Sentimental Death Loop
- July 27, 2023
- IXILL LLC.
- 10h median play time
Get on SteamIn "Sentimental Death Loop" , you find yourself trapped in a time loop, constantly meeting a violent end at the hands of your best friend. To escape this never-ending cycle of despair, you must search rooms for clues, solve puzzles, and disarm traps. Utilize time travel to gather new information and change your fate. Each playthrough brings new challenges as you evade your friend and work toward freedom.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features beautiful artwork, detailed sprites, and impressive voice acting, creating an engaging visual and auditory experience.
- The story is intriguing with unexpected twists, blending elements of friendship and mystery, which keeps players invested.
- The puzzles, while challenging, are solvable and add depth to the gameplay, making it enjoyable for fans of mystery and adventure.
- Gameplay can be frustrating due to vague instructions and the need to repeatedly inspect items, leading to confusion and potential reliance on guides.
- Controls are clunky and uncomfortable, detracting from the overall experience and making navigation difficult.
- The game feels short and may leave players wanting more content, as it can be completed in a relatively brief playtime.
- story42 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story is a mix of friendship, mystery, and absurdity, featuring a time-looping narrative that some players found engaging while others felt it lacked depth and coherence. While the emotional themes resonate with certain players, the pacing and writing quality received mixed reviews, leading to frustration with gameplay mechanics. Overall, it offers an intriguing premise but may leave some players wanting more in terms of narrative execution.
“But you see, the deeper a story cuts, the more strongly you feel it.”
“For the most part, it is a story about friendship and how far people are willing to go to preserve it.”
“It blends friendship, mystery, and other elements; the game is not too long and the story keeps you hooked from start to finish, so if you start it, you will probably want to keep playing until you finish the game.”
“To be honest, the story was all over the place.”
“At multiple points, the story's pacing suffers from creator intent in moving things forward, and by the end, the emotions the game is supposed to evoke haven't had enough time to develop.”
“For the story... I understand what they want to convey, and I think the concept and the mystery behind it are interesting, but the writing is a bit underwhelming.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the artwork, animations, and overall visual style, particularly the blend of pixel and CG art. However, some players express disappointment with the excessive fanservice and feel that while the visuals are impressive, they do not compensate for gameplay shortcomings. Overall, the graphics are seen as a highlight, but they are marred by execution issues and a lack of engaging gameplay.
“I loved the artworks, sprites, and that they animated literally everything.”
“The artwork, music, and voice acting are outstanding in this, and I really wanted to like it.”
“It's a well-made game; the voice acting is done pretty well; the artwork and scenes look amazing.”
- gameplay14 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews are mixed, with some players enjoying the pixel art and linear structure, while others find it repetitive and overly challenging. Many appreciate the story and visuals but express frustration with the gameplay difficulty, leading to a neutral overall sentiment. The game offers around 9-10 hours of playtime for $20, which some consider a fair value despite the gameplay issues.
“The pixel art gameplay was really cool too, I enjoyed it a lot.”
“But having played through everything, $20 isn't bad for 9-10 hours of gameplay.”
“I hesitate between good or bad game; I just take a neutral opinion because the story and illustrations were very good, but the gameplay was complicated.”
“The gameplay is repetitive because it follows a 'loop', but fortunately, this visual novel is quite linear, so once you understand how things work, it's a piece of cake.”
“The gameplay is repetitive because it follows a 'loop', but fortunately, this visual novel is quite linear, so once you understand how things work, it's a piece of cake.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised as outstanding, contributing positively to the overall experience alongside the artwork and voice acting. However, some players find the evasion sections frustrating, suggesting that the music cues can be more of a signal to avoid gameplay rather than enhance it.
“The artwork, music, and voice acting are outstanding in this, and I really wanted to like it.”
“The music during the evasion sections is so repetitive that it becomes a chore to listen to, making me want to mute the game entirely.”
“The 'incoming nemu' music is jarring and disrupts the flow of gameplay, making it hard to stay immersed in the experience.”
“Overall, the soundtrack lacks variety and fails to enhance the atmosphere, leaving me feeling disconnected from the game.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game effectively blends a dark premise with heartwarming and wholesome elements, allowing players to emotionally connect with the characters. This emotional engagement enhances the experience, making the journey of uncovering the mystery both enjoyable and impactful.
“This game surprised me in a good way. Although the game's premise may sound dark (and it is), it is kind of heartwarming and even wholesome in some ways. They make it so you can emotionally connect with the characters. I enjoyed every second playing it and uncovering the mystery of why your best friend wanted to kill you so much.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly when it comes to uncovering hidden dialogues that require repetitive object examination. Many suggest that it's more efficient to skip certain sections and reload from checkpoints rather than engage in the monotonous tasks.
“And honestly, unless you're looking for the hidden dialogues - which require you to tediously examine objects over and over for minutes on end until they randomly pop up - you're probably better off just ignoring the evasion sections entirely and reloading from your last checkpoint whenever the 'incoming nemu' music starts to play.”
