Roommate Lover: Love in Progress Review

As mentioned, the concept is similar to FHUOR. Your parents leave the house and you initially seek a boarder to help pay the mortgage. Later, your boss moves in. Your young neighbor shows up when she likes. Finally, you hire a cleaner to help around the house. Then the game ends.

Yes, it is all over just when things are getting started. It takes one hour to finish and just over two to see everything. This is despite the fact that a character mentions that months have passed. Although priced fairly, this anemic game length is not nearly enough time to get to know anybody.

The four love interests are attractive but their personalities seem mismatched. Streamer An Xiaotang is oddly reserved, despite being played by the ex K-POP star Wang Mengyu that intermittently becomes energetic. Boss Yang Yan is possessive and distant, but occasionally lavishes unjust praise on the player. Neighbour Lin Xia plays video games and gets jealous, but never justifies her adoration. Old school crush and flight attendant, Li Zhixuan, regrets a failed marriage but is fairly indifferent about everything else. After watching the BTS videos, rather than enhancing the actresses’ distinct personalities, most come across as strangers to themselves.

There is little substance to the story. Scenes are clinical. The writing is weak and predictable, with barely anything that resembles an arc. Choices mostly dictate bland responses, with no real branching paths. Even humor is largely missing in action. Despite some better group interactions near the end, it’s just a boring and empty shell.

It has audio issues too. You can regularly hear the cameraman breathing, like he has undiagnosed emphysema. Most audio is recorded on set but the volume levels are wildly inconsistent with a dull background hum. Even some of the ADR is far too quiet. The camera lens also had a mark on it for half the game, which is a pity given the video quality (4K) is otherwise good.

It is hard to find positives but the actresses deserved better. If it was as long as Five Hearts Under One Roof, which is still shorter than average, it might have found rhythm. If you are looking for a shared house setup, Service of Five Graces is a much better choice. But if you wanted Temu Five Hearts Under One Roof, then look no further.