of the text consists of idioms and literal word-for-word translation of the original language. I was able to get a sense of what was happening, but I feel I missed at least half of the potential impact this game is capable of delivering.
All else aside, Tricolour Lovestory is a bit of a hidden treasure and a rather intricate slice-of-life tale that packs an unexpected emotional punch. We are introduced to a protagonist who had suffered a lifetime of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse at the hands of his overbearing and controlling parents. The story begins with the MC recalling a fierce confrontation between himself and “them” where all ties his world outside the home are viciously torn away from him and burned before his eyes. An emergency at the factory where his father works forces “them” to move far across the country and leave the MC to fend for himself. We follow through his daily life as he explores the meaning of concepts previously foreign to him, such as love, friendship, loyalty, and freedom.
– Real player with 96.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dating Sim Mature Games.
When I first bought this game, I had skepticism on whether this may be one of those poorly made, cheap, cash grab Chinese games that you tend to see flooding the Steam store nowadays. But I was proven wrong, very wrong. After completing both Daisy and Violet’s route in about 60-ish hours, I can say that this is probably one of the BEST Chinese made visual novels you can get your hands on for a relatively cheaper price to the Japanese counterparts.
Quality-wise, the game does feel a bit “unfinished” since there are a lot grammar and vocabulary mistakes within the English version of the script. Some of which don’t even match what the characters say in Mandarin. In some scenes, the script and the voice acting doesn’t even match at all, which I do believe is a bug. Despite the flaws, visually this game is very top quality with it’s character art style and auditorily, has a very beautiful and relaxing soundtrack to listen to. Not to mention, the Chinese voice acting is also very top notch.
– Real player with 63.9 hrs in game
Drinks With Abbey
All of the awkwardness of a first date without the price tag or the time wasted (that almost sounds like a reason to recommend this game…)
Unfortunately it’s not much of a game. It’s a 5 minute long choose-your-own-adventure graphic novel where you answer anywhere from 5 to 20 questions to get one of 9 different endings. I suppose if you’ve never had a date before this all might seem novel and interesting, but it’s just a cliché summary of stereotypical first-date night-at-a-bar tropes that ends long before it bothers to be unique or interesting.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dating Sim Interactive Fiction Games.
Game emphasizes being honest
I say that the waitress isn’t that hot since she looked kinda “meh” to me
Abbey accuses me of being a lying bitch who’s just trying to impress her/not make her jealous
That’s when I learned that when a lot of people say “I like someone who is honest”, what they really mean is “I prefer someone who gives answers that I like”
Observe how she’s alright with throwing the wool over your eyes (the waitress, gives false idea of pool skills, etc.), yet if you tried to mislead her in any way, she’s all “dude wtf!?”.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Love Thyself - A Horatio Story
We were “promised” this previously and we received it on the April’s fool day!
Hooray!
We play for newly cloned Horatio.
Horatio is one of the major factions from Endless Space games.
The main feature of this faction is that it consists entirely of clones of the first Horatio guy,
who considers himself “beauty and perfection”.
It was promised to be “dating sim”. Out of joke, obviously (because Horatio can only date their own clones while considering everyone else inferior beings).
I guess, in the end, developers decided to not go that extreme (it’s not full fledged “dating sim” even if the game have this tag).
– Real player with 10.0 hrs in game
Funny and accessible, Love Thyself presents a brief but fascinating glimpse of what living surrounded by identical clones in a futuristic space society might conceivably look like. For a game clearly associated with April Fools Day, the devs went the extra mile in making it something people could enjoy beyond merely a halfhearted “haha, a visual novel dating sim about egotistical space clones, what an idea” chuckle.
The art is colorful and accentuated with the right amount of animation to add interest without being distracting; the writing is humorous overall, befitting the premise, but takes the worldbuilding part of it seriously as well. On a deeper level, I think it also captures that feeling of fear that people have of being secretly lacking or not “fitting in” with the rest of society, and the subsequent choice whether to embrace that feeling, or strive to meet or even excel the expectations of others.
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
Oblivious Garden ~Carmina Burana
Hello Everyone,
A garden of oblivious pleasure is what comes to mind when I think of my experience with this game. The Story of the Oblivious Garden was an absolute delightful tale to complete. Oblivious Garden ~Carmina Burana is a romance themed visual novel game that was published by DigitalEZ. The story is about a general who was once praised by the people of his country but due to the loss of a major battle in the region of Latoy; the once praised general was stripped of his rank as General/his station as Baron and was exiled from the kingdom of Celantu. Three years later his Uncle the Emperor of Celantu invites him back to the kingdom in order to take charge in the kingdoms upcoming Miracle play that occurs in the kingdom’s coveted Oblivious Garden. The garden is occupied by 7 princesses that this disgraced general has to instruct in the art of fencing, so the princesses can perform in the Miracle play in an attempt to appease the country’s gods. This is where the story truly begins for the player.
– Real player with 80.8 hrs in game
I love VNs (Visual Novels). This one in particular is pretty awesome. Without spoiling to much of the VN, the artwork and background music is fabulous. The story for the most part is pretty good and each Princess is unique to their own peers, especially with their history/background story. There are 7 Princesses and 2 Maids that stand out. Only 3 Princesses and 1 Maid are options for an ending, maybe more in the future updates? (The staff has stated that it is not 100% done and Finn’s chapter will not be a free DLC in future dates, as it stated “Price glitch indeed, we’ll fix it asap”)
– Real player with 50.6 hrs in game
Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
As of writing this review I am 29 hours in and I intend to increase that number. Wow, where to start… I have played a few dating sims in my time but none of them have captivated me like this one. None.
Purrfect Date is a combination of a dating sim and a visual novel.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD! I do try my best to not mention the most important ones however.
Story and gameplay
I won’t say too much to spoil things for you but what I will tell you is that the story can and will change based on the decisions you make. At first the story seems overly cheerful with humor and action sprinkled on top. You are a scientist arriving on Cat Island to act as the professors research assistant. It is your decisions that truly make this story interesting as things get dark, very dark. Each person seems to notice it at different times but they are always there to notice providing you know where to look.
– Real player with 40.2 hrs in game
Unfortunately it happened sooner than I expected but I’m going to write my first negative review:( Every time I start playing a new game I’m so excited, I never presume anything negative. In this case I really thought everything would be just purrfect: a visual novel + dating sim + cats!!! But…
At first I really enjoyed the game and all those lovely cats! You have 6 characters (3 male & 3 female) to choose from but you have to take them all to date all six cats. You are free to match them the way you like. And that was so awesome! You can experience pure romantic love without any prejudices and borders. The couples can be of any gender, they fall in love being a human and a cat. That was really new and I like it a lot! I’ve played some otome games before where pets turn into humans. Being a huge animal lover I still believe the idea is the best possible for such games) I’m personally a big fan. But here you realize that it doesn’t really matter. Love is too strong to mind any limitations!
– Real player with 37.9 hrs in game
Summer Pockets
So to begin with, this is not a former review for Summer Pockets but rather my opinions and feelings for the game.
To start off, it’s been a year since I finished playing Summer Pockets (April 30th, 2020) and it was hella an emotional ride. I was reading the story with another friend of mine and we literally stayed up until late 3am for almost 4 days. Like hell, our eyes were so tired and almost shutting down by itself but the story keeps getting more and more interesting that we decided to finish a route before heading to bed, that was a really great experience during quarantine.
– Real player with 751.2 hrs in game
A Really Great Story
(tl;dr at the bottom for a brief summary)
If you played Key games before, you probably know what to expect but for them who haven’t, its a good full length 50+ hours visual novel (even up to 100 or so hours if you don’t skip the additional playthroughs common route and complete the game fully). I wont go into details of what the game is about, it is however filled with amazing loveable characters, plot twists (several) and really well written story arcs. The stories cover many genre from Mystery to Adventure to drama to comedy, it has it all. There are 4 character routes and 2 unlockable routes which are both full length. As with all key games, the stories and very well written and with lots of depth, there are lots of sad moments throughout the game and the true endings will completly warp the way you have seen the story with lots of twists and unexpected events and as par for Key, expect some sad heart-wrenching twists throughout the game, you will get hooked and find it hard to stop for the night. Some of Keys best work right here.
– Real player with 89.5 hrs in game
Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue
[Review in Bahasa]
Title: Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm.
Aliases: Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue
Length: Long.
Developer: Sprite.
Publishers: NekoNyan.
Release: 2014 (JPN) 2019 (ENG).
Mature Content: YES (Free patch).
Turn to the sky, and dont avert your eyes. The answer lies there…
–—————
Cerita tentang persahabatan, klub, dan kedambaan akan langit biru.
[STORY]
Di masa depan, dimana terbang itu semudah menaiki sepeda, terdapat sebuah olahraga yang disebut “Flying Circus”.
– Real player with 279.9 hrs in game
Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue
蒼の彼方のフォーリズム
Disclaimer: Everything is based on my opinion. I am not a hardcore VN reader, but I have read around ~20 VN titles. This review contains some minor spoiler hidden behind spoiler tags.
Also, did some translation criticisms. TL;DR at bottom.
Story length: 20-40 hours for all routes (Still depends on how fast you read, but this is a good estimate)
I’ll start with the most important statement of the experience: Aokana is good.
– Real player with 194.2 hrs in game
Bean Battles
My In depth review and analysis of Bean Battles.
How would i describe Bean Battles?
I would describe Bean Battles simply as a master piece, this game is far far ahead of its time and i foresee the game becoming more popular than fortnite.
What is Bean Battles?
Bean Battles is a game that follows the trends of the battle royale genre, an unoriginal idea executed in a way that is so unique, it beats out any up and coming battle royale game (such as Minecraft Hunger Games) It puts up to 16 people in a battle royale scenario but is far different from any current battle royale. In a typical battle royale game the aim of the game is to survive and be the last one standing, this often leads players to play incredibly passive and finish games with few kills. Bean Battles changes this by introducing a scoring system, each player is rewarded for their winning and becoming the last player standing but also rewards for kills, two kills is better than one round win, this makes the player play smart, but also agressively to beat thier opponents.
– Real player with 62.9 hrs in game
Once in a lifetime you’ll come across a game that truly captures the history and cultural distinctions of the modern world the way a person can subjectively perceive it through our guided field of perspective. I have to admit, I had my doubts when I first learned of the game. After all, Bean Battles? Will this game even be good? How ignorant was I to even have these thoughts. Little did I know I was about to indulge in what may have been the best 1 hour and 21 minutes of my life. The game started out strong. The maps enticed the audience with a captivating enigma. I was so taken aback from the next-generation animation that I almost didn’t even realize the underlying symbolism in the ongoing games. It wasn’t until my twenty sixth game where I finally got my bearings together and was able to focus on the gripping and labyrinthine stratagem. The underlying analogy for 19th century distopianism and the evangelical deviation of typical orthodoxy was enlightening to say the least. Just when I thought the game could not get any better, the increasing conflict before the climax began. I could not believe the complexity of game as the bean protagonist. My bean struggled with the everyday endeavors for a quintessential bean such as the consistent up- hill altercation of the fight against misogyny and the fiscal synergy of opposing interplanetary dynamisms. There I was, gripping to my chair as the conflict of the game began. I was so enticed by the game that I felt as if I was both practically and relatively apart of the game. This is a special kind of high that not even the strongest of drugs can give you. Was I part of the game? Am I inside the game right now? This game will leave you questioning existential nihilism and the objective skepticism of our perceived valuation of anthropological existence. At this point in the game, I was fully intoxicated by the avant-garde animated art style. That’s when the game finally aggrandized and I was completely stupefied. You could have lived a thousand years of isolation trying to predict the plot twist and you would never even scratch the surface of what actually transpires in the game. I was so bewildered that I actually had to stop playing the game so that my existential crisis didn’t dive too deep inside of myself. Even restarting the game was surreal. It’s almost as if life restarted with the game. I felt as though I had actually become a cinematic tangent quantum. The effects are still wearing off and I haven’t been able to play the game in several days.
– Real player with 48.4 hrs in game
Candice DeBébé’s Incredibly Trick Lifestyle
Ahh, Candice Debebe’s incredibly trick lifestyle. Has been a long time my darling! How have you bee- dies
Candice debebe’s incredibly trick lifestyle is a very peculiar horror game. It has a unique setting, interesting and terrifying Monsters, and some hilarious bugs and glitches to expl- wait, oh ♥♥♥♥, they fixed those.♥♥♥♥♥♥
What is Candice Debebe’s incredibly trick lifestyle?
Candice debebe’s incredibly trick lifestyle is an indie horror game. It follows the player waking up in a very cramped room on either the upper decks or the lower decks of an abandoned cargo ship. You must find the equipment required to repair one of the three escape routes and get off the ship. There’s just one problem. You’re not alone.
– Real player with 613.9 hrs in game
Somehow manages to be genuinely entertaining and one of the few games I’ve ever 100%.
Things to note:
Everything is in character. Store page, community discussions posts by the dev, every line of dialogue/piece of music. I don’t understand why you would do this to yourself and it makes everything so much better to be bewildered by a dev who can obviously pull off something decent (and this game shows it, especially with some of the puzzles) but instead puts out candice debebe.
Main draw is the music. It has no reason to end up being decent 75% of the time. Both games end up having at least one or two tracks that are genuinely really good and I hate that I know lyrics by now.
– Real player with 29.5 hrs in game