#owscribble

Subject: Love / Subject: Love – Happily Ever After

A witch is curious about love and decides to make a love potion. She kidnaps five of the nearby village’s most eligible bachelors to try it out on them (plus one spoopy ghost). Shenanigans ensue as they go on a The Bachlorette-style elimination process to find the one most deserving of being her guinea pig. Not a serious dating game but plays a lot on the usual tropes and is freaking hilarious- I had a great time playing it. There were very brief hints of a more involved story in between the funny stuff- especially on the subject of love (titledrop), the possibilities of suddenly being granted the understanding of it and what that actually entails.

Perhaps it was these somber moments that prompted the creation of its sequel ‘Subject: Love – HEA’, which was made to go more in-depth with the characters and the story than the brief joyride it was initially designed to be. Currently under development, but has a robust demo complete with partial voice acting, improved sprites, and a new intriguing storyline. The gang’s back together and honestly the cliffhanger is teasing the hell out of me on what’s coming next. This is from the same devs that made TeachersLP (which is like my comfort game atm - review here) and was initially a brief April Fools game expanded into a bigger game

Infectious Doctor

“Doctor, doctor I’m sick” – the game. As someone working in the medical field…MAN I WAS SUPER UNCOMFY. Kind of had to take some pauses from the blatant health code violations, HIPAA violations, personal integrity violations, etc. Imagine being a rando girl from a village schooling the doctor on what is supposed to be proper healthcare protocol. But…the visceral reactions I had were exactly what the story was going for, and I’d be a bit more concerned if anyone else didn’t feel the same. And the motivations for these actions were interesting, making you think if your doctor really believed in what he was telling you or was as manipulative as everyone else says. I also lol’d a lot, commenting that someone was really flaunting their medical degree with how much he takes the time to explain EVERY aspect of the disease process. Cytokine storm…I don’t remember that being a thing I dealt with, if ever, but I’ll trust that’s more on the infectious disease specialty rather than general practice. It was a fair length, not too long, and supposed to be a demo? But as one comment says, it feels like a full game with five different endings already. There is a VA, he really nailed that personality of someone who really couldn’t be assed tgaf about anyone but himself but still acts as if he did, 12/10 Dr. Feel Bads.

Delicious Date

Very brief [actual] dating sim with a very overly flirty boy. A fine young gentleman who looks like he’s very into you. Very forward though, keeps saying he wants to eat me which I feel is pretty inappropriate for the first date. This is also voiced with the most rizzed up VA to date, 12/10 deliciousness. The artstyle was also really cute!

Touchstarved

You are afflicted with a curse that makes people go mad if you touch them. A single bastion of salvation in a world torn apart by otherworldly monsters is you only hope to remove the curse, which is not without its own trials as the degrading society is just as perilous as navigating the monster-filled wastes, though surprisingly a band of merry men who chose to defy fate has now somehow intertwined their own with yours.

Very elaborate-looking game, as far as visual and sound production is concerned, and the story offered in the demo is but a smidgen of what looks to be something much bigger. I did enjoy what the demo offered, which was basically an introduction to all the LIs, though I understand its hard to balance both learning about them and the lore of the world within the timeframe of the demo without taking away focus of either, which is unfortunately how I felt. I feel very intrigued on how the story plays out, but not really as interested in the LIs as our time with each I feel is too brief to develop as you have to cycle through one after the other over the course of the demo.

The one I tried to rizz was the guy that, maybe after meeting him again much later in the game, finally made me realize who he reminded me of (AYMERIC? MY WOULD-BE HUSBANDO FROM LIFETIMES PAST??!), and iono…just wasn’t feeling it. Everyone seems to be at such a level of presence in this post-apocalyptic society and deep within their own agendas to really give me the impression of any kind of mutual interest other than mild curiosity about my condition (and maybe to a couple just an interesting plaything). Which means that the actual relationship-developing part would be in the full game and probably much more involved, which would be interesting to see develop against the background of the ongoing plot. Note you can also choose one of three backgrounds of your character, which will offer exclusive options at key moments depending on the abilities/skills you possess. Overall, I’d keep my eye on this, and maybe I’ll try to replay the demo with different backgrounds and different LIs, but at the moment I’d be fine just waiting for the entire game.

Beat of the Atrium

A very short story about office rivals- one being a wood nymph (?hot tree dude) and a mystery in the office greenhouse. It was interesting, but I feel it moved faster than I was able to absorb what was actually going on. There are two endings, which is surprising to me cause I don’t even recall where I could have made a decision to affect the ending, but the story is short enough that you could try to find both.

My New Tenant

A noise in the barn has you, against your better judgement/common sense, going out to investigate what the hubbub is about and making a weird discovery.

I personally feel called out by this game. Its very short and just pure self-indulgence. The artwork is gorgeous, tho, so that’s extra indulgence on the side.  

Next review here