What Is Love? Anime Visual Novel Vol. 1

This is only half a game, at best. In addition, it's poorly translated, and in several places refers to the main character as "Player Name" because something is off in the programming. If I knew what I was in for, I certainly wouldn't have paid for it.

I will gladly recommend this game. Here you can explore well-written, complex story, very slice-of-life-style. Sometimes nostalgic, sometimes funny and sometimes awkward (but in a positive way) and disturbing. The story is rather slow-paced, but still the way it's written keeps you interested. Complex descriptions (veeery poetic sometimes) of presented world are often interwined with funny thoughts of a main character – a typical stereotype of gen Z or Millenial teenager. The way he tries to explain reality gives you a smile on your face in many situations. The game is full of funny anegdotes and references as well as quite a lot of visual and descriptional fanservice which tease you during the events presented in the game. As for NPC's who are main romanceable characters – they are designed well. For the first time it seems like some kind of mystery is hidden beneath them, but the longer you play, the more they may open before you letting you know their complicated histories and allowing to establish a deeper relations with them. About visual aspect of the game it really looks beautiful. And I mean not only NPC's who are designed in special care. The backgrounds and illustrations are really detailed, colourful. It wouldn't be an exagerration if I'd say I'd like to have such wallpaper on my desktop (LOL). I'm looking forward for a continuation, because it looks like endings suggest some big events are about to happen in the future!

The game is incomplete, I'm a moron

What is love Anime Visual Novel Vol. 1 is a very awkward and disjointed mess that I'd be hard pressed to recommend to anyone due to how poorly it's structured. It feels like watching a collection of awkwardly written 2 minute shorts with no transitions or proper flow between scenes so you really don't get to see the protagonist digest and reflect on events nor do you get a feel for how much time is passing between each scene which is very tedious to read. Generally I'd like to finish a game or at a minimum put in a good 6 or so hours before writing a review but the writing makes it very hard for me to enjoy this, which is a shame because going off the description and trailers this did seem like an interesting game. Maybe I'll try getting back into it some other time and updating this review but for the time being I cannot recommend this game.

Fun game, a bit vexed about the many cliff hangers though.

uWu

What is Love? Was the game which first introduced me to visual novels and got me interested in them as a wider genre. Arty is on par with games like Doki Doki and even better, even though it's probably the studio's first title. As a game, it provided a very enjoyable and unique experience despite a slow expository start, and I felt it was ultimately worth my time. I am looking forward to the sequel and hope to add a storyline with Emiko Mother ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) in the continuation.

Until I see a part 2 or even some updates then this is not really recommended. I worry because I can not even load the dev's website anymore. So I imagine this will be left undone. If that is the case all that awaits you here are cliffhangers. Which is a shame because this has some potential. The animations of movement do help to add a little more life to some dialogue. So that is a nice design decision. The character designs and general art are fine. There are some deep moments which can resonate with high school experiences and the difficulty of processing changes. You do get to know the characters and their problems. It is fitting that many are struggling as most of us do in those years. The MC is sometimes capable and sometimes feels like a buffoon which is also not bad considering he's a teen too. The humor is okay and the devs at least got me to smile a handful of times. However it all sorts of goes nowhere as of now. There is lots of buildup for characters but you always jump away before too much happens. Plot points sort of feel episodic in a strange way. A story will occur, you will go to sleep and then the next day will be like another episode. Sometimes it is just too jarring. Even worse is how some relationships just entirely drop with a "X's story will continue..." near the end of the game. They put you at an interesting moment and it just sort of vanishes. You don't really connect deeply with any of the characters. Many choices feel meaningless though I am sure some lead to some variation. The game is tagged with sexual content but really it's very tame. There is not nudity or anything like that. So if that was your interest then you will be let down. The translation is fairly poor. I tend to not complain about that, but it does feel like it was not given a proper look. Other reviews talking about that are accurate. Overall it gets tiresome and your money is better spent on complete projects or ones where there have been updates. I did not 100% the game, provided there are actually divergent paths, but I did a natural play through. It took me 9.8 hours and honestly I can not say I got much out of it. The strongest portion was the death of a student in an accident and how everyone took it. That was a very gritty moment and was decently executed. However the dating and all the promises in the trailer are kind of a miss. You do get closer to all the girls and it's obvious a relationship can happen but you can't followup or really get much more than that. You start to see who they are and maybe see something concerning about them but do not get to follow up. Once they start to feel more fleshed out they get sidelined for the next mini-story. TL:DR: Not worth it until there is an ending.

Ладно, я таки прошел игру и могу теперь рассуждать о ней более предметно. Я надеялся произойдет что-то что заставит меня передумать и полюбить ее, но нет. Мое мнение о ней стало еще хуже. Хотя, оно и так было почти на дне, так что это не о многом говорит. Что в этой игре хорошо? Графика: модели, фоны, вот это вот всё - очень красивое. Местами озвучка и музыка. Возможность давать имена ГГ и его коту. На этом достоинства кончились, дальше пошли недостатки. Как я уже сказал, игра затянутая и скучная, полная длинных унылых диалогов ниочем с персонажами, которые меня бесят, либо мне на них откровенно наплевать. Вдобавок в тексте полно грамматических ошибок. Но самое печальное - у игры нет нормального конца. Нас как бы заставляют пройтись по всем рутам, но везде с меткой "продолжение следует". Это, видите ли, всего лишь "том первый", когда выйдет второй непонятно и если за него предлагают заплатить отдельно еще 600 рублей, то я, извините за француский, манал такие приключения. Тем более сколько этих томов запланировано тоже непонятно, если автор нацелился на длинную эпопею аки Джордж Мартин, то можно уже сейчас забить - такие обычно и до второго и не доживают. А теперь давайте пройдем по отдельным рутам. -Цунеко. Я вообще не запомнил что там было, вот настолько она "интересная". -Эмико - самый нормальный рут с более-менее нормальными интеракциями и чем-то похожим на завершенность. Но у нее абсолютно долбанутая мать и сама она с заскоками. В общем нам показывают, что не стоит радоваться если вас приняли в "высшее общество" - вам там затрахают до смерти мозги своими глупыми условностями. -Асами. Самый интересный и проработанный рут. И самая красивая героиня, но есть нюансы. ГГ ведет себя с ней как полный урод (я уже писал о том что он отталкивающий, да?) . Думает исключительно в похотливом ключе и явно не уважает как личность, плевать он хотел на ее личность, у него "другие интересы". Отдельная гнусность в том что он обманывает ее, общаясь с ней в Интернете в образе богатого тридцатилетнего качка и это вообще не вызывает в голове сабжа никакого дисонанса. А потом мы еще узнаем, что [spoiler] судя по всему, у нее была интрижка с отцом ГГ, который потом ее сталкерил. Сразу становится понятно, что речь о нем, но ГГ у нас особо одаренный и вычисляя соперника представлял кого угодно, но не своего отца. В общем учительницу Асами становится вдвойне жалко и для ее ментального здоровья ей лучше держаться подальше от этой долбанутой семейки. [/spoiler] Опять же - буквально типичный сюжет с телеканала Россия, но хоть что-то неожиданное и драматичное и не совсем рояль в кустах. -Мийу. Самый милый и невинный рут (по началу). В конце концов именно благодаря ей у нас появляется кот. Но заканчивается он тем, что[spoiler] мы целую вечность припираемся на крыше с ее безмозглой подругой (хотя, могли бы просто уйти как умные люди) и становимся соучастниками убийства. [/spoiler] Это так тупо, что оскорбительно! Зря, я в общем писал, что это лучше чем Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll. На самом деле местный сюжет на таком же уровне или хуже... но по крайней мере у Риттана история закончена! Без тупых издевок про "продолжение следует". А эта игра стоит не сильно дешевле той. Well, I completed the game and I still hate it. It's long, boring, full of tedious dialogue with insufferable characters (but the worst one is probably main character) and also incomplete. I only like Emico and Asami stories, but even them leave a lot to be desired. But artstyle is nice.

This game is long and loads of fun! Its like a normal visual novel with a lot more choices.