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Immersive with an ominous atmosphere, L is for Love's strong points overwhelms its flaws

You can tell a game's genre by the noose in the title screen.


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I'll try to be as thorough as possible with my reasoning for the score I gave. In my opinion the strongest point in this game has to be the story and writing. I just feel the game has such great immersion where I'm invested to see the game to the end. While I'd sing praises about L's for Love in certain departments, the game is not without flaws and regarding the gameplay I have a few things to complain about.

Let's start with the writing.

There's a particular scene I like where the protagonist reads an angry letter from the girlfriend he cheated on and instead of feeling immediate regret, he reacts equally angrily which I find to be very in character. It's only later on when he discovers more about what his actions bring to the family that he could find someone he could relate to in the form of the father, who is one so unlike his own abusive old man that he begins to have a change of heart. It's great character development in concept especially thanks to the cutscene, which was just dramatic enough to be good. I'd say overall the cutscenes are great, many thanks in part to the custom assets. I would admit though had the game been longer Liam's sense of regret would feel more fitting instead of feeling a tad bit instantaneous. Then again, there's only so much you can make in a month.



(This part seems to be untranslated)


Granted there are minor issues which I suspect are due to translation, making some phrases feel off, but that aside all the descriptions are done in a way that is very compelling to read. L is for Love does not shy away from real-life complex issues like the toxic relationship of the game's protagonist and that's one of the things that first reeled me in. A lot of horror games take advantage of scary monsters or spooky music-and mind you L is for Love does have that too-but the game's narrative is also well explored, creating this immersive experience while also giving depth to the characters. The monsters add to the horror of the game, which I'd say rely a lot more on the ominous atmosphere. Sound effects, BGMs, strange happenings, and sinister texts were for me the key horror factor.

The twist at the end is not much of a twist,
Show
seeing there is an actual demon lurking about, but that's not a bad thing either. Honestly, the classic "it's all just a bad dream" ending trope feels a bit overused, so this one was refreshing.


My pet peeve regarding this would only be that the puzzles don't feel like they connect to any central theme and just feel as if they're scary for scary's sake. It's a style many others use in other RPG maker horror games, so maybe that's just something I personally don't like.{/justify}


(I don't think you're supposed to be able to get up the table.)


There are very little bugs in the game so I won't talk about that. Onto the gameplay.


L is for Love focuses mostly on puzzles for progression. You're required to look for key items to unlock doors to progress. There is very little backtracking in the game, not one where you walk for ages at least, and the key items are hidden away in places that make sense, giving you a sense of satisfaction for paying attention to written description. More complex puzzles are also present, classic ones like numerical codes and boxes you have to push. My issue with these is that the difficulty is very inconsistent. A lot of the puzzles were simple ones where the solution is obvious, all but one cheeky little floating book.



(This little buddy has killed me at least 100 times)


I got stuck and confused with the correlation between the notes in the book and the flowers in the trees. After bonking my head together with a friend we finally figured it out. This part could probably have been a tiny bit clearer with what you're supposed to do considering every other puzzle in the game feels very clear to me with how you're meant to solve them.

One last grievance I have with the gameplay is with some sequences that I feel could be better made. The transition for the ending feels a bit jarring since you exit to the bottom part of the map, but gets transported to a new one facing upward. The part where you take the key from the mother also feels a bit lacking, as the solution to that barely gives any interaction. Maybe a cutscene where the mother chases Liam and he'd have to take off the hat to trick her could have helped? There are also many parts where things move after you move to leave the area which might have been spooky at first, but feel a bit overused at the end.

Are there any other issues? Not really. The mastering with the sound effect volume and the bgm could probably be done better. Some areas have really loud noises/music while others are much quieter. The nonexistence of the options menu was also a bit of a bummer. I like to be able to adjust volumes at the very least.

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The final score for me is 3.5. I looooove the aesthetics and the writing style of the developer. The delay in-camera movements is also a very fine touch. All in all the general aspects of the game is done very well, but it lacks a final polish in certain important parts. Nevertheless, the game is an enjoyable ride, and if L is for Love, then M is for Magnificent. Great game.

Posts

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s4urr
1603
10/31/2021 09:31 PM
Thank you a lot for your review! It makes me really happy to read these things!
I'm really glad you liked the game, and thank you for showing me bugs and problems you found. I'm satisfied with the fact that you liked the story overall, as it's the thing I loved doing the most.

The book puzzle that killed you so many times has been the biggest debate in the developing process, as some friends found it too difficult and others found it really easy, so next time I'll do something to make some things clearer.

Again, thank you for the review!
I'll fix the bugs you mentioned when I can and will make an update.
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