#cupidvn

If someone had just packaged together a bunch of things that squick me out and handed it to me I would have looked at it and said “hey, no thanks sir or madam, I have enough nightmare fuel in my anxious mind.”  But when many someones package together a bunch of things that squick me out, give it a really pretty title, some solid writing, throw in fantastic art, and put it out for free on Steam it turns out I will give it at least two hours of my time (and 14 out of 69 achievements).

As a romance it’s certainly different in that it doesn’t seem to be playing out a fantasy of any sort (unless someone has some deep self loathing going on here).  It’s very gothic in tone and while I usually love that, it’s not about just being ominous it really goes there iftherewas.  Thing is, I like romance typically as an escape rather than a torment because to love someone beyond that first flush of infatuation isn’t always roses and sunshine but I think we all know that.  This felt like it was forcing models of difficult, broken, unhealthy love in your face over and over again.

I think if I had stuck it out and seen more endings I might have seen what the authors/artists were going for with this, but to get to those pearls took too much self-flagellation.  This is a top notch visual novel, and truly artful, but damn if it isn’t a miserable romance to wade through.  This is one of those moments where if you’re like me and you don’t like abuse baked into the foundation of your entertainment then you might want to skip it, but if you have a high pain tolerance for that stuff then godspeed to you.