A Stale Sequel That Fails to Rekindle the Flame
Recently, I undertook the responsibility for reviewing a series of four puzzle titles, Ah, Love! Seasons 1-4. Following my, not so pleasant, experience with the first title, a sour taste was left in my mouth, and dampened expectations for its sequel. Still, I powered through, left all biases behind, and began my adventure into the (unsurprisingly identical) world of Ah, Love! Season 2.
It began very much in the same manner, generic artwork of a couple in love, some matching love themed memorabilia to accompany this, and eventually, the gameplay. After hopping into the opening stage, I can confirm the title isn’t a lie, Ah, Love! Season 2, feels like a direct continuation of the gameplay, however, and as I’ll elaborate on later, this comes with its flaws. In fact, the two titles are so drastically similar, it assumes you’ve played its predecessor and thus skips any tutorial or handholding, which is one thing I can respect.
So what is this gameplay shared by the two titles, and how does it function? Keeping this as simple as possible, the aforementioned couple each have a heart (pink and blue of course) that are trapped in square blocks, each with differing patterns, entrances, and exits. Your goal is easy, connect the rooms and allow them to reach one another… yet of course it isn’t actually that simple.
Stages will implement many obstacles, mechanics, and just about anything to keep these lovers from reuniting. On a surface level, it’s what you expect from a puzzle game; the implementation of bonus requirements – such as a move count – give extra incentive to think outside the box, however there is nothing groundbreaking found in Ah, Love! Season 2.
Adjacent Swapping
Now you have a basic understanding, we’re ready to go a little more in-depth to the core mechanics, beginning with the overarching ability to move adjacent rooms. Each puzzle and brain boggler (if you’d go that far) are achieved through the very innate rule that you can only swap adjacent rooms. As you can guess, this means no diagonal shenanigans, no skipping rooms, simply sideways was my motto whilst playing. It makes sense the devs didn’t want to over complicate things, hence introducing this restriction, yet I couldn’t help but think how much more gripping the puzzles could’ve been had this burden been lifted.
Following on from this, and an issue I covered in my initial review of the first Ah, Love!, is how the hearts move. The core gameplay revolves around them moving in one another’s direction, it’s how the puzzles work, and how you get them to move between squares at all. But that’s not where the issue arises. The issue comes from a poorly optimised mechanic, allowing for several instances during my playthrough in which because I moved the rooms too slow, the hearts became stuck, relying on what feels like cheesing the puzzles, rather than solving them.
Recycled Mechanics and the Vanishing Challenge
There are a plethora of other mechanics introduced ranging from romantic zones which provide next to nothing for making the hearts meet in there, red squares which are unable to moved and actually engage your brain unlike most other puzzles, the typical obstacles to throw you off such as spikes, and finally, a black heart which chases you much like your own ones. In theory, these mechanics sound engaging, and if introduced incrementally and built upon to heighten difficulty as you progress, they would be. But…
First off, whilst introduced after each other, it’s rare that the mechanics will make an appearance once their run of stages is up. They appear for around three or four stages, then vanish as fast as they come in. Yet that isn’t even the worst part. Throughout the forty levels present (yes it was a drag to get through) mechanics resurfaced a few times, and when they did, it was never in unison with a later introduced mechanic for enhanced difficulty, rather harkening back to the earlier stages. Adding to my frustration, each and every mechanic found in Ah, Love! Season 2, can be found present in its predecessor too!
A Sequel Scrambling for a Reason to Exist
Simply put, whilst each aspect of Ah, Love! Season 2’s gameplay has promise, a combination of strange design choices, and an inability to incrementally add difficulty through the merging of mechanics, leaves a game that struggles massively.
Ah, Love! Season 2 takes everything it has from its previous entry, and that leaves it scrambling for any reason to exist.
Important Links
Two’s a Pair – Ah, Love! Season 2 Brings More Puzzles to Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/twos-a-pair-ah-love-season-2-brings-more-puzzles-to-xbox/
Buy Ah, Love! Season 2 on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/ah-love-season-2/9nhdsklw3c19
