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Assume the role of a praying mantis in a relationship. Constantly torn between their mutual love and the instinct to have sex – which could lead to the male mantis’s death – the couple are now on the verge of making a decision. Assume the role of either of the lovers, and try to keep their relationship in balance. Do your best to convey your feelings in a situation with no solution.
* Type your answers freely and watch the conversation unfold.
* A lively character that reacts to you in a meaningful way.
* Multiple endings and nonlinear playthroughs.
* Hand-drawn art style with a cinematic feel.
* Dynamic soundtrack that changes according to your partner’s mood.
Finalist, Best Student Game - Independent Games Festival 2018
Rock Paper Shotgun
Choosing which character to play as, you manually type out responses, and alternately use expressions and physical gestures of affect to reassure, arouse or dissuade. This is, for both parties, a war between rationality and raging hormones, and I think we've all been there at some point in our lives. The text parser is pretty responsive, but conversations can loop a little, and you'll often find yourself apparently thrown back to initial anxieties right when you were on the cusp of consummation (or abandonment) - but really, isn't that true to the dilemma here? This is deft and thoughtful, where it could have been crass or cartoonish.
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TechRaptor
In terms of “objectivity” in such a game like this, Don’t Make Love pretty much ends there; it is a game that works, has simple mechanics and by design can be played through rather quickly in comparison to other indie titles on the market. While you can type whatever you like, certain subjects and words are pretty much designed to steer the conversation in the direction of the loose narrative Maggese devised. The developers even warn players on their Steam page about this, so the illusion of total “freedom” to say what you like is not there. If that is appealing as a scenario, that is all you need to really know about Don’t Make Love as a game.
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Conversations, while on rails at times, are lamentations of love and loss, on the nature of mortality and the fleetingness of our feelings. The themes work due to the characters being praying mantises - the threat of death after sex is a very real and very savage part of their life cycle - so the conversations also carry a hint of impending doom to them.
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