Updated Review (on April 10th, 2022) -- v0.4.3
CDLL and its developer, King B, has lived up to the potential seen from the game's first release and has delivered a fun and engrossing VN. The skill of the developer on a number of fronts has continued to improve and the content in the game has grown. Quite simply, the current version is a massive improvement over its first iteration.
The most evident is the art. The game now employs a crisper linework in its art. This allows for finer details and makes the game look at lot less amateurish and cartoonish. In my opinion, it is a much needed and welcome improvement to the game. The developer should revisit the earlier segments of the game to bring the old art to be more in-line with the new style of the rest of the game. Furthermore, the characters look (and act) distinctive from one another. From the art alone, there's no chance a player would confuse the characters in this game versus a lot of other VNs that uses the same assets to one another or using generic (and boring) looking characters.
The game's story is also worthy of note. As expected, it does not deviate too much from the typical tropes found in many adult visual novels, but it is nonetheless a fun ride. Tried and true, but it's written quite well to deliver the tale it wants to tell. There are some hiccups with its presentation and some grammatical issues but they are mostly benign. In addition, there are numerous choices one can make in the game that will become impactful to the story as a player goes through the game.
How the story unfolds and how the different routes arrive at certain shared moments in the story are quite vast and amusing to read. The journey to those checkpoints can be wildly different depending on the choices made by the player. Will the MC and the wife have a loving and trusting relationship while exploring newfound sexual kinks; or, will it be filled with lies, animosity, and betrayal? There are numerous permutations one can discover and, thankfully, it's not simply a binary choice leading to one of two outcomes or routes. Rather, those decisions can generate several paths a player can follow. This allows for further replayability if a player wishes to explore them.
On a separate note, @King B does a good job keeping his patrons in the loop. The developer appears quite communicative on his Patreon and offers updates and sneak peeks on the progression of the game. He is also active in the game's thread on F95 and has responded to issues and answered questions posed by various users. This is the kind of behavior that should be the norm and what more users like to see. Good deal on that front.
In conclusion, this is a good VN to play through (if you're into the types of stories and kinks the game wants to explore). The story is well-written for what it is and contains decent art and alluring situations with the right amount of pacing. Surprisingly, it doesn't weigh all that much compared to rather bloated sizes of other similar games. I recommend more people to give this a game a try. Cheers and have fun!
-------- Below is the original review from June 21,2021 (with its 3/5 star Game Rating). --------
Version Reviewed -- v1.0 (First Release)
A Couple's Duet of Love & Lust, henceforth CDLL, by @King B follows the story of a couple that moves into a new neighborhood and how their relationship evolves between each other and with those they encounter. As expected of a first release, there isn't much here at present and about half the tags listed shouldn't be applied to it per F95's rules. Much of the (planned) content simply do not exist in any form in this version of the game.
However, this is a solid first iteration of CDLL. It does a good job of introducing players to several characters including the two controllable halves that form the couple central to the story. In addition, the plot of the game moves right along at a decent pace with a few scenes or turning points already incorporated into it. The writing isn't spectacular and needs a little more "TLC" to squash the spelling and grammatical mistakes, but it's adequate enough to get the job done.
Unfortunately, it's very evident that the game is following tired, clichéd tropes for its stereotypical characters and predictable plotlines; though, that's not necessarily a bad thing per se. Hopefully there will be a few surprises along the way -- noting the use of a basic stat system that's in place. The art for CDLL seems to be images found in the wild that's been through a filter and traced over; thus, it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Many of the backgrounds have placeholder art at this time. I'll leave the judgment regarding the art at your discretion.
Overall, version 1.0 (First Release) of CDLL is decent enough, and shows potential and promise, but don't expect innovative gameplay or a masterpiece in its storytelling. We'll see how the developer, King B, will progress from here. If you're curious, then I say give the game a try since the file size for it is still quite small.
Be safe everyone, and good luck to the dev.
(You can refuse the N and go on love / sharing whatever makes you happy)