Sounds of Her Love Review (free visual novel)

This review was originally published on Fuwanovel Forums on May 4th 2018. Be sure to also check out my interview with SoHL developer, ds-sans.

Is there any merit to creating a tame, single-heroine romance VN in a market that seems to be flooded with cute love stories, often in much more "advanced" form? Do a romance VN need to invent something fresh and original to be successful? Is it even possible to be innovative much in the world of cute romance tales, with the kind of saturation the genre offers? Sounds of Her Love, a small freeware title published over a year ago by DEVGRU-P and created by ds-sans, an indie developer then pretty much unknown to the VN community, made me think about all these issues in a fairly substantial manner. And the answer it suggested to me, both due to my personal enjoyment and the warm reception it received from other readers, was: when making a romance story in the visual novel format, you don't have to create anything particularly new, as long as you do the basics really, really well.

          The game's story is as standard as it goes – our (nameable) protagonist starts attending an international school in Japan and on his first day he witnesses a girl dropping her library card. This event swiftly introduces him to the sole heroine of our story, and its only voiced character – Ceridwen (Ceri for short), a shy and asocial Welsh girl, whose slightly dramatic backstory and developing relationship with the MC will be the main focus of SoHL's 3-hour long plot. Both Ceri's visual design and the voice acting on her dialogue are definitely the highlights of the game. It's clear that much, or maybe even majority of its tiny budget was devoted to making her an appealing romance interest and the effect is indeed pretty lovely, while also not completely one-dimensional – she is a troubled girl, that definitely has a dominating sweet side, but can act irrationally and even hostile due to her insecurities. The rather transparent protagonist (although he's not completely bland and engages in some amusing interactions with his family) also works well in this case – he's simply an avatar of the player, while the focus of the story clearly falls on the heroine.

The heroine’s genuine cuteness, enhanced by good VA work, is the game’s biggest asset – and for the most part, it’s used really well

 

The minimalism of the story also translate to the choices it offers to the player – most of them are very logical and offers predictable consequences. The game rewards being proactive, but tactful in a very common-sense fashion, leading you to three possible endings, including the "canon", romantic one – and I have to say, I'm more of a fan of this approach then cryptic, overly convoluted decisions typical for so many VNs. As you might notice many people pointing out, the short "bad" route, to which you are locked into if you make some really awful choices at the beginning of the story, is a bit of a disheartening mess, but it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the game that much – the heartwarming, romantic fantasy of the main path is definitely where SoHL's value is at, and it was simply good enough to make the whole experience compelling.

          Also, a minor warning: even if you reach the good conclusion by not being a complete idiot, the romance is in the MoeNovel's If My Heart Had Wings levels of "clean". One thing that could be said in defence of this approach is that it fits Ceri's character – with how timid and insecure she is throughout the story, we can believe that even a kiss after protagonist's confession was out of the question. The romantic ending also got expanded on in the form of a small epilogue game ~We'll always be together~, released by ds-sans on the anniversary of SoHS's premiere. It contains 30 more minutes of cute interactions between the main couple, in the very same aesthetic as those from the main game – a pure piece of "fanservice", but a reasonably enjoyable one.

Some CGs are slightly below what the game makes you expect, but the general quality of art assets compensate reasonably for their limited number and variety

 

When it goes to production values, Ceri is not the only character with a voice, but also the only one with a sprite – like I've mentioned before, the fact that most of the effort on the part of the developer was focused on this one character is absolutely obvious. However, it hard to say it was a bad choice, considering the obviously limited resources ds-sans' disposal – the variety of expressions on her is quite good and while CGs and other assets are not always on par with the said sprite, their quality is consistent enough to be satisfying. The stock background music might be nothing to write home about, but as in many no-budget indie projects, works pretty well in filling the acoustic void in moments when there's no VA present.

          In the end though, who is Sounds of Her Love targeted towards and is it worth your time? This, I think, very much depends on your taste on what you're looking for at that particular moment. It is the most basic love story, that can bore to death those tired of romance clichés, or not fond of the formula in the first place. On the other hand, it's incredibly cute, nicely written and makes for a good, relaxing read that really can make you feel all warm and fuzzy for one or two evenings. I've personally had a greatly enjoyable time with it – if I was to rate it solely on the fun I've had, the final score would be even higher. It's also a completely free product and checking it out will not cost you anything. Just be sure you're not expecting any twists or surprises when approaching it – there really are none.

 
Final score: 2,5/5
 
Pros:
+ Lovely main heroine with good voice acting
+ Solid writing
+ Decent art
 
Cons:
- Short
- Clichéd as hell
- Predictable plot
- Extremely tame romance


VNDB page
Play Sounds of Her Love for free on Steam or Itch.io