Placebo Love

Amazing!

This game is simply amazing. Great soundtrack, touching story, smart dialogues, interesting and diverse characters, good sense of humor, mystery, fun mini-games, and very satisfying interactivity. You play as a muse, so you don't choose [i] exactly [/i] what the main character, Lorne, is going to say. You inspire him to say the truth, a half-truth or a lie, which gives you enough control but also some fun unpredictability. The more you play and get to know him, the better you can predict the kind of thing he's going to say. It is all very well written. The other major part of the game-play is the time-management system. During the weekends, you choose how Lorne is going to spend his time, that is, with whom he's hanging out with. As you unlock characters, it can become quite hard to juggle. You have to make decisions: which people you'll try to bond with, who is going to be neglected. The story is of a lonely young man who is trying to connect with people, and find his one soul companion. However, an uncanny situation develops into a great mystery. Conspiracy theories, paranormal activity, scientific experiments, a religious cult... what can explain the bizarre existence of [spoiler] two identical women, each in one of two neighboring cities [/spoiler]?

Really well written, really engaging, relaxing and funny. It's very friendly to the player and wholesome. The mistery is also very well threaded, I haven't been so engaged to a visual novel since a long time. Characters are varied, I really liked most of them, which also doesn't happen always. I don't usually get so engaged with a game, they end up dragging or boring, or don't really motivate the player to see all endings. This game however is an exception for me. I'm so glad to be able to play it. The developer is also active on the forum, so if you find any bugs be sure he'll fix'em asap! ^^

Not my usual style of game, but I was greatly curious on how Twelve Tiles would handle that dating sim/time management/social sim kind of game. Overall, I think Placebo Love does a good job at being a social sim kind of game, with the majority of characters not being romantic relationships. All of the characters are interesting, and the main character manages to have his own personality (which can be rare in the genre). I also really appreciate that in most cases, rather than choosing from various dialogue options, you instead usually get to pick whether Lorne tells the truth, lies, or says half-truths, as it both helps make Lorne be able to have a personality, and it gives more interesting outcomes than the common "correct options"/"wrong options" that you get in a lot of games. I think Rawn and Annie were my personal favorite characters, and (as an aro person), I really appreciate NOT feeling like romance was the whole point. Various forms of relationships are all present and important, which makes all of them feel more meaningful. I also enjoyed seeing what happened to some of the characters from other Twelve Tiles games, too (I greatly enjoyed Last Word, for instance). On top of that, the soundtrack and art style are both good and work well with everything. Some of the big plot can feel a bit unexpected depending on what choices you make, but ultimately, that ends up feeling appropriate, since if you choose to have the protagonist not look into matters, you won't learn about them. Now that I've given it a bit of time since my last playthrough, I think I'll give it a second playthrough relatively soon so I can see some of the characters I missed and learn a bit more about the world.

In Placebo love, you play as a (gently-guiding of sorts) guardian angel, trying to help Lorne meet his true love. Lorne gets this chance in the form of a mysterious email sent to his work inbox, but when his co-worker and friend unexpectedly causes Lorne to respond twice...Lorne runs into...two versions of his true love?! [b][u]PROS[/u][/b] [list] [*] If you enjoy time management or management sims, then you'll enjoy the gameplay mechanics of PL. [*] The story presents interesting perspectives on themes of what true love is, fate, happiness pursuits. The story even touches lightly on some of the complicated balances of socializing and adulting, which I--as a 30-sum (at the time of writing this), greatly appreciate. [/list] [b][u]CONS[/u][/b] [list] [*] Pacing for me was a big issue. In the beginning of the game it can feel VERY slow (especially if you've already played through the game once.) [/list] @Indie_Diva_Mina

A melancholic, down-to-earth game about loneliness and connection. There are elements of magical realism, with various unexplained happenings going on, but mostly it's a slice of life. Characters chat about their pregnancy, their struggles with college, their work, their marriage. All the routes are well-written, and all weave into the core mystery, but some are more mundane than others. There's a thread of mystique running through it all, and at the end it leaves you with a fair bit to think about. The game is based around picking who to hang out with, with several very distinct endings based on who you managed to get close to. The order in which you hang out with people, and the choices you pick within each event, are occasionally referenced and can give you more/less influence (basically currency). [spoiler]Satyrion reassuring Lorne in the Na/dia/na ending, despite his route not being a requirement, was sweet and I really liked seeing it.[/spoiler] Also there's a fair bit of diversity, if you care about that. An asexual trans man, a lesbian, and a bisexual polyamorous relationship (which does not involve the player character). But it's not a huge part of the story.

I think when one finds something small and beautiful and true, one ought to-- as a human being-- stand up and shout about it loudly so that everyone can hear. I wish there was a louder way for me to shout about this game. It is absolutely magnificent. The quality of its words is remarkable, and it achieves a level of inspirational pathos that is exceedingly rare in the video game medium. I give this game my highest recommendation and implore you to give it a try. The developers deserve the support to continue bringing such wonderful games to the world.