[h1]I spy a bit of a thriller[/h1]
[i]Love & Country[/i] is a tale of a young, multilingual American woman, Lillian Sinclair, recently through finishing school in Paris, who has been picked up by the French intelligence agency Deuxième Bureau and trained in the art of seduction for the purpose of espionage work in the first world war.
[h1]Story[/h1]
We begin with Lillian attending a social/fundraising event with her handler, and during this, we get our first taste of her training being put to the test. The museum within which the event is being held, is beautifully presented and sets the scene well for what is to come.
Once the event is over, Lillian is promptly informed that her first field mission is upon her. She is to travel into Germany – enemy territory – and attempt to rescue a deep-undercover agent who has been in place for an extended period, and is now both very ill and the subject of his hosts' suspicions.
Lillian quickly discovers that she is not being sent on this mission alone, but is being assigned a partner who has “complimentary skills”. Upon meeting her newly assigned partner at a rowdy pub, she finds that he is arrogant, rude, impatient, fond of drinking and also smokes. Furthermore, he has never been outside of France and does not speak a word of German.. but – he just [i]had[/i] to be devilishly handsome to go with it all, didn't he?
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
There are only two player choices to make in the game, and whilst many visual novel readers may enjoy the player agency provided by a series of choices, there is no denying that in the huge majority of such cases, a large amount of options results in a weakening of the narrative in some, if not most, of the variations. Such is the strength of writing in this game, however, that the decision to keep options to just two very important ones, was totally the right thing to do.
After agreeing to meet her new partner, Emile, at the train station for the trip to neutral Switzerland before crossing the border; we are presented with our first choice when he does not turn up on time; and the second and final option comes at around the halfway point.
After making my second selection, I had expected the story to start wrapping up, with my decision affecting the final outcome quite soon. So it came as a big surprise when the result provided me with a fully independent and deeply absorbing branch, ultimately allowing the game to supply me with a common route, two mid-sections, and four entirely different second halves.
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
The art in this game is nothing short of wonderful. The style fits the period to perfection. Sprites are large and restricted to upper body and face only, giving much more detail than in a typical anime-style full body version, as seen below:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3278677332
Faces are partially animated, with moving eyes and subtle expression changes. There is a large gallery containing 57 CGs, and some of these have more than one frame, so by clicking on them, you are taken to the next frame of an animation or even the picture which followed on in the relevant scene – meaning that there are actually more to view than in the initial gallery presented.
As attractive as the LIs are, when they are presented in CG form, their appearance goes up another level. It is all but impossible not to be enamoured with both of them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3278678104
Backdrops convey the era expertly, the style used wholly lending itself to that early 1900s feel. Colour is used with great effect, and the inclusion of people within several backgrounds really brings that sense of life to proceedings. Some of them also alter in keeping with the narrative. For example, when we are told that someone is served a beer, said beer appears within the picture.
[h1]User Interface[/h1]
The huge majority of functions you'd hope to find are present. From the settings menu, there is a full screen/windowed option, text speed and volume control; and in-game the only thing I could see missing is the relatively low-importance ability to adjust text bar opacity. With the ability to hide it being present, I don't see this as an issue at all. Assistive voicing is accessible with a press of the V key, and though I didn't spot an alternative font option, the standard one provided is very easy to read, and therefore very unlikely to cause the huge majority of readers any difficulty.
Character speech appears in the language of the conversation in progress, be that French, German, or English; and if either of the former, then English is also provided simultaneously between parentheses underneath. Occasionally, a word or two within the text will appear in magenta, and clicking this brings up a brief explanation inset mid-screen, which removes itself with another click (anywhere other than the coloured word involved), thereby serving as an instant, convenient glossary without having to jump to a menu:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3278679124
[h1]Sound[/h1]
If you've followed the devlogs leading up to the release of this game (I hadn't – I only found it from the Steam NextFest a couple of weeks prior to this review) then you'd be aware that the composer for this game suffered an injury which delayed progress. Happily he recovered to complete the job and it is very easy to understand why the devs waited for him rather than seek someone else to try and meet an earlier release deadline. In keeping with the brilliant writing and equally impressive graphics, the music in this game [b]also[/b] pulls its weight in delivering an authentic wartime atmosphere. Every piece fits so ideally within the whole that it is obvious that the score is a bespoke volume of work.
[h1]Experience[/h1]
Introducing the characters ahead of Lillian's mission gives the reader a stress-free opportunity to become acquainted with them, their personalities and strengths and weaknesses, and this pays off later in the game. Once she arrives at the German border, however, the story delivers a constant sense of looming jeopardy. One misstep from our heroine and you feel that disaster will strike.
Which feels entirely appropriate for an inexperienced spy on a mission in enemy territory during a war.
There is much more to Emile than the roughshod veneer we are initially presented with, and the other potential love interest, the German counterintelligence agent Anton; also has different sides to his personality and despite his position as a clear antagonist, he is much easier to fall for than to oppose; which again serves as a nod to the quality of the characterisation.
Parents of potential younger readers should be aware that there are spicy scenes within the whole, and whilst I'll refrain from adding anything further to that for spoiler reasons, a forewarning that these scenes are descriptively intimate should not be ignored; however there are no explicit visuals so a young child casually watching off to one side should be quite safe.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
Quite simply, this is an outstanding debut from Guhuhu Games (I'd love to know how that name came about!) Katie and Juliana have excelled themselves and can feel very proud of the result of their efforts. Any visual novel fan who enjoys a romantic thriller skilfully written with an intelligent adult audience in mind, ought to love this.
Well worth full purchase price, no questions asked. It's also worth noting that the team are thinking about creating extra missions for our heroine, and there is also the possibility of character voicing being added at a later date.
Otome Lovers wishes to thank [i]Guhuhu Games[/i] for providing a free review copy for this game.
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