Love: Fall in Death
Developer: SNR Interactive
Publisher: SNR Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $12.99 – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to telling a story or giving players agency in how it will unfold, there are always choices involved. Sometimes these choices can be the most minor thing only to come back and bite the player a half hour down the line or they may have an immediate impact. Now one area that we’ve rarely touched on are complete FMV games and it just so happens that Love: Fall in Death is just that, an FMV that tells a romantic comedy with a dash of death as a side-dish. The question is, with its branching pathways and unique FMV style, is this comedy worth checking out?
Story
Kutay joins his two friends at the local bar, one of whom happens to be the barkeeper, and rather than simply drink the night away the pair decide to spice things up with a wager. Kutay’s two friends bet him a few weeks worth of free drinks if he is able to “hook up” with the beautiful girl that came in a few minutes after him. Right out of the gate players can immediately start making decisions about what to do such as how to approach her or denying to play the game at all for a humorous finish right out of the gate.
As Kutay talks with this mysterious beauty it quickly becomes clear that she isn’t just a pretty face as not only is she quick-witted and able to call Kutay out on his BS, but also seems to know far more than she’s letting on, especially in regards to the various people in the bar. Things grow even stranger depending on how players choose to approach a certain lull in the conversation as this also marks the largest divergence of how the story can play out. One of which involves choosing to discuss mortality and sends players down a path of risky romance, violence, and another woman coming into play while the other takes the pair to the dance floor before bringing them down the path of a different type of dangerous romance, violence, and an entirely more in-depth storyline that branches into this mysterious beauty’s past.
It must be said that Love: Fall in Death is often quite hilarious thanks to just how ridiculous the acting can be as well as the situation that Kutay finds himself in. While the game may only really take place in roughly five places if we are being generous, the amount of variety that can unfold is quite outstanding thanks to the writing. One minute players might be flirting their way quite successfully into their target’s heart only to have their next choice see them getting thrown into their buddies’ laps where one of his friends literally breaks the fourth wall to put Kutay back to make a different choice, one that hopefully won’t upset this quite strong woman.
Once players make it out of the bar is where things can take some wildly different turns as mentioned before, the game’s storyline will diverge wildly down two different paths and both are as humorous as they are filled with their own slightly twisted version of romance. Players might be a moment away from kissing the girl only to be punching her the next when she reveals her true nature, break out into a catfight between her and another woman, or have a maniac come busting in through the window and shooting up the place. All of this can play out as Kutay reacts just like any normal guy would, freaking out and trying to run away most of the time if players let him. In other times there will literally be a hand that gives him a snack to enjoy the fight while he reminisces about how exactly he ended up in the location, making some scenes as ridiculous as possible.
A lot of this helps through the sheer ridiculous lows that Kutay, and the expressions his actor makes, is willing to go through to save his skin. Whether it is making a deal with a devil, pleading for his life, or trying to act like a badass, the man is all over the board and it does wonders for a comedy that isn’t afraid to let itself go over-the-top. As players make their way through the game and experience the ten different proper endings as well as the humorous “White Room” death endings that are akin to heaven mocking the man, they will unlock extra tidbits of information about the characters, artifacts, and world as well. Most of these little extras are simply for fun and even are just straight up jokes or references, but a few are quite interesting.
What is a bit disappointing is that while Love: Fall in Death is a humorous romance game, it doesn’t quite explore some of the elements of its plot nearly as much as some may hope. While it does hint at why some characters have a grudge with others, and the notes can provide a bit of context, seeing them properly play out or have some extra elaboration would have given some scenes some extra impact, especially near the endings of both major routes and while we won’t elaborate here to avoid spoilers, it is disappointing that they weren’t given the time to expand or even show the fate of others.
Gameplay
As far as gameplay goes Love: Fall in Death is fairly light as players will mostly be watching the videos play out and selecting choices whenever they appear. It is worth noting that the game does allow players to “build” Kutay with 5 stat points distributed into Strength, Charisma, and Intelligence and then some dialogue options have various “skill checks” that see the player rolling a D20 to try and surpass the check. Ironically, most of these checks are low, with the highest one we’ve seen being a 14, and any stats the player has in a skill are added into that roll. Meaning a check that requires a 10 roll in intelligence can be successfully beaten by rolling an 8 with three charisma points pushing them above the threshold.
Oddly enough, despite including strength as a stat, there are literally no strength checks throughout the entire game. When the game does involve fighting and Kutay actually gets involved, players will take part in quick time events instead to succeed. Ironically, the first fight players can take part in can literally be won by Kutay himself if players choose to hand the controls to him in a nice fourth wall-breaking moment. That being said, while these quick time events tend to be incredibly easy to complete with generous timing there are also moments that saw the QTEs glitching out. During a pivotal moment the buttons appeared so quickly that even when pressed correctly they would result in a failure and completely different ending. This happened numerous times at the same moment until they were pressed before the QTEs even appeared to properly complete the sequence.
Thankfully failure isn’t a massive punishment and, as mentioned earlier, there are quite a few humorous scenes to be seen by failing and dying here and there. But as for the punishment part, players will immediately have access to the game’s entire “branching storyline paths” visible right from the get-go although anything the player hasn’t seen yet is blurred out. Anything that they have seen though can be immediately revisited with a tap of a button, meaning replaying a scene to see how a different dialogue choice may have played out, re-rolling a dice roll, or bypassing a glitch, is as simple as navigating to the proper scene. It is also nice that players can skip any previously seen scene and go right to the choice with a click of the right analog stick.
Audio & Visuals
Since Love: Fall in Death is entirely portrayed as an FMV the entire game is basically one giant video spliced together depending on the various choices that the player makes. The actors do a wonderful job making their characters look believable, especially Kutay’s numerous expressions during the story, and there is a decent amount of money spent on proper props and extras too. The only downside is that some of the game’s “special digital effects” look rather cheap for how limited they are. While various practical effects such as blood sprays and make-up look great, the random gunshots at times, flames, and other elements are as rough as they come.
Since the original game is filmed and recorded in Turkey, all of the original voice actors speak in that language and the characters’ mouth flaps aren’t really matched the best with the English dub, but the voice actors do their best. One thing that is unfortunate however is that while the English cast does an excellent job, there are a few scenes where little bits of dialogue appear to be happening as we are shown characters talking but no subtitles or actual words are spoken. It is also worth noting that there are occasional lines where it seems like someone brushed up against their microphone or something while acting out the character. Another time while the dub was working just fine, the subtitles were entirely incorrect with the scene as it was playing out, which can be distracting and, if players are using the original Turkish voice work, a major issue. It is nice to note that the game features some great intro and outro music as well as some solid background tracks here and there depending on the player’s location.
Overall
Love: Fall in Death manages to tell the wonderful tale of an idiot trying to pick up a girl that is far out of his league and getting into something way over his head in many different humorous ways. The amount of replayability and quick-access to routes is a major bonus for those wanting to see everything there is, even if some of the narrative depth is lacking beyond the surface-level reveals that players will uncover. It is also worth noting that the game does seem to have its fair share of bugs that can hopefully be fixed up, but at least for now Love: Fall in Death is one FMV that is certainly worth sinking your teeth into if you enjoy rom-coms with a twist.
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