Kiss/OFF

Posting my review in the comments because, why are there no comments??? More people should play!!

It's time for Review/OFF, the reality show were contestants RATE OR... don't, I guess. BUT I WILL.

Now, enough silliness (a lie), let's get to my review. There's a TL;DR at the end if you want to skip this.

Kiss/OFF opens with a simple premise. You're in space and must select a partner who you'll have to kiss at the end. Have a romantastic kiss by the end and you may just return home, otherwise, you'll fly right into the sun! But despite how simple it seems at first glance, there's so much hidden beyond the surface, each playthrough revealing new things that make you want to find out more!

Now before I get into the spoilers, let me talk a bit about the art: It's fantastic. I love all of the character designs, each of them being unique and recognizable. Plus the art is just gorgeous! From BGs to CGs and sprites, everything is cohesive and charming. There's so many details the more you look!

The music is super fun and fits each scene perfectly. I may have the main theme stuck in my head, but the music in a certain scene with Arturo really gave everything so much weight! I wish I had more musical training to give a better review but just know that it's -chef's kiss- And since we're on the topic of sound, don't think I forgot about SFX! They improve the scenes in such ways that if they weren't there you would definitely feel something missing.

The voice acting also was top notch, I loved their voices and the way they transmit their personalities. A very fun moment for me was in one of the games that had the voice actors play something different to what they had been doing so far, and it was incredible!

Perhaps one thing that could be improved upon is accessibility. While I had no difficulty reading the text of a certain character, the way it moves could make it difficult for other people. And another character's typeface is also very hard to read. It would definitely be good to add options for players that have difficulty reading to change the typeface of text animation. In this regard I also worry a bit about flashing lights, particularly at the end of episodes but there's many other times. Now there's a chance I missed it or forgot, but I don't remember there being a warning about this and I think it would be a good call to have that!

"Wow, Flori, this review is very long, are you done?" Unluckily for you, I'm not, because we're about to talk about the CHARACTERS! And this is when I'm going to have to stop you if you don't want spoilers because... THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Okay, so these characters?! I love them, maybe except Risq but I love to hate her because she's a very cool mean character too. All their routes had such incredible storylines going on and the way the romance is built, even in such a short time... it gives me the FEELS!

So first, Steffi. She's so fun and awkward and I find her relatable in a lot of ways. Her silliness never fails to make me laugh and I honestly just want the best for her. She's the one who seems to have chemistry with EVERY contestant! (Well, except Kel, because she didn't really get a chance to). She may be such a normal Sulfan, but she's my favorite Sulfan! I loved learning about her species and even after her lies were revealed I couldn't stop loving her.

Next is Arturo. He surprised me SO much! I knew I'd like him a bit, but didn't expect to LOVE HIM?! He's a character with so much depth, and once he starts opening up to you and you see all his fears, why he is the way that he is, you just really want to help. The way he slowly starts letting down his walls when  you're nice to him, even to the point of breaking his Vow and being okay with that because it's /you/ who touched his hands... I think Arturo may just be my favorite romance because of just how much you see that trust build and develop, even in just three days. I also love all the lore you can uncover through him. The concept of cycles is so interesting and it applies really well to this kind of visual novel. Every time I got a difference in the conversation about cycles it made me so happy. The little details sprinkled through this game as so so cool and make playthroughs feel so much more meaningful!

Now comes Risq, who I also left for last when it comes to routes because I knew I would want to punch her many times. Sadly, she's very much not my type, but that didn't mean I wouldn't give her a fair chance! I would CONQUER THE MEAN GIRL! And wowie, her route was also super interesting- really the toughest of the three in my opinion! She can manipulate her emotions to a degree, so there was a time she liked me then pushed it down! I was worried I wouldn't be able to get MAX TRP! And the opposite is also true, she's really fascinating from a gameplay perspective. But character-wise I also really enjoyed seeing how she reacted to different things, and how when you actually managed to get her to fall in love with you, she couldn't push it back! Oh, I'm telling you that was so satisfying. The checkers scene was so tense and it took me a bit to figure out the right way to go about it, but her having to be honest about her feelings to save someone else, YOU... that was beautiful! She grew so much! For those who love routes about defrosting and ice queen... this one is definitely DELICIOUS!

With those three main contestants out of the way, we continue with Tori! I kind of loved the whole thing about her and Victor being the same person but from different universes with small variations! It was such a fun concept (plus they're both very pretty). The only thign I found a bit sad is that she was out for most of the game. I get why, conveniently getting rid of her every episode after the second would probably have been difficult, and with Kel always dying there was a need to even out the numbers. Plus I figure they had to balance the genders of the contestants so swapping Vic and Tori could have been odd? What I mean to say is, I get it, even if I did miss her through a lot of the game and would have liked to see her build more of a bond with the other characters like Vic did before the True Love finale. That being said, I did have fun playing as her during that ending, then both Vic and her fusing to become VICTORI, the hottest character?! That was pretty epic!

And last but certainly not least, Kel! The moment I met him I was in a bit of a crisis. I was planning to romance Steffi first but he was just so goofy, nice and pretty that I really wanted to romance him too! Good thing the choice was out of my hands because he was killed. In my opinion he had some of the best chemistry with Vic, even if the moments they were able to share weren't that long, and I loved seeing how that evolved episode after episode even if Vic didn't remember anything. God I wanted to romance him SO BAD! So when I FINALLY got the chance to kiss him... I HAD A LOT OF FEELINGS! It made me so SAD but so HAPPY. In slightly more proper words, the build up to this was beautiful and I enjoyed it greatly even if I had to see him die at least 9 times. It's a shame they couldn't be together but... It still felt so right.

And well, I know I said last, but let's give a nice mention to our main antagonist: Xargazorg! The alien host with the alien most. He's hilarious, I swear to you that I have laughed many times thanks to him (I have also wanted to punch him several times, a good trait for an antagonist to have). He also gets the prize for my favorite voiced line, congrats!

"But Flori, what about BOT, Z and XZ?" Have you seen the length of this review?! I need to wrap it up for everyone's sanity! Actually, is anyone still reading?

TL;DR: I enjoyed this game a lot, the twists and turns it takes made me gasp, cry and laugh, and I just couldn't put it down until I was done. I felt a lot for all these characters and I love their different stories and backgrounds. I really recommend this game for people who like comedy with a lot of feeling. You won't be disappointed!