True Lover's Knot Reviews

I looked at the trailer and knew I was sold. It did not disappoint and I really enjoyed it. The characters are endearing and interesting in their own special way. Pros British humour. Nice mini game. I like the lighthearted nature of the game which means no downers. Negs Story arc is kinda fixed and left me wanting more. No text for audio messages. Story wrapped up too quickly.

Pros: The puzzles are cool, and well done imo. The story is cool too. Cons: The story is a bit short for 7$ imo. There are no H scenes, despite multiple love making options and and bit of rather risque dialogue about being in . . . . . yeah. Show us the goods! The achivos are rather bugged at the end. If you go to the discussions you can figure out how to get the old version and get them, but the end still freezes up. IDK.

Rather than be completely negative, the sprites are cute, but that's really all I can say right now. I just really can't get past that you can't say, "No" to Santi. No matter what option you pick, you end up sleeping with him. Why give options if you really don't have a choice in the matter? Consent is important, whether in real life, or a game. I couldn't empathize with the character after that and I had the creeps to the point where I couldn't continue. Some of you might be into that kind of thing, and that's fine, but this is just a warning for those who can't really stomach that stuff. Other than that, the story is alright, I really liked the facts that were given about the places you visited on the tours, the stock photos were kind of amusing, the music was pretty nice, and I like the little mini game that pops up every now and then.

With mostly negative reviews I was going into it expecting poor content, but (not entirely) to my surprise I found that I enjoyed this VN. Sure, it had a few flaws, but it was overall quite charming. My only criticism would be about the pricing. I bought it on sale for a little over $2, which I think is a much more reasonable price than the original simply because of the game's length. My favorite part? The artwork--the character artwork is beautiful.

Thank god this game is getting out of Steam. Nothing truly interesting happens throughout the 1-2 hours it takes to finish it. Lucas is an ok character, but other than that there's nothing there. The love interests are boring as hell, the cruise consists only of partying, swimming and eating (I know it's like that in real life, but please make something happens!), and the weird match-3 minigame brings nothing to the game and is just in the way. I couldn't believe it, but the endings truly are abrupt. They couldn't haved rushed it more even if they tried. I'm just glad I got it at the goodbye discount, but even at that price it's not worth it.

Overall, True Lover's Knot is a disappointment. While the concept is interesting, the game does not live up to the potential in it. While I could forgive the fact that the background art and the character art don't always mesh well, the shallowness of the characters and the lack of gameplay options do the game in. With such a small cast of characters, I expected much more depth and personality. Two of the characters could be removed completely and not affect anything. I also found Santi both extremely distasteful and rather creepy which leads into my other major problem with the game. The lack of gameplay choices. For example, I can't choose to avoid Santi all together and go on the tour with Lucas instead. There's even a part where the choice to return to the cruise ship just cycles me through the same dialogue until I agree to spend the night with Santi. I did appreciate the fact that I could choose not to end up with either of the love interests, but it wasn't enough to save the game for me, and because there are only three ending options, the replay value of the game is extremely limited. The puzzles within the game also don't add much to the experience and are extremely repetitive If you're looking for a a good visual novel style game, this isn't it.

Okay, nobody plays dating sims for a realisitic deep connection or anything like that, but True Lover's Knot had the most basic, shallow excuse for a story I've yet to encounter. The puzzle element was no challenge at all. The gameplay itself was broken in parts. Worst of all, it only gave the most vague illusion of player choice. Sure, it's mostly visual novel, but it isn't even an interesting visual novel.

This game has a lot of selling points that would ordinarily be a hit with me - Romantic story, anime-inspired characters, photo-realism, exotic/luxurious setting, etc etc. That's why I bought the game, after all. But while a lot of my personal box checks are all on deck, the execution has completely missed the boat. I get that it's the job of the developers to try and sell the game, but reading the description here on the store page after having played the game will make the passengers of this voyage feel like they've been shanghaied. Let me break down the brochure for you: -“True Lover’s Knot” follows the story of Emma, a London-based tech genius The story is from Emma's first person view, and as such, you don't see her. So in other words, she's a self-insert. Bonus points if you're British and also a girl. -as she and her best friend, Lucas, The obligatory cardboard cutout best friend character -take to the high seas in a luxurious cruise "Take to Google images for high-res photos that aren't to scale with the drawings because drawing backgrounds is hard and takes time." - a fun “match 3” game element that will truly delight anyone Literally just match 3 with no twists. Even worse, it comes up more than once. It exists almost solely to pad out the game's length with...something. Anything. - This “romantic comedy” Visual Novel will truly delight its readers This wafer-thin wish fulfillment piece will truly delight the author. - An interesting and highly entertaining storyline The most entertaining thing about my experience with this game was writing this review. BUT WILL IT TRULY DELIGHT? - A fun and addictive match-3 mini game. Take note of the fact that the match 3 game came up twice. - Beautiful, high-end anime characters I mean, sure. Fair point. But what do they mean by "high-end"? - Funny and light hearted dialogue Dialogue that sounded better in the writer's head, but often reeks like bilge water. - Witty romantic comedy in the style of classics like “Notting Hill”, “Sweet Home Alabama” & “Made of Honor” "Here's a list of movies that the creator likes" - Light and pleasant feel and ambiance resembling animes like “Marmalade Boy”, “Cardcaptor Sakura”, “Whisper of the Heart” & “The Cat Returns”. "Here's a list of anime/manga that the creator likes" - Groovy jazz, lounge, reggae and RnB soundtrack Again, on paper, most of this is up my alley. But in practice, it's down below the poop deck. Overall, maybe I shouldn't come down so harshly on someone who's so clumsily honest and upfront about what they want from the world while also at least having enough tenacity to go out and produce a completed token of those desires, but this game simply does not have its sea legs, and should not have seen a $6.99 Steam release. This is the kind of game you release online for free with the intent of receiving constructive criticism. My advice to the maker(s): take the L and learn up. Everyone else: abandon ship.

A good improvement after “Last Days of Spring”. The art style is nice (even tho there are some issues… Mostly with the proportion. Even so, the coloring was nice and the characters were pretty), but I highly disliked the BGs and the videos during the VN. In my opinion, it didn’t matched at all. I think that the game would be better with realistic BGs with filters (like in Higurashi), and with no videos. The soundtrack was good, some songs are catchy. The minigames were ok, but after a while they might get a bit annoying, and there’s no point on them: they do not have any influence upon the story. The VA by the ending was so bad that when I listened to Santiago’s message I laughed so hard that I chocked on my tea. That voice doesn’t match that character at all, he doesn’t sound sexy, he sounds like some stereotypical Spanish character, a very bad one. Scott’s VA was bad too, but far better than Santi’s. The endings were dull. The 3 endings are literally just a few lines, and that’s it, the end. This game had some potential, unfortunately it turned out bad. It takes effort to make a good VN, especially one dealing with romance; people will not feel a connection with characters after they speak 3 cheesy pick up lines. I felt a better connection between the MC and her best friend Lucas. It was nice reading their conversations, and I wonder why there’s no route for Lucas. He surely is more interesting than the 2 main love interests. Still, I wish the best of luck to the developers, and I will keep looking forward to their next releases. 3/10. Get it on a good sale or better, don’t.

True lovers knot is about a girl who takes a needed break on a cruise, she hangs out with friends, meets two romantic interests and the story follows whether you have interest in one of these two men while enjoying a cruise. Pros: -There is a couple of videos that play throughout the novel to break the reading -There is a simple mini game that is good for the same reason, not to hard and a fun little match game -The Characters are all likeable for the most part, I enjoyed the dialog between the friends. -Start to finish the novel took about 2hours likely a bit more. -Some voice acting towards the end from your love interests. -Music is extremely well done Cons: -Many of the backgrounds are realistic photos which doesnt mesh well digital characters -Your second romance option is somewhat forced (I didnt like him but even selecting the "go to hell" options still ended up with me having to go on a date with him which my character enjoyed dispite my objections) -Some of the cutscenes are repeated -After you select who you want to romance it seems extremely rushed, you go from getting a confession to being lovers in a couple of lines, while that works for the second romance option who throws himself at you, the more reserved romance option feels a bit extreme.