True Lover's Knot

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

PROS:
* short and sweet
* decent story
* can get all endings in an hour

CONS:
* the 'mini-game' is completely random and feels like it's thrown in just to use time
* none of the romance options are that great
* dialogue seems forced at times
* the anime style characters look far too young and talk too young/modern for people who are supposed to be in their 30s

Overall, it's not a bad game. There aren't many choices to be made, and the only one that actually matters is at the very end. You can save right before you make a choice, load the save, and get all 3 endings in a matter of minutes. If it's on sale, might be worth it to waste an hour. It's a good one-shot game for YouTubers.

Well, this game is (very) short compared to what I've played so far. I finished it in about 1.5 hours, unlocked all the 3 endings, and cleared all the 4 achievements.

The story is below my expectation. Like, 1.5/5, sorry to say.

The match-3 mini-game, while the idea and the gameplay is good, become repetitive near the end of the game.

The video? It surprised me at first since I haven't played other visual novels that use video like this. The second and the third time, I skipped the video.

So, to whoever read this review, I suggest you to buy it during a sale. And if you're a game developer, you can use this game to learn what's good and what's bad (and also figure out how to fix the bad things).

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.

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.

I would not recommend this game. I was honestly sucked in by the catchy theme song and pretty art work. Don't be fooled! The game is very short, which in and of itself is not a problem, but the storyline is bland and very rushed. I honestly wish that the mini game had been excluded and more storyline could be put in instead. The mini game was okay, but it felt like you had to play it two or three times in a row before you could move on in the story. I didn't find either of the two guys you could pursue to be interesting. The onlt time i actually laughed was when I was listening to the phone messages on your answering machine. The voice acting was so bad, it was actually quite delightful. The background was jarring at first, but didn't really add or lessen from the game.

Pros: Pretty artwork/photos, voice acting hilarious(ly bad), Lucas (your BFF)

Cons: the movies were pointless and boring, all music other than the theme song, your date options, the depiction of the cruise, the mini game popped up too often, your choices don't matter

If you must buy this game, at least buy it on sale so you waste less money. I should have listened to the other reviewers.

This is the first review I have ever left on steam (or almost anywhere) so know that I truely felt the need to to say my piece on this game. Like many others, I too was immeditatly pulled in by the look and premise of this game. however after over an hour game play that was mostly just intrusive and mandatory 'mini-games' that honestly take up more of the game than the game itself I had to turn it off.
CONS
1. Mini-game, after mini-game, after mini-game. I don't think the tags 'visual novel' or 'story rich' should be on this game at all. Also if there was a way to skip them, I didn't see it.
2. the characters are awful, as in poorly written fan-fiction bad.
3. the MC's only personality trait seem to be: "I can fix that!"
4. As some have mentioned before me, the awful, awful forced 'sleep with the masogynist' plot. I thought my option was me turning the jerk down. Nope!
5. The 'story' was hard to imerse myslef in as the few cuts scenes I got were so abrupt that they were just jarring. the live action cut scenes ruined the feel for me. After a while I seemed to not be getting choices at all, just mini-games.
6. All of the characters are supposed to be in their mid to late 20's, but most look like high schoolers at best.

Caveat: this is more-or-less an "otome" game (a woman romancing several - in this case two - men, and I am male.

Quite possibly, in its own way, the worst VN I've ever played.

- Unskippable videos - repeated several times.
- The first potential love interest is a genuine creep, but your character unavoidably winds up in bed with him anyway (and her opinion has nothing to do with your selections from your conversation with him).
- Both love interests are pretty one-dimensional. Your "friend" and even some of the side characters have more depth.
- The city "tours" are very basic outlines of culture, cuisine and economy, over a single static screen, reading a bit like Wikipedia summaries.
- There are very few meaningful decisions. In the end, I think, only one.
- After that particular decision, the ending is staggeringly short.
- The puzzle minigame does add variety, but because the game is quite short you'll only actually play it a dozen or so times.
- The puzzle game really feels tacked-on in any case. It adds relatively little meat to the game, while interrupting the (minimal) plot.

On the plus side, the art is nice, as is the concluding song.

A thorough waste of US$7. Get Clannad or Fruit of Grisaia or something instead. Costs more, but the amount of depth bears no comparison. If you want an otome game... maybe hatoful boyfirend; it shouldn't be hard to find something better, in any case.

Ok, I love visual novels. But this game pissed me off. First of all it's linear, and when I say that I mean your choices don't mean anything (you can't even decline a date...seriously WTF?!?!). Also you go on a cruise with Lucas and you can't romance him. Are you serious?!? This a romantic novel and I can't get together with my best friend!?! And to rub salt on the wound he always marries another girl. So that made me mad. Plus the two potential lovers are boring and creepy. One of them is a creeper who doesn't take no for an answer and the other can't shut up about his work. Also why only guys? Us lesbians and bisexuals play these games too. As a bisexual myself I have to say that I'm qute dissapointed. I mean you had three female charaters you could've easily made love interests. Overall this game felt empty and lazily made. So I suggest that you save your money and go for a game that doesn't feel incomplete.

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.

*May not be spoiler-free, but no spoilers that would not be found 10 minutes into the game*

Before you downvote immediately for a negative review, please read the comprehensive reasons below. If you find that none of it was helpful, then downvote. Thank you.

A bit of background on me: I'm a lover of visual novels and otome games, and have been for a few years, back when Voltage only had My Forged Wedding and Pirates in Love out in English and they were considered pioneers for casual visual novels in America. (PSP games didn't count for casual, since it was a console with a relatively small market even then.) Since then, I've played probably 30-40 visual novels, from the 20-minute to the 10-hour full playthroughs, and from PC to Android.

When I saw True Lover's Knot, I went for it immediately after reading the description and looking at the screenshots. I'm personally a big fan of vacation romances, and cruises are my favorite type of vacation romance. The character art was gorgeous as well, and my initial assessment of the art wasn't incorrect. However, I can't say that after having played this game I would pay anything more than $0.99 for it. Here's why, in a short list format that I then explain in detail below.

PROS:

+ Gorgeous character sprites
+ Random video sequences of cruise things happening
+ Travel facts about European cities in "guides" that can be skipped, if desired
+ A fun match-3 minigame that isn't too difficult
+ Proper spelling and grammar


CONS:

- "No" to a stranger on a cruise means nothing: CONSENT (nonsexual, see below)
- Short for the price, only a 45 minute first playthrough
- Forces minigames in otherwise pointless scenes
- Dialogue mundane and expositional at times
- My personal favorite character was not a love interest :(

- Can't overwrite save files
- Sprites aren't same size relative to each other
- Sprites sometimes enlarge and cut off the hair in certain scenes
- Audio overlaps weirdly in a certain scene
- Can't skip long animation sequences


EXPLANATION: Why do I not recommend this game?

First of all, and the most obvious reason, is that this game is SHORT. A $7 game should not be 45 minutes long for a single playthrough, and certainly not 1.5 hours long in its entirety. I am a generally fast reader, and I see that other reviewers have had first game playthroughs from 1-2 hours, but that's still VERY short for a $7 game. I'm also certain I got all the dialogue I could squeeze out of the game, as I went back to the beginning and re-read all the choices possible, which was a massive pain because I could not overwrite save files and didn't know that when I created them (6 slots available).

A visual novel is first and foremost about the novel half of it, and even discarding the brevity of this game, the writing still fell short. As in, it wasn't great, maybe not even good. No matter how gorgeous the art, few will finish a visual novel if the writing is poor, unless it is an H-game, which this is not, or very short, which this is.

Most of the dialogue in the beginning centered around what the main character and her friend planned to do next. Scene-setting detail was bare and actual description of actions and events were uninteresting and gave very little feeling that the author knew what cruise entertainment was. A certain scene seemed to exist entirely to introduce a new character, who then had no bearing on the following plot, and another scene was entirely there for the purpose of making the player play a minigame.

On the minigame, a small pet peeve of mine was that it's a software-based minigame that manipulates familiar file types for audio and images, which made no sense when it was deployed to unstick the coolant in a cruise engine. Another smaller mistake is that at a certain point, after choosing an option, a voice recording just keeps playing over the BGM even when you choose to leave the room. (The instance of voice acting is poorly fitting for the characters, one moreso than the other. The worse one seemed creepy at best and slimy at worst.)

And finally, on the topic that cinched my disapproval for the game: CONSENT and how it relates to the main character's personality. When meeting a stranger on the cruise, he offers to sex you up within five minutes of meeting. If you choose the choices to decline further interaction with him, he then offers to show you around a Spanish city the next day. There is no choice here now; the main character will "dream about him," accompany him, and continues to associate with him after that tour. The way the narrative was written, it was clear that to save writing the author just kept this character as the tour guide for the city, and if that meant making the main character choose to accompany him, so be it.

Not only does this ignore the player's choices, rendering them pointless if they choose to deny the man, it also gives the feeling that if a strange man on a cruise offers to bang you and you decline to talk to him, you will still end up following him like a pup.

Overall, I would not recommend this game. If it were free, I would give it a 5/10 (mediocre next to many free visual novels in English), but for the price, I would give it a 2.5/10. I would not buy this again under any circumstances, and hope that if you choose to purchase it, you know what you are buying at least a little bit more with my review.

If you read all the way down here and still find my review unhelpful, then downvote. Otherwise, don't. Thank you.

This has like 4 decisions...It's mostly match up games and overtly long transitions screens showing me the boat. I was half expecting an advert to pop up about the actual cruise. Also you have like two date options. I dont think you can end up with luke.

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.

This Visual Novel is mostly kinetic (as it says in the description) but places the gameplay in a series of “candy crush” style puzzles in between plot points to be solved. A nice concept that lets one “rest” in between story bits to play the puzzles, which are relevant to the story. I like the story, it’s a lot of fun and isn’t too predictable.

A lovely little VN, I bought this to read/play during my train ride from work and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

Pros:

- Very nice anime art

- Fun and unique mini game

- Interesting storyline

- Relaxing jazz OST

Cons:

- Feels a little too “Hollywood” at times

- Can borrow a bit heavily from the RomCom tropes at times.

All in all still a rather good VN and definitely better than what most VN companies are churning out these days. looking forward to finishing it later tonight. Recommended!