dUpLicity: Beyond the Lies

Visual novels are casual video games in which you get the chance to be in charge of someone else’s life, by making all the decisions for them. Dating games are a variation on the genre, because they are heavily focused toward helping your character find the right soul mate. Obviously, the actual gameplay is not very interactive, since all you have to do is choose the desired dialogue choices and various other such small things.

dUpLicity: Beyond the Lies is a dating sim/visual novel combination in which you have to play the role of Yukina Kudou, as well as help her get over a difficult situation in her life. Besides talking to people and reading her thoughts on basically everything, you must also organize her daily routine and choose the perfect schedule in order to increase her efficiency at work and in school.

On the other hand, Yukina is also in search of a real boyfriend, because as it turns out, someone forced her to be with the one she currently has. Over the course of the story, many other secrets are revealed and Yukina’s entire past seems to be one strange occurrence after the other. None of the intrigue keeps you invested into the action, however, while the writing is excruciating most of the time.

Because a visual novel usually bets it all on its story and the characters, the game at hands is at a loss and you may have a difficult time getting through it. You have time to notice every flaw along the way and pinpoint the mistakes, such as the fact that the environments repeat themselves too often and the dialogue is way too simple to hold any kind of meaningful conversation.

There are multiple endings you can reach, depending on the choices you make during the story and how you spend your days inside the game. Thankfully, the graphics appear to be quite detailed and nicely realized, even if the characters are drawn in a pretty weird manner and they might look strange in certain circumstances.

In the end, dUpLicity: Beyond the Lies could have used a lot more creativity and originality in order to be worth the playthrough. Moreover, some capable writers couldn’t have hurt either, since the dialogue and the story as a whole are incredibly dull and unimpressive, not to mention devoid of any kind of realistic character or emotion.