LoveSick Darlings is a Ren'Py visual novel and dating sim by Dimitri, presented with 2D CG art. You play Syd, a teenage boy who has recently moved into town and become close friends with Maisy and her circle. The story follows high school life, friendship, and romance, using familiar dating sim tropes while giving them a more grounded edge. As the school year nears its end, Syd is pushed by friends to ask his crush to the formal, and choices shape how he handles new feelings, changing friendships, and difficult decisions.
The current build is the v1.6 Demo, released on December 20, 2022, for Windows, Linux, and Mac. It is in English and not censored, and it contains no sexual content. This update fixed bugs involving Steph's relationship progress, references to social events that had not happened yet, and the player review system skipping choices. It also corrected visual, animation, music, and loop problems, tightened early dialogue, and added hidden variables that will matter later.
Developer's description
LoveSick Darlings
is a visual novel focused on creating and testing the limits of teenage relationships. It explores friendship, high school life, love, and everything in between. The game plays with tropes and expectations found in romance visual novels and dating sims by undercutting this often-romanticized period of everyone's lives with a realistic edge.
Spoiler
Syd
, our protagonist, moved into town at the start of this year. He’s become best friends with a girl called
Maisy
who lives on the same street with him – and by extension, her friends too. Over time he has become a natural part of this diverse group of friends. The school year is growing closer to its end, and Syd’s friends are pressuring him into asking his crush out to the formal at the end of the year. Will he be able to do it? How will his friendships hold up around him as he makes these big decisions towards the end of this high school year? And what if someone in his own group of friends sees him as more than...
"just a friend"
? It's up to
you
to make these hard decisions and deal with these situations as Syd to decide the fate of him and all of his friends.
And that is where our story begins.
v1.6Demo
- Fixed a glitch where Steph's relationship progress would reset if you spent too much time with her in the demo.
- Fixed another error where Steph references Social Events that haven't taken place yet if you spend too much Free Time with her.
- Fixed the Player Review not detecting obscure combinations of choices and outcomes and skipping to the end accidentally.
- Fixed several visual and animation bugs. Same with music loops and cues.
- Sharpened dialogue in the beginning section to flow better and more accurately represent characters (Syd used to say "like" a lot! That's so not in-character for him. I fixed a lot of those kinds of inconsistent mannerisms for the cast.)
- Inserted about two dozen extra invisible variables the demo can trigger that won't pay off until you play the full game.
- Fixed countless typos and awkward sentences.
v1.5 Demo
- Complete overhaul of Albie's story.
Now features his struggles at his religious private school and choosing between making Maisy or his parents happy. He has a frail constitution due to a life-saving surgery when he was a baby, but is no longer chronically ill in the way he was before.
- EXPANSION of Maisy's backstory!
Maisy has now only arrived at Foster Hills High the year before Syd got there, after she was expelled from her previous school because of a certain "incident" involving her and another student. This is the same religious school that Albie is still going to currently!
- RESHUFFLING OF EVENTS:
The shopping trip with Maisy has been completely rewritten and takes place on on the Sunday of Week 6! And now features Albie! And gift-buying! It's good fun! I hope you enjoy this streamlined version of advetures with Maisy and Albie.
- ADDITIONAL FREE TIME DAY NOW AVAILABLE IN THE DEMO!
Because of the above reshuffling, this means Monday Afternoon on Week 7 has opened up - giving players additional Free Time options in the demo! And a dilemma between Maisy and Steph that day! Who will Syd choose to impress? His crush or his best friend? It's up to you!
- ✨ BRAND NEW ✨ Title Screen!
- ADDITIONAL MUSIC TRACKS!
A few new tracks have snuck into the demo! I hope you enjoy hearing them!
- Albie's casual outfit and Maisy's Pyjama outfit have both been implemented!
- Both Albie and Maisy's birthdays have been retconned.
Albie is now a Scorpio, and Maisy is a Sagitarius to suit the in-game dates better (I know this seems minor, but it's an official retcon!)
- Corrected typos.
Fixed some events not triggering properly.
v1.3 Demo
First Release
Player reviews
Player rating4.5 / 5 · 2 ratings
Written reviews2 · avg 4.5★
Positive (4–5★)100%
Latest review2023-05-26
LS472023-05-26★★★★★
It's rare I give 4 stars to a VN, but this one is great. The themes are mature enough while not being edgy, just enough for the teenage drama to be credible and not over the top. As a demo…
BuddhaOnaDiet2020-08-21★★★★★
The characters are cute and unique. The writing is great and your choices impacts the story and your interaction with the girls. If you are looking for a fap-game, this isn't it, there isn't any lewd content. But you will…
★★★★★(2)
