Ristorante Amore
Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux
What can you do in a month? Well, if you're developers Cyanide Tea, you can make an entire visual novel with one big surprise for NaNoRenO ((Inter)National Renai Game Writing Month). And if you're Lily, the earnest but butter-fingered protagonist of the free indie download game Ristorante Amore, a month is just long enough to feel like you're stuck in a rut. She's 22 years old and she feels like she's going nowhere waitressing tables at her uncle's restaurant, though the eclectic staff at least provides some entertainment, and maybe even a little romance. After all, isn't that what they're there for?... right?
Like any visual novel, there's a lot of reading involved in Ristorante Amore as you follow the story and interactions between characters. Whenever a choice pops up, just click the one you like. If you missed some text, you can use your mouse's scroll wheel, if you have one, to cycle back through it. Right-clicking will open a menu that will not only allow you to change the settings, but also save and load your game whenever you like. The first portion of the game is a rather lengthy prologue that centers around Lily and her growing relationship with one of the three fellows she works with, but afterwards... uh, well. You'll just have to play to find out.
Ristorante Amore is a strange little game. It's on the short side, and the player interactivity is definitely on the low end of things, with only a moderate amount of choices to be made. For some people who demand a lot more depth and choice, it might come off as a little shallow, and it would be hard to fault them for it when the prologue is so straight-forward, if well presented. The real story is definitely unique, however, and more than a little clever. It's an interesting spin that manages to put visual novels (and arachnophobia) into an entirely different light, and with nine different endings to nab post-prologue, it's an impressive little piece of work, especially considering the short development period. Auro-Cyanide's art is vibrant and expressive, and Camille deserves some sort of digital high-five for taking such a tired old genre and putting a new spin on it. If you're a fan of visual novels, you should definitely take the time to check out this quirky title and get to know its actors. They just might surprise you.
Windows:
Download the free full version
Mac OS X:
Download the free full version
Linux:
Download the free full version
"Lengthy" prologue indeed. My jaw dropped after I got the alert that what I'd spent all that time doing was just the prologue to the real game.
I don't want to give anything away, but the "real game" is really worth playing, especially if you kept rolling your eyes at the prologue like I did.
Hmm...so it says here that it's playable in Mac and you go to the web site and it says in several places that it's playable in Mac, then if you really get to looking you realize there's a warning bar at the top of their site saying, "The Desura client currently only works on Windows and Linux PCs. We are working on support for Mac."
So really it's NOT playable in Mac--just thought I'd FYI everyone.
dsrtrosy:
I have a Mac and it works fine. The Desura site actually said it was already installed, so I didn't have any issues.
"What, am I supposed to be Voldemort now?" pfffff this game is AMAZING XD
That was pretty fun, but way too predictable.
I mean, the moment you see the actors calling the girl "Lily*" you can kind of guess what the premise is.
I finished the prologue and I am now playing the post-prologue game. I can't help but smiling through the whole thing! It's very clever!
Though it feels weird to
Be called a masochist by a game!
But I am really enjoying "going after the same character again"(ethan) but with a different main characters.
Late to the party but just wanted to say this...
Liam and Josh are the cutest thing!~ Laura actually grew on me too, especially since some aspects of her reminds me of a good friend of mine.
Do I need to install Desura to play?
On the Ristorante Amore page, under the large Desura button, you'll find the text: "Mac, PC, and Linux versions are also all available as standalone downloads via Desura."
Click on that "standalone downloads" and then select your game platform to download and play without using Desura.
Ok, thanks a lot! :D
First off, I'm playing it in Mac with no trouble. Just FYI.
Also, I'm in the middle of the game right now, and I was very surprised when
what I had thought was the entire game, albeit short, turned out to be the prologue.
These game developers are quite creative and nonconventional ;)
A minute into the game... my favorite character is Voldemort as of now. Everyone else sickens me, even Lily.
Update