VHS Romance

[h1]The packaging does not define the film[/h1] What am I on about with that review heading? Simple: this game carries the burden of a whole collection of coding and design implementation failings and user experience challenges. So if that statement alone is enough to put you off from giving it a try, please save yourself the effort of reading this review right now. If you're still here, and considering taking a look at the game, then you will still need to steel yourself for the issues that you're going to encounter and the extra work you'll be required to do if you want to read through the stories within. And that's the whole question, isn't it? Do you want to read the stories? Let's dive in and see if the answer to that changes any from your initial response to this introduction. [h1]Overview[/h1] [i]VHS Romance[/i] is a traditional visual novel made within Ren'py, and is effectively a solid story in two halves, the first involving a battle to save a small independent business from the encroachment of a powerful chain, and the second, personal character growth of one or more leading characters, with romantic leanings. There are a few well placed player choices to be made …

Game is a promising concept but is ultimately a little lacking. The heavy reliance on AI art leaves the characters looking drastically inconsistent between scenes. The characters themselves are somewhat fun but highly stereotypical, plus there's a fair few occasions where the dialogue just randomly repeats itself out of nowhere. I think with some polishing the game could still be fun and enjoyable - stereotypical doesn't inherently mean bad but it could be a lot better. I'd also potentially move away from the AI art, I can understand the convenience of it but as mentioned it's inconsistent as well as pretty soulless. In game about the 'lost soul' character archetype and in essence the 'lost soul' of small businesses, it's not in alignment. there's also a number of occasions where it's just a bunch of text on an image that has no real relation.

Story/Plot: VHS Romance is a visual novel that starts with you as a college dropout in the mid 1980's who gets a job at a VHS rental store and try to sort your life out. And just like out of any movie, you find the store is in big trouble, and it is up to you, your coworkers and friends to save it. And given the title, you also have the opportunity for romance. There are six romance options each with their own quirks though you can also choose to go solo in the game. My only complaint here is that I would have liked a few more intimate scenes with the ROs, but that is just me since I liked the story and dialogue. Visuals: The game has what I term anime AI art, and the dev admits this on the steam page. I'm personally fine with this because if your a single dev/small team then you don't have many options. Some people go with a program that a million other devs use (look at all the porn games and how the characters look)...and most people aren't that skilled at writing and drawing at the same time. I will also give the dev a lot of credit since they've tried to correct some of the problems that AI art can come up with like extra body parts, etc. The only thing I could recom…