Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/lp/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22986
Release date: 25/03/21.
After the disappointment that was Ryza 2 and not much otome games coming out
I decided to get one of their newest release lover pretend a shot because
the premise seemed interesting and the art is gorgeous... AND it has an all-star seiyuu cast.
Other than that I had no real expectations...
Pro's
- Interesting story, unique character-focused routes.
- Likeable heroine.
- Art.
- Catchy BGM.
- Light-hearted nothing too serious.
Con's
- Too many bad ends that don't add much of value.
- Some routes have loose ends that do not properly get resolved.
- The common route can get a tad repetitive by route 4.
Plot/characters
Chiyuki our heroine has two dreams on is to fulfill her deceased mom's dream to be a writer
the other to find her biological father whom she never met. The clues to him
seem to be in some script her mom wrote before she have birth.
Chiyuki thinks hmm maybe the people involved with my moms work may know something!
by some string of events beyond her control she finds herself cast in a drama herself
and has to pretend to fall in love while never really having done so.😅
Actually this sounds like a recipe for disaster...
Most of the guys are all popular too so Chiyuki has to deal with some of their admirers/fans
oh well atleast there was some conflict so it wasn't boring at all.
I did like Chiyuki a lot though she her personality was great whether it was telling
Yukito to go buzz off or trying to keep her act together... she had off moments
but all in all she was pretty human! which might be why I liked her so much
she knew what she wanted and went for it, the poster boy Kazuma was great too
the best friend Chiyuki could have or maybe as a lover too? who knows... but his route
I wasn't a fan of it. Yukito was ok but his route was full of general idol bullshittery with him being
a massive flirt but I gotta admit I was trash for him by the time it was over. (wait what...? yeah.)
 |
| TFW I find out i'm trash for yet another 2d man... |
Harumi is gonna be a no from me as he's more like a little bro. UwU
Riku was fine in more ways than one... his route was quite entertaining
and out of all for me he was an easy favorite. Asagi is well okay I guess?
he's the only one I don't have a strong opinion of might've been cuz his route was rather short.
System
The director of WoF,Reine and VB gave us his newest masterpiece 'pretend time'
but atleast this system actually somewhat works with the story flow and whenever there's some
problematic situation Chiyuki has to pretend to get out of it or something like that.
This system is basically just an excuse for plot development and only a handful
actually involve pretending. In the routes of Riku and Yukito it was good. For Harumi it was
okay at best, in Kazuma it wasn't really necessary and in Asagi it was like pretending? what's that.
Like in the beginning Chiyuki pretending to know how to be a girlfriend to having to explain
she has a reason to be around Harumi was good or Riku trying to pretend to be lovers
for personal reasons. Well this is miles better than the RNG in WoF
or that weird barricade breaking system in variable barricade.
With it being similar to reine des fleur also means each guy has like 4 bad ends...😱
most are just fail ends and don't add much but atleast you get prompted to save
before it starts so its actually very forgiving, thank you otomate.
It does get tiring having to do all endings but good news! there's no need for CG completion
maybe personal satisfaction........ so you can always do it, I gave up after Yukito's.
Atleast there's the option to skip pretend times you've already done and min/max affection you gain from it which made it even much more bearable, wow otomate really learned from reine huh? (maybe)
without it being too deep it still managed to tell a decent but entertaining story
and with the exception of one route whatever drama there was in the routes
didn't feel like it was dragging it down too much. The heroine was proactive and sassy
which lead to some hilarious scenes, overall she was pretty great.
Depending on the route the title of the script she writes changes as well.
I want to add... that this games theme really is more or less about COMMUNICATION
the characters are not perfect they have flaws and it might require some understanding
Harumi is literally just a kid with a less than ideal family situation but was willing
to IMPROVE and GROW despite that, the heroine being understanding definitely helped
if you truly want a healthy relationship with anyone romantic or not it is important
to be there for someone even if they said mean things and IMO this otome game did really well
which out of all routes I had to pick Harumi as the example but they all pretty much came down to it.
I mean you could dump someone for it too and sometimes you'll have to throw in the towel
and someone might be beyond your help but that's not what a game should be about
even if something looks bad there is still hope. Afterall if you give up its all over.
The common route served its purpose in setting up the potential pair
it was neither too long or too short. It made it feel like this game was from years ago.😂
Story was good at slowly revealing more information and her fulfilling her dreams but of course
some was halted based on who you go for as the guys problems were more important.
This is one of those where certain information is locked into the hidden route.
Which leads to routes being more or less self-contained, Yukito, Harumi being the biggest
offenders and to some extend Riku but it felt they kinda blue balled that one. Don't get me
started on Kazuma... Kaz... oh you cute but dumb boy! the route was cute and all but then
you get hit with PAIN that is like when a truck hits you that came out of nowhere😓
idk it felt like the writer had a block and struggled trying to make something of it
because unlike the other routes the whole mood did a 180.
Either way none of the characters were terrible but the routes sure were... unique!
if any route managed to surprise me it was Harumi, his is the one that truly stands apart
from say Yukito or Riku. Kaz doesn't compare to any route if you do his you'll know why.
There were also a bunch of bonus scenarios you can read after you finish the routes
some with a extra cg others which was nice.
a decent enough plot going on to keep you invested in it as a whole while you chase bishies.
Though that didn't stop it from some routes being less interesting as a whole
but i've played enough VN to know by now this is all too common.
Atleast the routes never bored me if anything I was a little lost at the direction of Harumi's route
both him and Yukito are probably the safest picks 1st play but it shouldn't matter much.
Lover Pretend had a better plot and more interesting routes than the last otome game I had played
which when looking back was quite barebones when compared to this game
it may have been more dramatic as well but hey its about acting? and much like
variable barricade these boys are far from perfect... all have their own issues.
The only thing that I think might be bad is the high amount of bad ends that don't have much of value
and making one important plot thread into a loose end that do not properly get resolved
till the final route which kinda makes sense buuut yeah a FD could fix this
but you can't always bet on that happening. At the very least all routes were enjoyable enough
that I could turn a blind eye to this. To be fair games like code:realize also did this...
so I do not make a big deal of it any more than needed.
All things considered, I didn't expect much and almost passed on it but managed to enjoy it anyway.
For what its worth this was a pretty okay otome game!
8,5/10
My play order: Yukito > Harumi > Riku > Kazuma > Asagi.
Which I thought was fine and the order doesn't matter that much might say Yukito or Harumi first
and no choice but to do Asagi last as he's locked till you do all.
That ends the non spoiler section, usual spoiler babbles after the jump.
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