Making*Lovers

It isn't easy to earn a name in an industry as competitive as it's the gaming industry. Especially when you're competing in the always-expanding simulation games. MakingLovers is a dating simulator developed by Smee, and it's currently available on Steam. Now, in case you weren't aware, there are hundreds of new dating simulators added all the time. So, in case it wasn't easy to earn a name in the industry. So, let's see if MakingLovers has what it takes to earn a name.

About the game

Making*Lovers is a dating simulator where you can play as a nameless/faceless character who's been out of college for a couple of years and really hasn't much going on for him. He's never had a girlfriend and has no clue as to how to get one. He' already gave up the idea of getting one in the normal way, and decided to opt for the worst-case scenario for him: blind dating and mixers.

He has a friend who can help him arrange these, luckily. Each route presents a date with a different girl that can develop into complete storylines. Different outcomes may appear, and you can even go on some sort of trial dating period. You'll go from zero dates to more than you can handle in Making*Lovers.

A great dating sim

Making*Lovers is a great dating simulator, even though it lacks some of the aspects the fans look for in these games. When you compare this with games like Koikatsu Party is when you realize the lack of customization this game offers.

In Koikatsu Party you can customize the girls completely, and the story will still develop differently. Here it's a more streamlined pre-made story with original characters. Now that's not a bad thing, and if you don't care about customization then you should give this game a try.

Review

Believe it or not, there are countless great dating simulators completely ruined by bad translations, luckily for us, this is not the case with Making*Lovers. The translation is great and fun to read, and that makes this game much better than a ton of other dating sims around. The pre-made storylines are fun and entertaining, and there are 5 different girls to date. If you're not looking for character customization then this one's for you.

• Graphics and visuals: There really aren't graphics involved in this game. Everything is composed of still illustrations and sprites. Luckily those are great here, a clean art and a fresh interface make the game look modern and neat. The backgrounds are beautifully drawn, and the character design is incredible too.

• Gameplay: What's there to say about gameplay here, it's similar to most dating sims. You click here and there and make different choices to proceed with the different storylines. Still, it's dynamic and easy to control. However, there are some interesting mechanics implemented to make the game much more complete. There's a complete date system, and you can actually choose where to go with which girl on each date, and depending on what you choose, the story will develop differently. You can pick a more intimate location, or simply a place to go out and have fun.

• Soundtrack: The soundtrack is pretty basic, nothing out of this world. But it has some nice quality, and the looping isn't annoying or too repetitive.