Valentine Panic

A fun short visual novel with 4 "romanceable" characters. Romanceable in quotation marks as it's more of like a friendship with them. This doesn't take away from the quality of the game. These characters are all unique in their own way and are voiced brilliantly. Indeed, this game has voice acting and it is top notch.

Also I will say briefly, that I love the main menu music, it is truly beautiful to listen to.

A unique aspect about this game is the match element. Every so often you'll be required to play a minigame which will task you with matching two of the same type of ingredient or menu item. This can be fun but it may get somewhat repetitive. Especially if you're going for a certain achievement, cough cough workaholic cough cough. Only a true masochist would be able to complete such a feat.

Highly recommend this game as it's cheap, has a nice story and a lovable cast of characters!

this really wasn't fun for me to play, but the voice acting was kinda nice. the font was really hard to read though and for some reason some of the characters just had gray skin? and the memory games were a bit much

Very short memory game. To say you have "romance options" is quite the overstatement - you get friendlier with one of them, but nothing really romantic tbh. But it's cute.
You also have an "endless mode" where you can play the memory game to your heart's content if you're into that (or for the achievement of doing 100 of those in a row - you can save anytime btw).

If you want a cute spin-off in the seduce me universe it's worth the play for the cheap price definitely. Mini games to get through a story that you can't skip just aren't my personal cup of tea. If you don't mind going through those though it is a good and cute game

TL;DR-
Story & Characters: 7/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Dialogue & Writing: 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music & Sound: 7/10
Length: 3/10
Replayability: 8/10
A game that, despite it's title, is NOT about trying to find a last minute gift: "Half Baked"/10(I'm not apologizing for that pun.)

-REVIEW-
Happy Valentine's day, everyone! What better way to celebrate a day about love, love, and more love by playing a solitary match game about helping out in a bakery?

*sigh* I need to get a date.

Anyway, Panic! At The Valentine is a very short and sweet game/visual novel about a genderless, formless, nameable protagonist(you) who is in a bit of a pickle; (s)he is struggling to get a job and needs one back so life won't suck. In a moment of convenience that screams Phone Ex Machina, the protag gets a call from the manager of a cafe known as the Pink Lady. Apparently after your last interview attempt, someone else got a hold of this manager and referred you, and in good time: Valentine's Day is coming up, and the cafe, known for tasty treats and such, is looking for some help. Provided you accept(you can actually refuse for a very quick ending that is rather hilarious), you'll arrive at the Pink Lady and get a hands-on test to see if you have what it takes to add your skills to the ensemble and hopefully make the Valentine rush a successful one.

This is of course, where the gameplay comes in, and if you know how a typical card matching game works, congratulations! You know how to play the ENTIRE GAME! Okay, so there's not much to the interactivity: flip over cards, matching pictures of delectables or baking ingredients, depending on whether you choose to help in the cafe proper or in the kitchen respectively. The only real challenge is that you have a time limit to get it done. In addition, there's also an endless mode if you really like match games. Considering the slew of other games Steam has available, I wouldn't be surprised if such a feature didn't exactly fly off the shelves for people, but it's nice to have.

The bulk of the, erm, game is actually a visual novel, in which the majority of the story revolves around the co-workers you choose to help. As I said, upon landing the job, you can choose to either work in the cafe as a waiter, with Joey and Leah, or hang in the kitchen with Quinn and Trinity. While these are technically romance stories, the relationships you can develop are low-key and wholesome, which is honestly a nice change from the typical hentai scene that Steam is known for.

The characters themselves aren't anything special, not much different from, say, people you'd likely work with in real life, but I find that to be their biggest strength: relatability. Leah is an immensely kind-hearted girl that puts her soul into keeping the cafe running, and has an impression of the world that borders on rose-tinted glasses. Joey is a more relaxed guy who more often than not takes breaks in the alley listening to music and telling stories about how he and his brothers used to work at a strip club. Quinn and Trinity, meanwhile, are siblings who have some family history in the culinary arts. All of them are well-written and fun to get to know, and definitely feel realistic as well. Nothing super amazing, mind you, but it gets the job done, and I enjoyed feeling all the feel-good moments.

In terms of music and sound, everything was well done, if not spectacular. The voice acting was where all the good stuff was; plenty of talent was in this game, and everyone did a great job. The fact that the game's very creator, Michaela Laws, threw her voice in as well was a nice touch. Music-wise, not so much. The music that was there was enjoyable to listen to and fit the setting well, but there's very few tracks overall, and it can get a bit tiring to listen to the same tunes again.

Happily, the game looks great. The background, the anime sprites, even the little pictures in the match game were beautifully designed, which was awesome considering how cheap the title is price-wise.

In the end, Valentine Panic! isn't too much: a simple hybrid game/VN that's there to just make your Valentine's Day that much sweeter. For me, at least, it succeeded. Thanks for reading.

I found this game while it was on sale so I was like why not. I think this is such a cute and simple dating sim that goes both ways, and for that I love it. I enjoy the puzzle games and the stories, getting to know the character and so on. It's fairly simple, but I find that to add to the fun of the story.

The game is cute. Unfortunately the story is extremely rigid. In order to become close to a character you have to take all the choices precisely as designed by the game developer.

Bored from the quarantine, I decided to get a game to liven myself up. Valentine Panic wasn't something that struck me as special in any regard, but it was cheap and I thought 'why not?' And boy was I wrong.

First of all, VOICE ACTING FOR A 79 PENCE GAME. It's pretty rare you come across this, so I was impressed.

Then, the characters. I was gonna focus only on the women and skip over the men's dialogue, but I didn't because they are SO lovable. I also enjoyed all of the character interactions, finding all of them charming in their own ways. But OH MY GOD DON'T GET ME STARTED WITH MY MEGA GAY CRUSH ON TRINITY! AHHH! I'LL FOLLOW YOUR EVERY COMMAND!

Ahem. The endless mode was good as well, I'm still trying to accomplish all the achievements on it, but adding in this after the game ends is a nice touch.

Overall, this game is definitely a good way to spend 1-2 hours of your time if you enjoy romance games. It packs a lot in for the price with good characters, sweet endings and an arcade element to it.

I am a big fan of Michaela Laws games, so I am a bit biased, but the art, music, and voice acting is what I expect from this developer (in other words, its good). In general, you're essentially paying for a matching mini-game, which I think is completely fine when you consider the price, but it is not really my type of game.

In terms of the visual novel itself, it was reeeeeally difficult to read the font and interactions between the MC and the NPCs aren't fantastic. For me, the only real positive was having a snapshot into the future for another Michaela Laws game (we all know which one lol). Therefore, if you're buying this game because you want an interesting visual novel, I would advise against it.

Even though it pains me to say it, I would not recommend this game because, for me, I think the downsides outweigh the upsides. If it was not for the fact that I enjoyed this developer's other games (including free ones) so much, I probably would refund this. However, if you just want an excuse to support this developer and/or you actually want a fun mini-game to play at an affordable price, go for it.

It just took too long to get full achievements for a small game like this. The reason for this is endless mode design sucks. No counter or anything to track your records, paycheck, and it's even worse when you have to save everytime you play this mode

This has got to be my least favourite of Michaela's games. As a memory game, it's cute and entertaining for a bit, but as a visual novel it's disappointing. The story is short, bland and repetitive, and despite the romance hinted at in the title and description, there isn't any at all.
I would have loved to see the owner and manager of the cafe make an appearance in person. The fact that they were never there made the whole set up feel sketchy, even though it wasn't.
It was a missed opportunity to spice the story up, or at least properly confirm the legitimacy of the whole situation. There's a lot of questions they never answered and it just seems strange to me that they never made an appearance at all.

Played Character Route Order: Joey ◈ Quinn ◈ Trinity ◈ Leia

Valentine Panic, developed and published by Michaela Laws, known as the creator of Seduce Me the Otome among other titles, is a cute and fully voiced Memory/Visual Novel hybrid, which is worth a look if you want to pass time. Although the game includes Visual Novel as well as romance elements, the romance and storyline are so paper-thin that I suppose this should not be your main reason to buy it. Keep in mind that you'll spend 90% of the time playing memory. I'm not particularly looking for memory games per se, but I felt entertained for the one hour it took me to collect every achievement. Additionally, and in case you are a memory enthusiast (Is that even a thing?), you can also give the endless mode a try.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213481378

Here is a brief summary of the story: our nameless and genderless protagonist is, without much success, looking for a job when they suddenly get a call with the offer to work in a cafe. Once working there, we can pursue two male and two female characters. The conversations between the main character and the romance interests are more of a friendly than flirtatious nature, though. I was expecting a romantic and fluffy story but that is not really what Valentine Panic offers to the player. It's fluffy for sure but romance is only vaguely hinted at when reaching an ending.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1213481309

Overall, it's a pretty good deal in my opinion for just $0.99, taking into consideration that it is also fully voiced. The story is, even if there isn't much of it in the first place, well written and quite enjoyable.

You can totally go for it if you can picture yourself liking a memory game in combination with a short and rather uneventful storyline.

[quote]𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐤𝐚𝐢'𝐬 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐑𝐏𝐆 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬[/quote]

It's a cute, relatively short game that you can finish in less than an hour. The matching game is fun (if not occasionally stressful) and the relationships are cute, though they aren't exactly 'romantic,' though feelings are implied by the end of the game. So it's a sweet game, certainly worth it's price. (Though I got it on sale for 49 cents haha.)
It's also voice acted, which is always a plus!

A short little game, but I really enjoyed it; each story playthrough takes about 30-40 mins, but it looks like there are probably about 4 endings. The voice acting for the game is my favorite part! I like the matching mini-game too. You can also play an endless mode for the matching game & play it how ever long you'd like! Overall, it's a cute little VN/matching game that I'd recommend, especially while it's on sale! Best 49 cents ever spent. :)

I love this game and that it exists in the same universe as Seduce Me the Otome. Being able to work at the Pink Lady Cafe from Seduce Me the Otome felt amazing. I also loved that that Naomi is now the manager and is away on her trip to France just like at the end of her route in Seduce Me the Otome. I love Michaela Laws' work and this has proven to be another well worth purchased game.

It impresses as much as it disappoints.

Pros:
- The characters are cute, and well-drawn
- There is full voice acting for the game, which was a shock (especially given the game's price)
- The game can be completed relatively quickly, which is nice if you only have an hour or so to spare

Cons:
- The main gameplay mechanic, a memory / matching game could be an annoyance if you are only there for the story. Having an option to disable or skip those sections would have been nice (especially after beating the game for the first time), but that would have made the game even shorter.
- Though it more realistically portrays how people related to one another and start relationships, there are no grand gestures of love (or smooching scenes) in this game. If that is what you are looking for, you best look elsewhere.
- (nit-pick) The dialogue can be a little stilted at times, and a few small grammatical and spelling errors still slipped through.
- (nit-pick) The sound quality varied a bit from voice to voice; this was especially noticeable for some of the customers' voices.

Summary: though the game is short, it packs in a lot of features for the price. It isn't a bad way to spend an hour or so, even if the memory / matching game feels tacked on to increase the play time of the game.

This is a cute little game written by the same author/group as the Seduce Me! Otome games... and there are a few easter eggs, since it shares at least a character or two... Most of the gameplay is a matching game, but the paths are relatively simple to figure out. Once through a romance path (successfully), you unlock Endless Mode which allows you to get the rest of the achievements by doing an endless round of matching games. Once you fail a game in that mode, you get a paycheck. Note: one of the achievements requires you to get $1000 as a paycheck, and since it appears to be about $10 per game...

Still, it is fun for a little time whiling away... and cheap too.

Very cute and sweet. If you want a quick otome this perfect, if you want cute memory games it works too. The voice acting in Michaela's games are always enjoyable as well :)

The game is soo cute! The character and the storyline is just adorable.It was a short gameplay but I'm satisfied with it! For a dollar,this game has a really great art style,a really great voice acting and many more.

There is only one achievement that I still haven't unlock yet which is 'workaholic',can't seem to figure out how.

But overall,I will give 5/5.