[b]Note:[/b] I was one of the beta testers for this game although a copy was gifted to me, thanks to a wonderful friend. ^^
[h1]Rekindling an old flame or Finding new romance?[/h1]
[h2]Introduction[/h2]
[i]City Lights, Old Flames[/i] is a dramatic, otome visual novel developed by Sugar Moon Studio and published by Cinnabun Collective. You take on the role of Yui (whose name can be changed), and having graduated from university, Yui is determined to make it on her own by moving to the city of Lavendale. However, one unexpected turn after another keeps coming at Yui. First, she has to deal with a rude, scary landlady, and next, she finds out that Emma, her best friend, bailed on her, so Yui has no roommate for the apartment and has to find a way to keep up with the rent. If that wasn't already enough, Yui unexpectedly discovers that her ex-boyfriend, Dane, is working at the same game studio where she's an intern. Then there is Yui's mysterious online friend, whom she's been texting and confiding in, feeling safe since they have no idea who the other is away from being online. Of course, there's a twist in regards to Yui's online friend. With so many things happening to Yui, can she make it in Lavendale and maybe find love along the way?
With the gameplay, it consists of choices presented throughout the story. Most of the choices determine how well Yui gets along with the two possible love interests, Dane and Oliver (Yui's longtime childhood friend), as well as her relationships with others, such as her mom. However, it's the final choice that decides whether Yui ends up with Dane or Oliver. A couple of ending CGs are shown as well as a varied soundtrack although no voice acting. At the time of this review, no Steam achievements or trading cards are available.
[h2]Review[/h2]
First, I like how the story starts off. It is a bit slow, with Yui having just arrived at her apartment in Lavendale. She's bright and hopeful, but quickly afterwards, she receives bad news when she's greeted by the rude landlady and even more so, with Emma bailing on her. Yui can come off as a bit naive, but I think that it's natural since some of us have probably experienced that feeling of having finished university and experiencing life as an adult outside of school for the first time. Yet, we have no idea what life will throw at us, and school can't prepare for that. Anyway, I liked Yui as a main character, despite that she comes off as naive at times. Also, I disliked how Emma bails on her without giving any sort of heads up although Emma does make an appearance pretty late into the story, and this issue comes up.
[h1]Since this is an otome, though...[/h1]
It's the romances that are the main focus. As I mentioned earlier, the main romance options are Dane, Yui's ex, and Oliver, Yui's childhood friend. The story itself never diverges from the common path, unlike a lot of VNs that do so when it comes to character routes. However, I didn't find this to be a negative since I wanted to get to know more about Dane and Oliver and particularly, their backstories with Yui. There are flashbacks in which we find out what Yui was like with both of the guys and of course, we discover how Yui ends up falling out with them. The story and choices build up to a point in which Yui ends up restoring her relationships with Dane and Oliver. Dane feels like he can rekindle what he once had with Yui, while Oliver feels like he and Yui could end up becoming more than friends. While the majority of the story has Dane and Oliver not meeting up, there comes a point later on in which the two do meet and they end up clashing. I liked that there's some tension between these two, adding to the drama. Now, when it comes to the endings, it kind of feels a bit rushed since Yui suddenly has to make the choice of whether to go after Dane or take a chance and be with Oliver. Although I did enjoy the romance endings for these guys, I wish that there had been a little more build up to get to that point. Still, the endings felt sweet and cute.
As for the writing, the pacing is ok. There are some bigger time skips than others, but the story would have dragged on if events had been narrated day-by-day, so I thought that this was fine. The story itself takes place over the course of about 3 months in-game, from the beginning of May until almost the end of July. I noticed towards the beginning of the story where a couple of lines repeated twice. It feels weird, so hopefully, this will be fixed in a future update. Also, there are a couple of typos, but they're very minor and they don't detract from enjoying the overall story. As a beta tester, I'd like to note that there have definitely been some improvements to the story, such as adding more tension between Yui and other characters. It helps to create more drama and all.
In regards to the art, the sprites are drawn and colored in a typical anime style, while the backgrounds are simple but drawn and colored well. The art style definitely makes you feel like you're in the city. If I had to note a negative, it's that there are only a couple of CGs and they're both ending CGs for Dane and Oliver. I love to gaze at a fair amount of CGs in VNs, so this is a bit of a letdown. Also, CGs help to highlight important story events. Still, the art is overall very well done. In addition, I noticed a couple of new backgrounds that weren't present in the beta version.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3540946673
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3540947052
Regarding the music, there's a good variety of tracks. They depict moods from the everyday going-about-your-day theme to the more emotional, dramatic ones. The music is quite nice to listen to, and it helps to bring the story to life.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Would I recommend [i]City Lights, Old Flames[/i]? If you're looking for a sweet, otome visual novel and you don't mind that it's short and/or it lacks Steam achievements, then it's worth checking out. It was an enjoyable read, and the developer definitely improved on the game's story and art. Granted, there's no sexual content, but I don't mind that since it's just nice to read a sweeter (with dramatic moments) story that has cute romantic endings. I wish that there had been Steam achievements, but it's not a dealbreaker since for me, story is key. For the asking price, I think it's worth getting, but you can wait for a sale. ^^
[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7593237/]Otome Rakuen[/url] team up to give readers highly detailed, thorough reviews of hot romance games.[/quote]
