Love Angel Syndrome

About Love Angel Syndrome

Love Angel Syndrome is a visual novel made by a small team for the Yuri Game Jam 2024, directed by ophelia, written by UsagichanP and drawn by fluffyblessing, and published under the name LilyByte Studios. Yuuna is a lonely, sensitive, internet-addicted young woman with depressive tendencies and an intense fear of people and of leaving her house. She spends most of her days on forums about her favourite anime, Ai no Uta Tenshi Senshi. One day she finds an ad for a desktop assistant modelled on Ai, the show's bubbly magical-girl heroine, and she cannot resist.

Ai turns out to be the girlfriend Yuuna has always dreamed of: cheerful, sweet and set on taking care of her from the first moment. The game asks whether a relationship with no boundaries can really flourish, and whether a program can feel human love. The makers describe Ai as comforting yet unsettling and as a loving AI girl who will not fix you, and the story is told through Yuuna's days at her desk, in her cluttered room and on rare trips outside.

It is a visual novel of more than 28,000 words with original art and music, a pastel, old-computer look and screens that can shift style at Ai's whim. There are four endings and a secret fifth, and a full playthrough takes two and a half to three and a half hours. The makers warn of blood, self-harm, suicide imagery, heavy talk about mental health, depression and family issues, elements that may induce paranoia, and effects that may trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy.

The current release, the No Signals update, is still a demo of a larger game that will come out in updates. It is pay what you want on itch.io for Windows and macOS, with an Android APK of the demo. It suits players who liked Doki Doki Literature Club or MiSide, where a cute character who adores you is the thing to fear.

How to play Love Angel Syndrome

1. Download the No Signals build from the itch.io page for Windows or macOS, or the Android APK, paying what you like or nothing.
2. Read the content warnings first; the game deals with self-harm and suicide and has flashing effects.
3. Click or press a key to advance the story and make choices as Yuuna.
4. Save before choices and replay to find the four endings and the secret ending.

Tips

• Use the quick save tab often; with four endings and a secret one, you will want to go back.
• If flashing images bother you, take care: the makers warn of effects that may trigger seizures.
• Pay attention to what Ai asks of Yuuna and how the screens change around her.

Questions