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Our Lovely Escape (Western VN Review)


Plk_Lesiak

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Few EVN studios leave me with such mixed feelings as Reine Works – a small team creating otome and yuri VNs at an impressive pace since 2017, known for titles such as Blossoms Bloom Brightest and Reflection ~Dreams and Reality~. While I enjoy the ideas behind much of their work and there’s usually a visible improvement in quality with each new release, the storytelling in their games always proved lacking, leaving me either bored or weirded out in the end. Still, I was invested enough to still support their increasingly ambitious and interesting-looking projects, including minor Kickstarter pledges. This is how I ended up playing Our Lovely Escape – a small VN with choosable protagonist gender and three female romance interests, which appeared on Steam in late September 2019, after many long delays. Marketed in a way that suggested a dark twist to every heroine arc, hidden under a façade of a cute, New Game!-like story about an all-female game studio, it seemed to mix many elements I personally enjoy. What I got, however, is quite likely the worst Raine Work’s game to date and will stay in my mind as one of the most upsetting VNs I’ve read to date.

Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

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On one hand, I'm glad they finished the game. On another, it doesn't seem to be a very good one. I mean, for me, it likely wouldn't be the worst, but it's sad that it's not what it wanted to be. I backed this game when it came out and was excited to play (I was the girl for the protag). Cute story but with darker elements can be a great game. Sadly, it appears the devs weren't able to get the story down right. I don't regret backing, but wish I got a better game. Also, sad that the girls are so unlikable. I mean, when I played the demo, they were nothing amazing but okay for me. I loved the art and the premise of being game devs too. Like How to Date a Magical Girl though, they are trying to copy Doki Doki, and though I don't mind if they take some elements from that, neither game did well enough to pull it off. And this one seems to have bad love interests. Well, I do hope they can make a better game next time. I know it's not easy, especially writing. But, good review. 

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17 hours ago, aliciarune said:

On one hand, I'm glad they finished the game. On another, it doesn't seem to be a very good one. I mean, for me, it likely wouldn't be the worst, but it's sad that it's not what it wanted to be. I backed this game when it came out and was excited to play (I was the girl for the protag). Cute story but with darker elements can be a great game. Sadly, it appears the devs weren't able to get the story down right. I don't regret backing, but wish I got a better game. Also, sad that the girls are so unlikable. I mean, when I played the demo, they were nothing amazing but okay for me. I loved the art and the premise of being game devs too. Like How to Date a Magical Girl though, they are trying to copy Doki Doki, and though I don't mind if they take some elements from that, neither game did well enough to pull it off. And this one seems to have bad love interests. Well, I do hope they can make a better game next time. I know it's not easy, especially writing. But, good review. 

 

Thanks! The likeability is pretty subjective so my experience might be unusually negative... But even a poor first impression can be a plot device and be compensated for by interesting character development. Here it was a downward spiral even harder than with the How to Date a Magical Girl, as there are basically no high points, especially outside of Lissa's route. I never really regret backing projects because its always a gamble and I have yet to see a case when dev of something my pledged to showed bad will or lack of effort... This one just really didn't pan out as most people hoped.

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