Don't Make Love

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☑ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☑ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Significant, nothing but a big terrarium for bugs
☐ Call the exterminators

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

An interesting concept for a story but severely limited by its singular setting.
A two-person community play with optional scenes.

I can't believe a game about mantises discussing their relationship is so well made and emotional.

Love is a brittle thing. One threat of sexual cannibalism after intercourse is all that's required to sever connections between lovers. Roughly 25% of mantis sexual encounters result in the death of the male, with the female typically cannibalising her partner during the act. This form of sexual abuse must end, it is time the world collaborated and determined an appropriate course of action in dealing with domestic violence in mantis communities. To fully encapsulate the issue at hand I will tell you my personal fable.
I contemplate apprehensively about my future, my mantis lover is a beautiful beast, and we are mutually in love, with our romance rivalling the attraction demonstrated in many sagas, such as the story of Helen of Troy, or the Odyssey. Despite the conspicuously seductive hints I have been receiving from my lover, signs that she is both physically and mentally capable ready for reproduction I have a single thought inhibiting my ability to continue in our relationship. You see the problem is by law of mantis tradition, if I breed with this beauty, there is a possibility that she will subsequently take my seed and then promptly tear my head off in an act of sexual frenzy. Now I understand that it isn't 'cool' or sexy' to be a virgin for the rest of my life but is it really necessary to kill me immediately after I achieve my first orgasm?

The answer is no, despite how sexually appealing my lover is I will not continue this roulette of terror, I stubbornly refuse to mate with another if it spells my doom. I will however, send flowers and pictures of my genitalia to my mantis admirer, to assure her that the feeling is mutual.

The analogy depicts the rampant sexual cannabilism which exists within the mantis community. Mantis society is rife with sexual frustration and abuse, and as such, we as proud denizens of Rivellion must cease such indecent acts to take place. I urge all to join me in my venture, in ridding the world of this barbaric ideology which exists in Mantis communities.

An intriguing concept of a game, truly demonstrating the humans perception of love which is then applied to Mantis' and their utterly barbaric matriarchal society. I would like to urge the developers to improve this game further and create realistic scenes of intercourse to fully immerse myself in the experience of love between sexually destructive organisms. Lastly, despite the fact that I am unable to genuinely play this game, I will recommend it, solely for the ideas presented.

Ok guys, I'm a praying mantis Kung Fu Teacher and as a praying mantis fanatic I obviously approve you dedicating a game to the guardian of the insect world.

The best way to describe it is experimental. It's interesting as a one time simulation of a difficult dialogue. More often than not the system is a bit clunky but still if you answer with obvious and simple sentences or words it does react to what you say. I find it's hard to replay except for the fun of observation because it's actually really hard to get a good sense of what makes you go on a specific path.

It's cute and cover the subject really well. It's mainly ambient.

I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. Preying mantis fan. Experimental fan. Ok, I would normally push the not recommended button. I can't. Preying mantis for the win.

PS : some pupils I showed the game to said "ok, of course the school has a dedicated game". It's probably the only game dedicated to praying mantis out there indeed and I fully support it just for that fact.

I didn't find it as loving and touching as other reviewers have. Maybe that's a knock on the game, maybe it's a knock on me.

I don't recommend it because it is exceedingly short, there appear to be basically two endings per sex, and the majority of the game is listening to your potential partner drone on about existential angst until you do or say enough for them to make their mind up.

Mind you - this game is about your partner's life dilemmas, not yours. All you are really doing is trying to manipulate them toward the ending of your choosing, and no matter what you say or do, the reactions are very limited and results even more so.

The time it has taken you to read this review is longer than the time it will take you to see through the game mechanic and lose interest in reading the one-sided dialogue.

Or maybe this is your thing, and you want to find out how many keywords might evoke a response. If that's your idea of fun, then go for it, but personally I wouldn't recommend spending five dollars on this experience.

It's a nice try, but the game gets repetitive and monotonous really fast. I get it's difficult to have a natural -or at least one that feels non-scripted- conversation in such a game, but it feels forced and it's not very engaging nor as deep as it would like to be.

Maybe get it on sale and give it a try, I don't feel it's worth the full price.

Okay, so at first, I felt like I was in a relationship with Cleverbot, because the responses seemed like my partner was deflecting my conversation topics. I soon came to understand the limitations of the game and learned to play along better.

That being said, you can take this seriously and turn this into a sappy romance novel, or you can be like me and see how far you can troll the game. I had an innuendo-heavy conversation with my partner and ended up crying laughing at the overall exchange. At first, I was certain that I had wasted $5, but with a little persistence, I found great entertainment in this.

I also successfully got two achievements by just typing in the complete lyrics of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and a bit of "I Want to Break Free" before the game ended. Sometimes, the lyrics fit perfectly, strangely.

I will continue to play around with this game when I get bored, so it's safe to say that I will get my $5 worth.

I am really enjoying this game. It has given me some laugh-out-loud moments, which not many games do. Furthermore, the breadth of the NPCs responses to custom text are pretty impressive too, though there are a few gaps - e.g. could be some more algorithms around responses to 'marriage' based questions / statements (I tried a few, only one received a relevant response). Not to mention that the overall concept is just kind of fantastic.

I want to love you, but I don't want to eat your head.

It is not working. It is clearly a monolog. I need to feed this machine for its convinient answers. But i still like the nice idea of this little experiment.

Grass sways in the breeze, dandelion seeds float by, bugs are chirping. You look into their eyes, hold hands... and decide if you will make love, even if it might kill one of you.
Playing as either male or female (you can choose each new game), you talk to your partner by typing in sentences or choosing actions like smiling or hugging. The conversation isn’t something you can rush, as your partner needs time to express their feelings, and you’re both trying to listen, understand, and care for each other. This is especially hard since the decision affects you both differently – the male mantis is the one who might die – but you’re both affected by your desires, instincts and how other mantises around you act. It’s not the kind of game where you find a ‘good ending’, it’s about treating each other with respect and doing something you’re both happy with.
The game’s ambiance does a lot to make the game feel slow and caring, and any weirdness that inevitably comes with parser games is overshadowed by your partner having a will of their own and being able to steer the conversation based on their feelings.

Although it feels rail-roaded after a couple of playthroughs, I can't say I didn't enjoy this game. It's a very good-looking game with such an heart-touching atmosphere and a beautiful story, it actually made me close to crying the first time I played it. It actually reminds me of Façade in a couple of ways; I definitely recommend it to anybody who liked that game.
I've payed the older price, and I don't regret a thing.

I honestly bought it as a joke, and wow. WOW.

Games where you have that kind of honest conversation going on with a partner are rare. Sure, the concept is kinda funny and not what a human relationship could go through, but the negociations in both lovers's desires, expectations and fears are a thing we sometimes have to navigate through in our lives, and it felt real. It has nothing to do with how romance is usually approached in visual novels, let alone video games in general.

It also plays very differently from other VNs, with a text input and several romantic interractions (caress, hug, kiss) and emotional reaction (happy, sad, surprised, upset) available at all time. Furthermore, while there arent' a ton of different drawings, the art is gorgeous and helps convey the emotions the couple is going through in the game.

The playthroughs are very short, so this can be a good or a bad thing depending of what you're looking for (I personally like to play that kind of quick games sometimes, as I don't necessarily have a full evening ahead of me to dive into a lengthier and more complex story).

I never thought I would recommend a game about two praying mantises discussing the terms of their relationship, but here I am!

I just bought this game, and I must say I find it so beautiful! I love the artwork. I felt emotional while playing it because the love between those two mantises are so real and they care for each other so very much. Very lovely game, I recommend it

This is a strange little game, but surprisingly deep and introspective. It's perfect for a quiet night as you ponder many different aspects of life. The art and music are both simple but beautiful and at times genuinely touching. Playthroughs are quick but the branching feels expansive and logical. It's rare to see a completely fresh idea like this nowadays and I recommend supporting creators like this.

I wanted to start this review off with a rant about video games as art. But after thinking it over for a while, I don't think it's necessary. Most people these days recognise that video games both contain art, and are an art form in and of themselves. But if I was going to argue the point, this game would be a great example.

In Don't Make Love, you play as a praying mantis. You can be either the male or the female, but either way the goal is the same. You have to have a difficult conversation with your partner about your future together.

There is no set win condition for this game. You can lose, if you upset your partner too much and end things badly, I think that counts as a lose condition. But the three main options are: you decide your relationship is unsustainable, decide to stay together without sex, or risk death and give in to your instincts. There's no right answer here, it's all about talking it through together.

To that extent, the mechanics of the game work quite well. You're not given multiple choice answers like most dialogue in games. This game requires you to type up your own original answers and responses. It really helps make you feel like you're really there, having this difficult discussion about your relationship. Of course, it's a bit limited in how much it “understands” of what you've written. But I think it gets enough right that you can role-play your way through it and ignore the few times it makes mistakes. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. One time I typed to my partner “Let's go to the river” and she replied with “I don't want to go to the river, I want to stay here and talk with you.” Which was quite cool.

The game is quite short, you can finish it in about half an hour. But really, you wouldn't want it to go much longer than that, because it's a tough conversation you're having, and it's not exactly in the realm of fun. But you can play more than once, and get a different perspective by playing as the opposite sex. Or just try out different things to say and see if you can unlock all the achievements. I've played it four times and that feels like enough. Maybe I'll come back to it later.

So, the verdict. Firstly, this game absolutely gets points for originality. Whoever came up with the concept for this game, bravo. I feel like I should take points away for the fact that it's not something you want to keep playing, but...as an art piece I don't know if that's truly necessary. Sometimes art just makes you uncomfortable and that's all it's supposed to do. I don't think I can really give this one a rating. I'll just say, if you're interested in the idea of games as art, or if this strange concept sounds at all appealing, it really is worth checking out. It's seven dollars.

Great game, not enough chitin content out there for me so this is perfect. Not to mention that it's well done. Here's hoping his gal is well-fed before they try it, that's all they'll need.

The game *looks* beautiful and I don't hate it by any means. But on balance, I just don't enjoy it enough to recommend buying.

The biggest issue for me is that the conversations typically feel rail-roaded. The partner (regardless of whether you are playing male or female) is always leading the conversation, and asks questions that feel leading. It wouldn't stand up in court. Trying to disagree or to influence the conversation's direction ends up with responses that typically feel like being punished. It's natural that in a game like this the developers won't be able to recreate an actual conversation, but I feel like it wouldn't have been too hard to allow the computer to recognise some core story threads that, if brought up by the player, it would then be able to pick up and continue, e.g. having an open relationship; wanting to talk about the future instead of the past etc. This would give the player some sense of agency. Admittedly, I did not put much time in this, so maybe that content is there, somewhere. But if it is... I just didn't enjoy the game enough to discover it.

I was also REALLY unimpressed when at least one of my conversation attempts received the reply "TODO", which I assume means "to do", i.e. there is just unfinished code in here. The game is being sold as finished so this seems lazy. Surely they have some kind of file with all the text in the game and should have at least been able to hit CTRL + F for all instances of "TODO" before publishing?

I love the concept behind this game, and the visual production is great, so I hope the developers continue their work - but I think some re-thinking and re-working is required for this form to really shine.

Don't be put off by the concept. The conversations in this game are deep and engaging, and the AI is actually fairly good at responding to you (as long as you play along with the premise). It is, perhaps a bit of a flaw that it's hard to tell how to get all of the "hidden endings", but then, I suppose they wouldn't be hidden if they were easy. Recommended if on sale!

Two Mantis. (Manti?)
One passion.
Will love overcome all, or will you lose your head?

First Impression Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSYTr0j83vM&feature=youtu.be

Anyways, the game's plot (no spoilers) is about a praying mantis couple contemplating the idea of taking their relationship to the next level.
The only problem is that in the world of the mantis, the act of mating is typically fatal for the male (at the jaws of the female!)

Game play is mostly text based, with a few emoticon type clicky responses as well.
The AI seems to respond appropriately to what you say, and you actually have to type out your responses.
Simple one word answers don't suffice for long, as the AI will catch on and become "bored."

You're able to play as either the female or the male, with the decisions you make influencing the end of the game.
Everything takes place in one setting, and the entire game is going back and forth in a conversation between the two lovers.

Now as far as my opinion on this game, I feel a bit in the middle.

Gameplay was interesting for a while, but I got bored within half an hour. There is only so much back and forth conversation between the AI I can take. It would have been nice to have something to break up the monotony.
Sometimes conversation felt circular, arriving back to where the conversation originated. (though to be fair, many serious conversation in real life do as well)

I like the concept of this game, and I think it will appeal to a large amount of people. Which is why I will recommend it. But personally, this kind of game gets boring for me quickly. I went and played to two endings, and that was more than enough for me. Last thought is that I think the price is a bit steep at $7.00.

I think this game is worth getting, but I would advise to wait until it is on sale for 50% or more.