Together

Вместе - тот еще артхаус. В каком-то смысле игра напоминает квадрат Малевича. Много размышлений о его значении и концепте, а по сути просто старая доска с наляпанной черной краской. Так и тут - торчит сердце, на него падают фразы типа "мы пошли с ними в кино", "мы с ними обедали". И так пока либо сердце не расколется от такой тоски, либо наоборот отпустит свои переживания и оставит их в прошлом. На словах это наверное звучит норм, но в плане геймплея простая 5-минутная дичь. И кстати мало того что сначала надо допереть что нужно перемещать экран дабы фразы попадали на сердце, так еще и неочевидно что тут две концовки. Помимо прочего разраб решил что игра исполнила свою роль, и пора её выпилить. Но в любом случае, играть в это вряд ли стоит. Если интересно что это вообще было, проще посмотреть то же прохождение от разраба - https://youtu.be/yIV-WJCO02s Как итог: выпиленный артхаус, на любителя. Сильно на любителя.

This game is an absolutely fascinating take on love as a whole. The basic theme of the game is to monitor your compassion, your love for your partner, and the level of stress you feel by choosing which actions to take in the relationships. You do this in game by moving your heart, which we'll discuss in a moment, into certain text actions as they drop from the top of the screen. So, every action that drops can raise your stress, compassion, and/or love meter. NOW THE THEMES This game is a delight to play, and having read a few other reviews, I'd like to point out a few things I agree with, and disagree with based on my interpretation of what it means, but I'd like to start with what I see as great about the game. It's an in depth look into the pressure and strain that a relationship takes on a person, as indicated by your stress meter, which causes your heart to explode should you reach 90 stress. It sort of forces the player to play the game by making decisions as they would in real life, as being a super-good guy (which I attempted on my first try) ends the game very quickly, and being a super douchebag has the same effect. You have to confront your moral dilemma about every option that drops. You're constantly asking yourself, "Oh ♥♥♥♥. My stress is really high, should I grab that 'Ignore them' option? But my love and compassion would drop!" By the time you've actually made a decision, the option is gone, which is a testament to love and romance in real life as well. People, and opportunities to spend time with those people, are not infinite, and we often struggle to budget time between ourselves, our friends, and our relationships. The motivation to keep your Compassion and Love (the two most important traits of any strong relationship) as high as they can be, betrays you by also increasing your stress significantly faster. There's also the study of what happens to the heart as you play, and the punishment that we see. If you skip an option, you could lose significantly more stress than you would gain in love and compassion by choosing it; on the inverse, if you choose an option, the stress you gain could be very little. It poses the question of how far you must push yourself to be in love, and when you need to just take some time for yourself. What I think is more interesting than the meters, is the condition your heart is in as you play. The higher your stress, the faster your heart beats. The more compassion you have, the redder it is. The more love you have the bigger it gets. Again, these rules follow an inverse. If you play the sociopath route, your heart shrivels into a small, blue sad excuse of an organ that's on the verge of collapsing into itself, creating a black hole that consumes your ass; however, your heartbeat is steady. Going Prince Charming route makes your heart a thumping huge red mass of unconditional care. Neither extreme is preferable to the other. The creator used the heart to show that there is a balance that can be struck, where you keep yourself healthy and the relationship strong. So, the ending, which is what I've seen tons of people complain and drone about. If you haven't reached the end, stop here, finish the game and then come back. In the end, the person that we've spent all this time trying to win over, at the cost of ourselves, breaks up with us, and the game gives a message saying, "They will never love you the way that you love them." The game then describes the breakup, the fallout, and how you feel in this persons absence. If you have enough stress (under 60) you won't die from the breakup, but will instead receive the "happy ending", where you move on, hoping you find a love like that one again. No matter what you do, you will not be able to keep the relationship. TO ADDRESS THE CRITICISM I've seen a couple comments saying that this game is a "MGTOW inspired mess" or something to that effect. I think that the game was designed with the male experience of romance in mind, as is indicated by the options being things that men typically do in realtionships; however, this interpretation misses the mark of what the game was trying to say. Again, let me remind you all, this is simply MY interpretation. People seem overwhelmingly focused on the fact that the relationship ended, rather than what the entire game was about. The very lesson of the game, is playing the game. Just because you lost in the end, doesn't mean that the entire experience was pointless, so long as you didn't revolve your life around this person you were dating. The lesson I took from the game, was that relationships come and go, and that you simply need to not be a lovestruck idiot who goes all in on the first hand. Some relationships end, most end, and some succeed, though it's rare. It's not about being MGTOW, or being happy without anybody because all relationships are doomed to end. It's about a true love, that failed, but the core of this game is the joy you felt caring for this person, but to not let this consume you. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.