Pairs (2017)

Pairs is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. This is your usual high school anime club dropout fan-fiction about the developers imaginary girlfriend, but the (cringey, awful) writing has the backdrop of an alien invasion, so I guess a little imagination went into something apart from the imaginary girlfriend. Not much, however, and of course this is some of the cringiest fan-fiction writing you'll ever have the displeasure of seeing if you make the mistake of downloading this tripe. Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best... imagine the best novel you ever read, be that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or 2001: A Space Odyssey or Twilight (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then tran…

unique & nice UI but lack CG, it's the most important things in VN...

It's... alright? Thing is, I hated half of it. James and Kitten are adorable and I liked their story despite the lack of resolution (that think James is secretely pursuing by dating Kitten? [spoiler]resurrecting his parents[/spoiler] ? he forgets it along the way) (he also skips hours of work per day with no consequences, but whatever) but I couldn't stand Ricardo, best friend turned boyfriend. His whining was annoying and his romance made me uncomfortable, both in his pov and Carmelita's. Them dating felt forced and the only good ending, in my eyes, was the "bad" one where [spoiler]they break up and go their separate way (I wish they'd went back to being friends, but this was the second healthiest option)[/spoiler]. She says she doesn't hate touching him, but it sure feels like she does ; and even [i]if[/i] she doesn't hate touching him - was a non-traditional route, with contactless romance, too much to ask? Also, no CGs isn't always a problem but I did miss them here, there's literally nothing visually interesting besides sprites... Not to mention the sprites, while pretty, were way too normal. "Kitten has such alien features", says James, but really she's just "pretty girl bu…

Игра "Pairs" - это простая, но увлекательная головоломка, которая идеально подходит для коротких перерывов или для развлечения в дороге. Механика очень понятна: нужно искать одинаковые карточки на игровом поле и убирать их. Несмотря на кажущуюся простоту, игра требует концентрации и хорошей памяти, особенно на более высоких уровнях, где количество карточек значительно увеличивается. Мне нравится минималистичный дизайн и приятное звуковое сопровождение, которые не отвлекают от игрового процесса. Игра хорошо оптимизирована и работает плавно на моем устройстве. Возможность выбора различных тем оформления карточек добавляет немного разнообразия. Единственный минус, который я могу отметить, это отсутствие каких-либо глобальных таблиц лидеров или возможностей для онлайн-соревнований с другими игроками. Это немного снижает мотивацию для долгосрочной игры, но в целом, "Pairs" - это достойная игра для тех, кто ищет что-то простое, но захватывающее для тренировки памяти. Рекомендую!

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This was a unique setup for a visual novel. There are 2 couples and the player can choose which person in each couple to play as. You experience the same relationship from both sides. I completed one ending each for James and Noiya's routes. There were lots of cute and funny moments as they tried to figure out how a human/Naian relationship could work (RIP flower truck). Noiya's route had a heartbreaking line that made me walk away from my computer. I didn't see the twist in Noiya's bad end coming. Great job making me sad. Big thumbs up.