Posted on: September 2, 2024
Akeashar
Verified ownerGames: 1194 Reviews: 6
Relentless, Bleak, Repetetive
While the game has beautifully stylized artwork, a lovely soundtrack, and effective sound effects, the sheer bleakness of the game and the far too grinding nature of the gameplay reduce the experience to both an emotionally and mentally numbing time. In My Lovely Daughter you play the amnesiac alchemist Faust. In an attempt to revive your daughter (the 'Lovely Daughter' of the title) you summon, level, and brutally murder homunculi in order to harvest their emotional energy. The homunculi are also your 'daughters' (or 'sons' if you choose the sex flipped option) and they look up to you as a father, which makes the ease and brutality with which Faust murders them offputting. The Devs are open to the fact that this is a rather blatant allegory of child abuse, and its the first text on the screen warning you to this fact. That Faust is completely without redeeming features, with the exception of two non-true endings, makes it hard to find enjoyment in his actions. This isn't a man summoning non-sentient entities to work and dispose of, but homunculi with personalities, emotions and voices that scream in horror at their demises. Still, I would have rate the game higher if the gameplay arc wasn't less of a grind. It's essentially a management game where you send your homunculi out to work, earning money and levelling up before you harvest them and attempt to get the right balance to successfully resurrect your daughter's soul... or go for one of the other endings. Unfortunately, once you get one of the endings, it then wipes your save game and you get to start over from scratch with a fresh save file with no carry over. This turns what should have been a short game into one that can take a couple of dozen hours just to work back up to the 'point where you meet the ending requirements. All up, if you're curious about it, just be aware of the content and that it is incredibly grindy to get the endings.
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