Island of Hearts Review

At least the story has an adequate setup. You get fired and, in frustration, insult your kind and devoted girlfriend, Victoria. She backs out of the relationship and you start moping. Some friends give you the push needed… right into a pool that magically transports you to the Island of Hearts, where you will stay at a resort villa with six love interests.

The resort location is a nice setting. Intermittent shots of the villa are a good way to slow the pace. You won’t visit many places though, with the interior forming the backdrop for most scenes.

Most love interests have personality or backstory. Lily is shy because her trust was broken. Chloe is a tsundere who gets defensive. Sophia has boyfriend problems but is open to cheating. And Mia is a yandere with protective brothers. The two remainders, Gabby and Emily, are more of a blank slate. Some of the acting is awkward, which compromises sincerity. Choices do result in different activities, but most are just dialogue responses. And a few too many of these are opposites.

The player-character acts blasé during most exchanges. Sometimes this adds the right sarcasm, to parody the genre. Sometimes it brings more cringe. The audience needs to meet the game halfway, and it took effort to accept the vibe it was giving out.

Mini-games are prominent and quite varied. You might need to click on icons during a foot race, or pick the right color when painting. Some mini-games must be completed, like when you click-drag to dress Sophia. Others just boost affection or lead to different scenes. While the variety is good, replaying them is not fun. And the game blocks off navigation of later chapters when you alter a choice in a preceding chapter.

There are two endings for the six main love interests, based on affection. Strangely, having lower affection resulted in much better endings for three characters, such as Lily. It tries to say more about love at the 11th hour, which is cool but a fraction late. The game is a little thin, taking 2.2 hours to complete and roughly 5 to clear everything, but some great behind-the-scenes footage helps soften the blow.

Video quality is fine. Sound is all live from set, which is awesome. English voices mean not having to rely on subtitles, but Sophia’s thick accent and Mia’s pronunciation did hinder comprehension at times. Island of Hearts is not quite up with the average Chinese dating sim, but it is not a bad trip overall.