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Review
This is a long videotome game with custom characters and a variety of backgrounds. It is mostly linear but has some important choices and uses of options near the end.
The beginning was ambiguous enough that I had a lot of different potential scenarios in my mind. It started with characters named Thirsty and Kill who host a TV show called Love it or List it (connected to the name of this game itself) who are talking with someone named “Cont.”, and I thought it could possibly be like SCP 2030 “Laugh is Fun” (game show where people are murdered) or a more philosophical game or a continuation of a long-running series of visual novels that I didn’t know. It really did feel like the game assumed I knew who these people were or who they were referencing. It wasn’t until I had played for ten or fifteen minutes that a more clear picture emerged (especially when I realized this was connected to the GUTS series of games, a great collection of short IF with interesting interactivity and bizarre stories). And I’m just now realizing that Cont. must have stood for Contestant.
What it comes down to is that we have a lesbian couple named Franzine and Eiric who have reached a doldrum in their relationship where each thinks the other hates them. Eiric gets to make the decision to stick with Franzine or date someone else.
In the meantime, each of them spends time with one host. Franzine gets remodeled, constantly worrying that she’s unchangeable and can’t be fixed in the process of trying to get fixed to bring back Eiric.
Eiric goes on to meet three other people. The first one I went on had nude images, which I would usually stop playing for, but the art style renders it less erotic and more as a sign of vulnerability. The story at this point is rough and sad, showing the awful reality of cheating (in this case, with an asexual person). The other dates aren’t much better.
In the end, it’s a dismal picture for the couple. The ending I chose in hopes of change and a better future did not result in what I hoped for but is completely realistic for the story being told. It also jibed completely with my experience of the 30’s-40’s dating scene.
Overall, I became engrossed in the story and in imagining the feelings of the two protagonists. Despite my initial confusion and my haunting feeling that I’m lacking the background of the setting, I felt like this game had something to say about the human condition that was valuable to experience.
