Parasite in Love Review 🦠
TL;DR: You're pretty much in a toxic, nonconsensual relationship with an even more toxic amoeba. Yes, an amoeba. That's it. That's the game
Game Link: https://night-asob u.itch.io/parasite-in-love
Notable Features: She/Her/Hers MC, Named MC, Yandere LI, partial voice acting
Spiciness: 0/5 -- No explicit content
LI Red Flags: 2/5 -- lack of consent, a lil hands on...but from the inside...?
Want to know more? Well, let's get into it!
Let me just start off by saying... I genuinely thought this game was going to be wack lol. Like, no lie.
First off, from the synopsis I had read on the page, I initially thought that it was going to be more of the hallucinations that we were experiencing versus the parasite itself.
That being said, when I booted up the game...it was mad boring. I'm not even gonna lie to y'all, I was 2 seconds from clicking that ish out and moving on to another visual novel that I had saved to play later; however, I was like "Well, it just started. Let me give it a fair chance because this is clearly only the intro" because let's be real for a second. An intro is kind've hard to write without making it so plain that the person playing just loses interest nor making it so that shit just starts popping off out of seemingly no where. So, with that in consideration, I pushed through. I got through the first, like, day and 3/4 of the second day. THAT'S when things started getting a little more interesting, and I was like "Okay! Here we go!". After that, it was pleasantly interesting!
It definitely had a slow start with all the "I did this, then I did this, and then after that I did this" blah, blah, blah, but once it truly started? Oh, it was on. With that, I think I've rambled enough about my personal experience. Let's talk about the game (with as little spoilers as possible, as always)
So, boom, we're -- well, actually Marlowe -- is taking a vacay by...going in the wilderness.
No shade, no tea to you if this is your style of vacationing. I support, but no way in hell am I partaking. Ain't no way I'm going to get away from indoor struggles by experiencing outdoor struggles, like nu uh. Then again, Marlowe isn't exactly out here roughing it. She has this really nice cabin that she rented out, and she's going to chill the week there.
Even though this is a horror themed game, she actually has pretty solid reception out here, so we're good! We can call for help should we need it, right? ...Right?
Anyways, she goes to take a swim in this lake, and I honestly get why she did that...but why did she do that? Literally the intro to the game was a news story on this brain-eating bacteria that resides in -- you guessed it -- freshwater lakes.
What did we just take a swim in? A freshwater lake. Lol you already know where this is headed.
Okay, now that I'm actually trying to type this out, I don't really know how to present this story without spoiling it, but I'm going to try my damnedest, so bear with me.
So, without spoiling it too much, basically what ends up happening is that Marlowe gets really sick, and the friendly neighborhood germ, who's actually a lil toxic sumbetch, falls in love with her.
...
I know, I know, I said the same thing lol. We -- and by we, I mean Marlowe -- got sick, and the brain-eating bacteria that I mentioned earlier has fallen in love with us. But hear me out! It actually gets super interesting from here, so stay with me!
From this point, it's this odd tug-o-war game of survival. We're trying to survive it, and it is essentially trying to survive us from trying to kill it. To it -- this amoeba that named himself Niall and goes by he/him/his pronouns -- Marlowe isn't a host, but a spouse, and it's trying to build this family with her from inside her. For him, her survival means his death, and for Marlowe, it's the literal opposite.
By the way, this is Niall. Our...husband.
Anyways
During this tug-o-war game, Marlowe gets a little feisty with Niall, and Niall literally keeps her in check without physically touching her. Remember, Niall is a literal brain-eating bacteria. He's very real, but he isn't a person like she's hallucinating -- he's a disease. He's a disease that's making her ill, and he makes her symptoms worse whenever he gets pissed at her. Holy. Shit. Now, that's a crazy concept.
In an attempt to not ruin more than I may already have, I'll just say at this point, it's either him or Marlowe. As with a majority of visual novels, how this ends is completely up to the choices you make.
Like always, I'm not gonna lie to y'all. This game was significantly better than what I was initially expecting.
Like I mentioned before, the beginning was just really mundane to me, and I thought it was going to be the same scenario as another game I'm planning on writing a review about, but thankfully, it did not continue in that manner. Now that I've completed the game, it reads more like a "Everything was going great until it wasn't" type of thing, and it wasn't as "boring" as I initially thought. Still boring, but not "I wish this coworker would stop talking to me about this thing I don't care about" boring.
Now, that what I didn't care for is out of the way, let's talk about what I did care for: the concept of the story.
I could go on and on about how absolutely GENIUS I thought the concept of this VN was. Admittedly, if I did that, this review would turn out way longer than I'd want, and it'd seem like rambling. That being said, I'll just say this: By far, out of all the VNs that I've read so far (and admittedly, I'm relatively new to all of this, but hear me out), this has been the most original and the most interesting one as far as the concept that was chosen, not to mention it was executed well.
During this VN, I actually got a "...Okay, this is actually terrifying if you think about it" feeling. Not to mention, the take of "We're the same but different" premise. Like, Marlowe and Niall wanted the same exact thing as far as lifestyle but from different aspects. Hers was more of a life milestone or value that she had, and his was for the sheer aspect of survival. That was what made him cling to her the way that he had. It wasn't even about her looks or from the typical "You were the only person that was ever nice to me" trope, but a "You have the same will to survive like I do". Like damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! A deadly bacteria falls in love with you because he sees similarities in the two of you and is under the impression that you understand and consent to what he's doing. That is such an insane concept, and damn do I want to talk about it more, but I won't because I'll start rambling it and ruin it.
Overall, I'd recommend giving this game a go! Honestly, to me, it's not the most interesting reading-wise, but if you stick with it for the concept, it's a pretty solid read! Not to mention there's some partial voice acting which is super cool! Be sure to leave your comments on the dev's page if you feel like they're doing a good job, and you want to give them that extra reassurance. Like mentioned at the top, here is the link to the game if you'd like to try it out yourself! I definitely think that you should if you want to experience something different from the norm.
Anyways! That's all from me! Drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around! Until next time~!
Parasite in Love Game Link and Page
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