3.5/5 ★ – Lammy's review of Date A Live: Ars Install.

Date A Live: Arusu Install post-100% review: So, the Date A Live visual novel I bought a few years ago was a three pack, and here I am reviewing the second installation. Still haven't watched or read the original series, but here we are. As always, a visual novel is by definition almost entirely story, so I'll only give the most basic of introductions here. Shido Itsuka and his gang of Spirit friends/potential love interests are asked to test an experimental dating sim game and end up trapped within it by a mysterious girl who seems to control the game world. This compels them to act out stereotypical gal game events to escape, over which Shido will fall in love with the route's chosen heroines. The routes are, by and large, worse than in Rinne Utopia, the first Date A Live visual novel; the gal game framing device forces the characters to literally act as different people in the date sections, so we don't get the same character exploration or plot integration for most of the cast. The characters new to this game, such as the Yamai twins or Miku Izayoi, seem a bit more fleshed out than the returning spirits, but even their routes are a bit thin. In contrast, the True Ending available after beating all non-Bad-End routes is wonderful, trouncing the rest of the game's content. The art and music is... well, it's Date A Live. If you, like so many others, find yourself drawn to characters like Kurumi Tokisaki or Origami Tobiichi, you'll settle right in here amongst familiar faces. I'm also told that the game is official series canon along with its predecessor, so that's neat! Anyway, game gets a 7/10. It's still good, but not as good as Rinne Utopia. Route Ranking: TRUE ENDING (no spoil) Yuzuru Yamai Kaguya Yamai Kotori Itsuka Yoshino Miku Izayoi Tohka Yatogami Kurumi Tokisaki Origami Tobiichi