A Subpar Conclusion to a Troubled Puzzle Series?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve dedicated a solid chunk of my life to playing a certain puzzle series, four titles to be exact. Whether you’ve been here for them all, or this is your (strange) entry point, one thing remains true; there have been highs and lows, with the latter occupying most instances.
With the final entry culminating everything learnt, can the devs pull out all the wildcards to make Ah, Love! Season 4 a gripping title? Short answer… no. However the long answer reveals many tricks learnt from previous entries, yet also all prominent flaws.
A Narrative Without a Payoff
Just like the previous three entries (those being Ah, Love! Season 1, Ah, Love! Season 2 and Ah, Love! Season 3), Ah, Love! Season 4 follows on from the story of two estranged lovers, yearning once again to find the way back into one another’s hearts (displayed metaphorically through the core gameplay). You’ll solve puzzles through various stages of blocks, with that one overarching goal – reunite the lost lovers. Spanning four titles – albeit short ones – you’d think the narrative would have some sort of payoff, even a subpar frame of art like the title screens hold… unfortunately, you’d be mistaken.
Once the game ends, and you’ve completed each and every stage, you’re rewarded with nothing. No special cutscene. No “Well done!” screen. Nothing. Quite simply, all the struggles and boredom you’ve had to endure has been for nothing. This leaves a huge sour taste in the mouth of the player, not rewarding their dedication in the slightest, instead feeling like a slap in the face. Despite this, surely gripping gameplay that keeps you engaged could make up for this?
Familiar Magnetic Hearts
That question probably does hold the answer ‘yes’, however Ah, Love! Season 4 players would never know as that’s not what’s present in this title. The core gameplay is identical to the three other entries; stages consist of various huge square blocks, each with their own entrances and exits both hearts can travel through. The hearts move automatically as if magnets attracted to one another, leaving your role as a guide that moves the squares to allow for them to reunite. Whether down to their stupidity, or perhaps they’re just unlucky, even after reuniting, in the next stage they’re apart once again! This gameplay as a core foundation functions as it should, however the issue arises once you analyse what it’s used for (or lack thereof).
Of the twenty stages (Season 4 opts for the route the third title took by halving the stages), quite frankly all of them, feel vastly identical as if lacking their own personality or quirks. Each stage consists of “move these blocks in a very particular order to allow one heart through an exit into another, until ultimately reuniting them”. That is a design philosophy that is not only an insult to puzzle titles, but towards the players’ intelligence too.
A Hollow Shell
In the previous titles, this design was helped by the fact new mechanics were introduced (despite not lasting long), and allowed for the game to trip you up every now and again; in Ah, Love! Season 4, there are even less mechanics then it’s predecessors! Returning ones are; romantic zones, appearing the most in around five stages, spikes, appearing in two stages, yellow blocks, appearing in two as well, and finally, black hearts, appearing in one. New mechanics are… non existent?
Yeah it turns out the final entry has no new mechanics, instead opting to reuse old ones, and very sparsely at that. The peculiar design choice to opt out of innovation, leaves Ah, Love! Season 4’s gameplay a hollow shell of revisited ideas and bland puzzles. Not a very nice way to end a series.
And on the topic of these games being a series, I truly don’t see why they couldn’t have all been cut down to twenty levels (reduce the filler) and been put into an eighty stage long game, saving everyone headaches and hassle.
The Downfall of Level Design
As hinted at earlier, the level design here does no favours in redeeming the quality of Ah, Love! Season 4, in fact being one of the main causes of its downfall.
Imagine you’re designing a game. You’ve set a core foundation for your gameplay, be it puzzles, RPG mechanics, etc, and now need to create playgrounds to use this gameplay in. Would you design your world or stages by intentionally using assets to complement the move-set and core gameplay features, such as placing tiny objects that are hard to maintain your speed on yet reward you with a shortcut in a platformer game? Or would you instead just create a complicated line to the finish, with many obstacles placed throughout to trip the player up? Chances are you’d opt for the former as it rewards players learning the mechanics of the game, leaving them craving more.
The issue with the Ah, Love series as a whole, is that it opts for the latter. In puzzle titles where the focus should revolve around deducing the outcome through either hints or tactical planning, these games decide to make the solution revolve around trial and error. This blunder in design, leaves stages feeling more like circus mazes where you’ll eventually take the correct path, and thus destroying any chance of enjoyment.
Staying True to Troubled Roots?
Ah, Love! Season 4 is (hopefully) a worthy end to the series. That’s not because it’s brilliant, but because of the opposite. In a series filled with troubled entries, Ah, Love! Season 4 stays true to the roots and provides a subpar experience, bound to leave you craving any other game to play.
Important Links
Ah, Love! Season 4 Delivers A Fresh Round Of Heart-Warming Puzzles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ah-love-season-4-delivers-a-fresh-round-of-heart-warming-puzzles/
Buy from the Xbox Store, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ah-love-season-4/9NH34VWCPQRX/0010
Or grab it for Xbox One – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ah-love-season-4-xbox-one/9N49J6B8CNZ6/0010
Or Windows PC – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ah-love-season-4-windows/9NX3GSWGDHGV/0010
There’s a Bundle for all 4 games too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ah-love-bundle/9PNJ16JPM94D/0010
