評論

• gamedeal user

  Jan 14, 2022

  I enjoy the story (I'm actually very picky with my VNs) quite a bit. The voice acting is decent. It keeps me engaged, always a huge plus, and the choices really feel like they mean something. Totally love the protag, seriously. The romance is pretty sweet as well, since there's usually a lot of iffy types of relationships in some of the other BL VNs. I had this wish-listed and I'm not at all disappointed.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 16, 2022

  I have to say, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give this VN a chance, but I’m glad I did. I’m one of those regular dudes who picked this because the story seemed interesting (no patch for me), but even if you are here for the steamy parts, I hope the impressions I share can be useful. Speaking of the story, the two main paths (depending on who you pick for your accomplice) are very different and practically do not overlap with each other at all – depending on which route you take, you are getting two very distinct and fairly lengthy experiences. There are multiple endings too, with differences more meaningful than what Mass Effect 3 arrived with. The pacing is a bit uneven, starting a bit chill and slice-of-life, with a good amount humor mixed in. Then later on things get a bit more akin to a thriller/action/spy flick. As a whole, it’s an enjoyable experience with a good amount of laughter, tense and emotional moments alike. The game had me cracking quite often and did a good job of making me care for the characters. I can tell a lot of work has been put in building the characters’ relationship; that was the main focus of the story, with the sci-fi elements taking a bit of a second fiddle. That's not to say that the game doesn’t explore a lot of interesting themes about artificial life. Some are examined in more detail, others are touched on a more surface level or essentially presented in passing as something for the player to ponder. Props for not having gaping plot-holes either, ass-pulls or out-of-place deus-ex-machina. The behaviour of the cast is believable throughout, and I can’t think of any true facepalm moments. That's something I’m sure we all find a great plus to any story. There were a couple of instances that seemed on the a bit too convenient side, but were not unbelievable and fit in the setting. If you are looking for a flaming trainwreck a-la Netflix’s “Another Life”, this is not it. The characters are fully voiced and I’d say the quality beat my expectation by a mile. All are good performances, though I especially dig how Bastian sounds; that voice actor’s performance has a lot of heart and puts much of what you hear from his colleagues in AAA games to shame. When it comes to the music in the game, there are some tracks that I would genuinely add to my daily playlist, and some that are more in line with a generic filler. None are grating or distract from the experience, and they all fit well enough. The sprite art is very crisp. I find the style is a bit unusual, but it’s a fresh break from the direction many VNs seem to flock around. The quality of the background art varies, but considering how many locations and screen changes there are in the game I’d say the overall package is pretty good. TLDR; I would gladly recommend this VN to fellow “regular” players who are not looking to try the uncensored version and just want a good futuristic story with a nice amount of bromance mixed in.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 18, 2022

  I truly engoyed the story and characters. The game isn't very long, but 8-9 hours of fun-time are guaranteed. My only issue is - it's a little difficult to pick enough "right" options to get a happy ending (I had to buy a guide for it...), but maybe I am just not very good at it...Either way, definitely recommend the game for those who like BL and Detroit: Become Human type of stories. You won't be disappointed.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 20, 2022

  Synthetic Lover is a game that I've been keeping an eye on back since the halcyon days of Tumblr. A long time lover of any game where I can romance attractive men while playing as an attractive man, the artwork and sci fi stylings of the game have long intrigued me. And finally getting to play it all of these years later, I'm glad that it piqued my interest! Synthetic Lover is an incredibly poignant game, a story of the meaning of humanity, love, and what we owe to both ourselves and others. The protagonist is refreshingly pro-active (a boon where so many BL protags are pinballs being bounced from plot point to plot point), and each love interest brings something different, from Bastian's passionate, aggressive nature to Terrance's reticent slow burn. Good writing is practically de rigeur for most BL novels these days, but Synthetic Lover shines with romance, humor and action, brought to life by a talented voice cast and absolutely incredible artwork. Seriously, the artwork is what originally attracted me to the game when it was in its early stages and everything from the sprites, to the backgrounds, to the delicious CGs are some of the best art I've seen in an indie visual novel. Definitely a must play!
• gamedeal user

  Jan 26, 2022

  A wonderful little gem. The art is great, the music is very fitting, and it's fully voice acted! Granted, some of the voice acting is mediocre, but having every character and spoken line voiced is really nice. Ian's VA is the best of the bunch by a long shot. I enjoyed the world building and the spritework. Each character has multiple poses and expressions, and some of them have different outfits they wear throughout the routes. There are lots of CGs to unlock, especially if you get the free 18+ patch. I liked both main love interests and their routes. I got the 18+ patch and really enjoyed those scenes, too. Definitely worth the purchase!
• gamedeal user

  Jan 26, 2022

  Well-written VN with interesting characters and great art. Good voice-acting made the story more immersive. I really enjoyed Terrance route.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 6, 2022

  Great game. Lovely voicework. Awesome. There is just one tiny thing that annoys me. [spoiler] Why can't Ian carry Bastian? He can break though a door. And he can't carry some guy because he's tired? It is a tiny nitpick, I know, but when I yell at the screen it needs to be said [/spoiler] The cgs vary in quality and artstyle with some really looking rough, and some looking gorgeous. [spoiler] also just cut his hair or dye it. That is a semi decent disguise. Well, did not like the long hair, so maybe just biased[/spoiler] oh and I havent played 40 hours just fell a sleep a couple of times on auto as a bedtime story
• gamedeal user

  Feb 25, 2022

  Highly reccomend this game. Long time yaoi game player, probably played about 15 total, this is probably tied with sweet pool for my favorite of all time. If you like the whole "bl romance in a slightly unnerving futuristic themed" archetype thats often employed in yaoi this is a must buy. Great story and characters, cried like a billion times, theres alot i liked about this game. Its also kinda nice to see a yaoi that was developed by a more western team. I think we can all think of a couple themes japanese developers often employ that are a bit problematic. Theyre not used in this game, and despite that, it doesnt seem like its missing any of the positive elements from japanese games. Its a really nice mix of eastern and western. So yeah, theres a million and a half reasons to buy this game. Only downsides I can think of is that theres definitely not a ton of sex scenes if thats what your main reason for playing this is, the story is a little shorter then most of the yaoi games ive played (although the fact that theres 2 entirely different stories does make up for that) and lastly, if youre not vers you will have to experience the player character both topping and bottoming in different scenes, which I did find to be a little awkward, seeing a character I project myself onto fulfill the opposite role I like. Still, the benefit of that is you get at least one good sex scene per character and no one is left out. Having said that I think the positives definitely outway the few negatives and reccomend the crap outta this game!
• gamedeal user

  Feb 26, 2022

  The premise was good but lacked several elements to make it great: 1) no customization for the biot, 2) no cues if certain actions would lead to romance or civility, and 3) very, very few branches were your choices would have an impact on the storyline.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 7, 2022

  I was lulled into the game by its great looking art and was happy to find an intriguing story to go along with it. It was refreshing to realize the whole game was voiced, and not just a few lines here and there like other VNs. While a bit difficult to figure out where a route is heading it was still a good time and leaves it open for another playthrough to enjoy.