3.5/5 ★ – KHFanXIII's review of Fureraba ~Friend to Lover~.

**NON-SPOILER** **Firstly I should say that I will only be reviewing this from the point of view of someone who has only completed ONE route. I may go back to do other routes one day, and if so I'll update my review if needed, but I'm pretty satisfied with my selection so it'd be a while before returning** As someone who's never really played Dating Sims (not opposed to them, I just thought they wouldn't interest me) however I like a lot of the things others who do like Dating Sims like, so I thought I'd give one a try. Sorted by popularity on VNDB and this one was the top. So, did it live up to my expectations? In a dating sim (and a lot of visual novels for that matter), from what I've gathered through cultural osmosis, things are usually divided into separate "routes," which are pathways through the game you get to experience based upon your choices. In dating sims specifically, routes are usually separated by each heroine (or hero if it's an otome game) you choose to pursue, with each heroine's route having their own exclusive story beats. Not to say you can't mix and match and experience a little of everything, but there's a lot of content that is exclusive to each route. In my playthrough of the game, I chose the childhood friend heroine, Himari Minahara, to pursue and honestly it was a great experience! She was so very cute, and upon learning more and more about the backstory between yourself and her character, it makes me feel like picking anything else would be wrong. The story that develops between you two is honestly very cute and sweet (not entirely though ;) ) and Himari left a great impression on me as someone who has never played one of these kinds of games before. Now to get into the thing I disliked about the game, I need to do a bit more explaining. So this game is structured into very clear sections that I'll give names to and explain now. First, you have the prologue. This section consists of generally introducing you to the world, setting, and characters of the game. Letting you get a feel for all of the characters and the main heroines of the game. This time is meant to help you decide which girl you want to go after. In this section, there are no choices. Next, you have what I call the Selection phase, and nearly all of the choices you make in the game will be here, and they do matter. During this part of the game, you will be asked at several points to choose which of the main four girls you want to talk to. Talking to a girl will raise your relationship level with her. While chatting, you'll have several conversational topics to discuss. Your job is to figure out what each girl likes talking about and (when prompted for certain questions) answer with what you think they'd most like to hear. Every time your relationship with a girl is ready to progress to the next level, there will be an event scene that takes place. These are usually out-of-school events where you go and hang out with your chosen heroine. The end of these events are usually prompted by a choice and answering correctly will help build your relationship even further. Upon returning to school for the next chatting section, you will now have new topics to discuss with your girl. This is a cycle that goes on until you level up your relationship enough to confess to the girl, and we progress to the next section of the game. This is (pretty much) the final section of the game, which I'll just call the Post-Confession phase. In this part of the game, you will begin to go out with your chosen heroine. In this section, it's mostly just text and, while there are a good bit of choices, they all pretty much don't matter as no matter what you pick, there seem to be no consequences. In this stage, you will just go out (or stay in) and do things with your girl of choice. Depending on how much you like MC and her interactions will really make or break this part of the game for you. The major problem with all of this is that it simply takes way too long. The Prologue I was in for at least a few good hours, and I get it. Introducing the player to the setting is very important and I don't have a problem with it per se, but that's just the start of it. The Selection phase ALSO takes forever. Now, I played without a guide, and I dunno how common it is for players to play visual novels with multiple routes without one, but holy hell, even with save scumming, I spent several hours just building up my relationship with Himari and it can get a little grating at times when every in-game day boils down to "go to school, select two discussions with Himari, repeat." I was a little tired of the game at this point and if the game ended at the confession scene, I'd probably stay away from Dating Sims going forward. Speaking of, the Post Confession phase is pretty great. Actually getting to see you and your love interest interact and just be boyfriend and girlfriend is honestly way above many romance anime I've seen. It was kind of cathartic just seeing them hang out and a lot of it was very cute. It was only during certain sections (no, not the H scenes) of the game where I began to feel it drag on a *little* too much, and got a little bored during those moments. Honestly, at the end of the game, I was even left wanting more, and I think that speaks to just how invested I got into the relationship. This part of the game is also pretty lengthy though. I was surprised at how many hours I spent on this as my initial impression really was that it would end after the confession scene. Overall, while I can definitely say I enjoyed my time with my first Dating Sim, and do actually recommend this, but probably only to people like me who are already very familiar with (and love) Japanese pop culture, and people who have experience playing visual novels. To more general gamers, I'd say steer clear as the abundant amount of text with little (or no) meaningful interaction from the player would definitely bore you. ᴬˡˢᵒ ʸᵉˢ ᴵ ᵈᶦᵈ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᴴ ˢᶜᵉⁿᵉˢ