System: Change
Launch date: Might 28, 2024
Developer: Otomate
Writer: Thought Manufacturing facility
When Cupid Parasite launched on Change again in 2021 I used to be instantly taken with it. The premise of Cupid working in a matchmaking company to try to discover companions for hopeless instances with out resorting to her powers to mainly cheat them right into a relationship was absolute genius, and it was the right marriage (when you’ll pardon the pun) between romance and comedy, punctuating its extra severe moments with extremely entertaining lighthearted moments. Regardless of being happy with the conclusion of every of the Parasite’s story arcs, I used to be by no means going to go up Cupid Parasite: Candy and Spicy Darling, a fan disc that picks up the place the true ending of every route leaves off and introduces a model new Parasite into the combo. It definitely lives as much as its identify, however there may be additionally a sourness to it that hints on the overindulgence of an excessive amount of of an excellent factor.
Candy and Spicy Darling options three completely different sections: After Drama, New Parasite, and Bonus Episode. The After Drama tales are all fairly prolonged, being round 5 hours every on a primary run by except you learn a bit of extra rapidly than common. These happen after the true ending of the unique love pursuits in Cupid Parasite, and supply an excellent quantity of selection, starting from pretty severe and grounded to outright ludicrous and ridiculous. Every one has a minimum of three endings to expertise, and the ten decisions that you simply make between a “Candy” and “Spicy” choice all through the story will decide which ending you get. It feels greater than a bit of arbitrary at instances when you think about what constitutes a “Candy” or “Spicy” selection, but it surely’s considerably simpler to control the result right here than in your customary visible novel, which is commonly much more nuanced and would require a number of reloads. As the sport’s flowchart is cleanly divided into small segments, and you’ll bounce between these at any time, it’s a lot simpler to return and choose a distinct selection with out having to resort to a number of save information.
Though your decisions can have little affect on the story movement, endings are at all times distinct and distinctive, and tie up the narrative introduced properly, even when they don’t essentially present a conclusive ending the way in which that the endings within the authentic Cupid Parasite did. In most situations I felt that the Spicy endings would have been higher labeled as dangerous endings, usually being dissatisfying, inconclusive, and even unsettling a number of instances – though I’m not somebody who would take into account possessiveness and overprotectiveness to be notably “Spicy” by definition. Some characters even have extra endings which lean very closely into extra disastrous outcomes, and the sport offers some very robust warnings if you’re about to veer down these, going as far as to ask me thrice if I actually needed to expertise Shelby’s Dangerous Spicy Finish. Usually the mixed Candy/Spicy endings are introduced as one of the best path to take, as viewing these will unlock the Bonus Episode for that character, that are three brief scenes that spotlight a selected second within the story total – Gill’s for instance, give attention to when he first met Lynette, and his thought course of on the time. They’re a pleasant additional for followers, however nothing substantial.
Regardless of mislabeling its endings considerably, Candy and Spicy Darling nonetheless actually doubles down on the latter a part of its identify, with an virtually extreme quantity of steamy scenes and dialogue that’s by no means overly express, however usually all of the extra awkwardly written for what it desires to suggest whereas staying out of vary of a better age ranking. That is to be anticipated to a point, as the connection between Lynette and her chosen love curiosity has already been established so there is no such thing as a have to construct as much as these scenes, however the brief size of the tales right here mixed with the frequency of those extra heated moments makes it really feel overly gratuitous; Cupid Parasite was notably gentle on steamy romance scenes, and Candy and Spicy Darling appears decided to make up for this lack by cramming in as many as potential. It additionally makes some facets of this really feel doubly awkward, and never dealt with with a seriousness that they maybe deserved – for instance, Shelby’s discomfort at being unable to carry out as a result of stress, fatigue, and being overworked shouldn’t be helped in any respect by the writing’s dancing across the problem in a means I can solely describe as juvenile at instances, and the reluctance to outright say what’s going on could make Lynette’s futile resistance or hesitation appear outright creepy when it occurs anyway.
The core downside with the After Dramas is that they usually really feel largely pointless, and though they discover some fascinating themes and might be fairly touching at instances when Lynette and her love curiosity overcome a real barrier of their relationship, they’ll usually veer utterly off the rails and create useless drama, fairly than significant battle. The brand new character Eli Omar is sadly usually on the coronary heart of the previous, and he might have simply had a completely fleshed-out romance route of his personal for the number of roles he takes and the way continuously he crops up in an antagonistic function.
The After Dramas usually are not one thing I might suggest to anybody who hasn’t learn the unique visible novel, however that is to be anticipated on condition that all of them happen after the true ending of the unique routes: with out that data of what went on earlier than you’re going to be misplaced, and though the sport makes some makes an attempt to carry you up to the mark with “what occurred” segments sprinkled all through that carry up the primary plot factors, these are extra a reminder than they’re a abstract, and the shortage of a glossary implies that there is no such thing as a actual substitute for studying the unique. Nevertheless, even with that data, your mileage might differ relying on how hooked up you’re to the character in query and the way happy you had been with their ending.
New Parasite acts as a seventh route, specializing in the primary new character launched within the sport, Merenice Levin. It takes place after the Frequent Route from the unique sport however shouldn’t be overly reliant on it, making it essentially the most accessible a part of the fandisc for newcomers who haven’t learn something previous to this. After her experiments with the Parasite 5 grow to be a catastrophe and so they all stop, Lynette turns to fortune-telling to search out out what her subsequent step in her profession could possibly be, which leads her to Merenice – who, sadly, can’t learn her fortune in any respect the way in which that he can everybody else’s, prompting him to register with Cupid Corp himself to search out out extra about what makes her particular. This route options the identical flowchart construction because the After Dramas, making it simpler to leap backwards and forwards between sections to make completely different decisions, however is formatted extra like a conventional visible novel, with good and dangerous endings.
I discovered Merenice’s path to be fairly satisfying total, exploring completely different themes not coated within the different routes, and balancing the extra grounded relationships with the humorous mythology-based components fairly properly, the place the opposite love pursuits tended to lean extra closely into one or the opposite. The addition of an ending for Owen a brief means into New Parasite was additionally a pleasant bonus for his character, though I might have favored to have seen comparable extra routes for the opposite two recurring characters who had been added to Candy and Spicy Darling, Eli Omar and Robin. General, it seems like a pure extension of the idea, fairly than one thing that was added unnecessarily in the way in which that the After Dramas usually did.
Candy and Spicy Darling is introduced in the identical explosively brilliant type as its predecessor, with the primary menu display screen assaulting your eyes with a large number of clashing colours that by some means manages to be distinct and legible regardless of the flowery fonts and textual content sizes. The UI is a part of the sport’s attraction and id, leaning into that extra playful aspect of issues, and it’s complemented effectively by some jazzy new tracks and very tacky vocal songs. It’s a mode that returning followers might be aware of and one which I really feel matches effectively with the general aesthetic of the sport. The brand new CG paintings maintains the excessive customary set by its predecessor and there’s a good quantity of it contemplating the smaller quantity of content material right here total, and the standard of the localization is, for essentially the most half, wonderful – at launch the unique Cupid Parasite was crammed with textual content points that weren’t patched till a lot later after launch, and I didn’t encounter any obtrusive typos or grammatical errors throughout my playthrough.
The unique voice actors reprise their roles with the identical degree of enthusiasm and vary of emotion, which heightens the expertise significantly, though that is spoiled considerably by the random information reviews scattered all through the routes which are delivered in extraordinarily poor damaged English and don’t match the subtitles on the display screen. I additionally skilled a number of inexplicable crashes throughout my playthrough, forcing me to utterly shut my Change all the way down to get it to work once more in any respect – this resulted in loads of continuously misplaced progress, and could also be one thing to remember when you plan on selecting this up at launch.
The Verdict
Cupid Parasite: Candy and Spicy Darling by no means fairly manages to strike the best steadiness between its two flavors, with the Candy components usually failing to really feel like a significant continuation of the character’s tales or relationships a lot of the time regardless of exploring some fascinating themes, and the Spicy usually leaning too far into awkwardly-written steamy scenes or endings that will virtually definitely be categorised as “dangerous” in another visible novel, and are definitely worse than the dangerous endings featured in its predecessor. It’s a worthwhile learn when you loved the unique and are notably hooked up to any of its characters (besides maybe for Raoul, whose After Drama is so wildly inconsistent I might really advise his followers to avoid this) but it surely by no means fairly manages to hit the identical emotional highs or justify persevering with tales that had been completely wrapped up beforehand.
Cupid Parasite: Candy and Spicy Darling copy offered by the writer for the needs of this assessment.
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