DuoQ

Finally my friend list is full 1/1

Cool concept but the game wouldn't respond to my mic or anything typed in chat. The AI partner also stopped responding to my dialogue choices at the pillar puzzle which makes it impossible to progress - all stuff that other people have mentioned. Definitely would've been a Recommended if it wasn't just broken. Sadge.

DuoQ is one of the most unusual dating games I have played because it makes me feel like I am actually talking to another player inside an online game. I meet Tala through a fictional FPS lobby, and instead of simply selecting dialogue from a menu, I can use my real voice to talk with her. I liked how strange that setup feels because the game is constantly mixing the language of online gaming with a more personal story. The voice interaction is easily the most interesting mechanic. I can speak to Tala directly while we move through the fictional game world, and her responses are built around what I say. That makes the conversations feel much less predictable than a traditional visual novel. I enjoyed experimenting with different things to say because the interaction itself becomes part of the gameplay. The game also includes multiplayer style challenges even though I am technically playing alone. Tala acts like a real partner during these sections, and I have to solve puzzles and deal with enemies while communicating with her. I liked this because it creates the feeling of playing a cooperative shooter without actually requiring another person to be there. The relationship side …

great

Good voice acting for sure, but it couldn't pick up my mic (a mic I myself use for voice acting so I KNOW it works), there's so few options you can't change the FOV so it hurts my eyes to play and strains them, the graphics settings that do exist seem to only affect whether it runs at a stable fps or not, and there's no VSync so there's no way to stop the constant tearing. Give it some accessibility options, new options menu, and a mic system, the main gimmick, that works (although the alternative choice system does work but isn't immersive), and I can give this a positive rating.

Edit: The servers are finally back online! The developers fixed the voice and text input issues, and everything works great now. I was able to easily complete the game and unlock all the achievements. Thank you for fixing it!