UsoNatsu: The Summer Romance Bloomed From a Lie
- November 3, 2023
- LYCORIS
Get on SteamIn UsoNatsu: The Summer Romance Bloomed From a Lie, Kaoru's heart is broken by her former teacher, Mirei. Her classmate, Shiori, proposes a solution: find a new love to replace Kaoru's feelings for Mirei. Shiori then asks Kaoru to help her forget her older brother by experiencing her memories and overwriting her feelings for him. This visual novel explores themes of love, adolescence, and self-discovery during a memorable summer.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features stunning artwork and high-quality animated sprites, making it visually impressive and immersive.
- The story is emotionally engaging, tackling heavy themes with sensitivity and depth, and the character development is well-executed.
- The voice acting is top-notch, enhancing the emotional impact of the narrative and bringing the characters to life.
- The game is a kinetic visual novel with no choices, which may disappoint players looking for interactive storytelling.
- Technical issues such as long loading times, lag during character transitions, and inconsistent audio mixing detract from the overall experience.
- The frequent use of flashbacks can interrupt the flow of the story and may feel unnecessary, leading to frustration for some players.
- story140 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The story of "Usonatsu" is a linear, emotional journey that explores complex themes such as love, loss, and personal growth, particularly through the experiences of its main characters, Kaoru and Shiori. While some reviewers noted its cliche elements and lack of player choices, many praised the well-developed characters, engaging narrative, and sensitive handling of serious topics, making it a compelling read for fans of the yuri genre. The combination of beautiful visuals, strong voice acting, and a heartfelt soundtrack further enhances the overall storytelling experience.
“The story is a wonderful, heartwarming, emotional roller coaster that genuinely touched my heart all the way through, and it is written so beautifully with its memorable themes and motifs.”
“Usonatsu is a beautiful and emotional girls' love story that I truly fell in love with and has a special place in my heart.”
“The story is enthralling through and through thanks to the characters who are written very well that even the side characters are endearing.”
“In regards to the gameplay, the story is linear, so no choices are present whatsoever.”
“The story starts out slow, throwing you into these random slice of life scenes where not much happens.”
“Again I reiterate that this is a story without any player input in deciding how the story will go with one ending.”
- music22 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and quality, featuring a varied and elegant soundtrack that enhances the emotional depth of the story. Many reviewers highlight the memorable tracks and effective use of music to complement key moments, although some note a tendency for repetitiveness. Overall, the combination of music, voice acting, and visuals contributes to a highly immersive experience.
“In regards to the music, the tracks are beautiful to listen to.”
“It's a really comfy and elegant soundtrack with emotional pieces that made me love the story even more.”
“The music is also of great quality with memorable tracks.”
“For the music, I've read a lot of yuri visual novels from western to eastern, and there's only one or maybe two that the music doesn't grate my ears to the point that every time I am reminded of it, my head can't think of anything but the absolute hell that is generic romance visual novel music that plays in my head for 10 hours straight despite knowing that I can turn it off at any given point.”
“The soundtrack, while a bit repetitive, was a treat.”
“The music too though.”
- emotional16 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of *usonatsu ~the summer romance bloomed from a lie~* is deeply impactful, as it explores heavy themes through the personal struggles and growth of its characters, Kaoru and Shiori. Players experience a roller coaster of emotions, from joy to sadness, enhanced by a beautiful soundtrack that complements the narrative. Ultimately, the story is heartwarming and rewarding, leaving a lasting impression on those who engage with its poignant journey.
“Right away, I could tell that the story would be an emotional one, as both Kaoru and Shiori have their own emotional burdens.”
“The story is a wonderful, heartwarming, emotional roller coaster that genuinely touched my heart all the way through, and it is written so beautifully with its memorable themes and motifs.”
“There is undoubtedly no shortage of emotional drama in the story, but Kaoru and Shiori's personal growth in their journey together makes it all the more worth it in the end.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning artwork and high-quality animation, making it one of the most visually impressive visual novels to date. Reviewers highlight the unique and vivid art style, exceptional character design, and smooth CGI that elevate the experience to feel akin to watching an anime. Overall, the visuals are described as breathtaking and inspiring, contributing significantly to the game's storytelling and emotional impact.
“The game is densely packed with stunning artwork.”
“The art is very beautiful, the art style has a very unique way of handling color that makes it so vivid, and for some reason, it was also very familiar; I realized I saw the artist's work on an album cover several years back!”
“The amount of quality they put into the visuals is absolutely inspiring.”
“It's pretty sad when the character design is just so-so though especially if visual novels are about visuals.”
“Let's start with the visuals.”
“Graphics/sound ★★★★★★★★★☆”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent freezes and bugs affecting both gameplay and animations. Users report unconvincing character mouth movements and overall technical glitches that detract from the experience.
“The system is not fluent either, and I have experienced freezes many times when playing.”
“From a technical perspective, it's quite buggy.”
“Animation can be buggy, freeze, load slowly, or move unnaturally at times.”
- character development6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the character development is praised for its stunning designs and strong voice acting, contributing positively to the story. However, some users feel that the character design can be inconsistent, with a few characters lacking visual appeal, which detracts from the overall experience in visual novels.
“I love the art style, the voice acting, and the overall story & character development.”
“Great character design (imo) and good voice acting.”
“All the CGs are animated beautifully, and I personally really love the character designs (whoever designed Tachibana-san's clothes should get a raise).”
“The character design, though, is a problem.”
“It's pretty sad when the character design is just so-so, especially if visual novels are about visuals.”
- optimization3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features impressive animations and post-processing effects, but many users report random lag and performance issues, leading to a desire for options to disable these visual enhancements for smoother gameplay.
“The game randomly lags - the animations and post-processing effects are nice, but given the impact they have on performance, I genuinely wish there was an option to turn them off.”
“There are significant performance issues that hinder the overall experience.”
“The game suffers from optimization problems that lead to frequent frame drops.”
“I encountered numerous performance issues that made gameplay frustrating.”
- gameplay2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a linear structure, offering no choices for players, which may limit engagement and exploration.
“In regards to the gameplay, the story is linear, so no choices are present whatsoever.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is well-executed, complementing the narrative without overshadowing it. It effectively elicits a range of emotions, from laughter to introspection, enhancing the overall experience.
“The sense of humor is on point, never undermining other aspects of the narrative.”
“The moments of character growth made me laugh, cry, feel angry, and reflect upon a lot of things myself.”
