Unity - Heartstrings [Alpha 2.2.1] [Alien Cat Games]

Great start to an already good game. The style is unique so it’s refreshing to play a game that feels original. The small, but diverse cast offers a diverse flavors for everyone to enjoy. Looking forward to future updates. Patreon subscribed.

Really good! you can tell a ton of work went into it

Great graphics, classic point-and-click vibes from the golden age, nice dialogue flow, smooth navigation, and I love the idea of blocking off the areas of the school you don’t need to visit at the beginning so you don’t get lost… 100% recommended!

Such an addictive game, I'm craving for more!

All characters have a lot of charisma, locations are very detailed and immersive, and they transmit the feelings that they should, and the decision making is so authentic, you can turn your character into a more polite/mischevious/horny one in a natural and smooth way, which is reinforced as conversations go by, as these games should be.

The detail of having all you need in your phone is the icing on the cake.

Can't wait for the next updates to continue the story!

It's an amazing game, highly recommended. It has a captivating story and a good plot where you can make your own decisions and follow the path you want. I'm looking forward to it continuing to grow And with updates and new features, the game has a lot of potential, plus you can find it in both English and Spanish. In short, it's an amazing game.

Speaking as someone who doesn't frequently play visual novels, Heartstrings grabbed my attention with its thoughtful storytelling, nostalgic Y2K setting and eye-catching style. One of the things I find most appealing is that instead of being a mindless sex fest, the lewd scenes are introduced in a way that feels organic and directly tied to the player's choices. As a gamer, I like to feel rewarded for the actions I make in a game, and Heartstrings delivers in that regard, even in this early stage of development.

Outside of the choice-based gameplay, I really enjoyed navigating the school and familiarizing myself with the layout without a map. I have always favored games that make me use my head to make progress without holding my hand, and that is very much present here. The presence of the in-game clock speaks to the urgency of making it to each class on time, which would be trivialized if a map was available. I would love to see branching story paths spring up from losing track of time and failing to stick to the school day schedule, which would also lend to the organic way the story unfolds.

The few flaws that I can think of are typical of a game in early development. Some of the ambient sounds in the build I played (Alpha 2.2.1) were a little rough when looping and some of the dialog/narration felt a little off in a couple places, but these are things that would naturally end up being polished before the full release. All in all, Heartstrings shows a ton of promise. If you're looking for solid storytelling, early 2000s vibes and being rewarded for progress with some seriously tasty lewd scenes, consider this recommendation!

This game as it stands right now has the bones for something great. The game so far is well written and stylistically fresh, and there's a great variety of characters; romancable or no. I'm excited for what is going to be like further down the road!

I love your game. The animation and renders of the MC and the other characters are beautiful and plot setting in high school is also very appealing. I was interested from the beginning to the end. I would be interested that the girls would also sucked the MC penis and other sex animation with the MC in the future. It can happen in the MCs home or the girls home. A gallery and scene replay would be also good if you can implement it as well.

So very much nostalgia. I recognize that phone, and definitely remember AIM. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of the story, they do a great job of bringing it to life. Only seen a few places where the stats actually came into play but they did make an interesting shift to the story already. Looking forward to more of this. Though I personally might wait a while to play it again given the complexity and how likely it will be before it's anywhere near close to finished.

Very excited to see the future of this game. It's different than most recent visual novels I've played. Hopefully, the updates keep coming and people start playing in more. The latest update was so hot and exciting it's definitely worth supporting and getting early access to the updates

A fantastic game with immersive storytelling and well-developed characters. The protagonist’s interactions feel real, and the addition of love interests having relationships with others elevate the experience. Minor improvements in graphics, character impact on sex scenes could make it even better.

Well....it's something, I guess? The only erotic scenes are from porn, leading me to believe that this is one of those games that rely on a slow burn to tell a story ( a boring slice of life story at that). The fact that there seem to be way too potential love interests reminds me of other overly technical and ambitious visual novels like this one. While the few animations are stellar, development and especially animations take a lot of time, leading inevitably to a situation worse than not being able to please everyone; you will straight up disappoint some people. This is already proven by the fact that a year has passed since launch and the game is still in Alpha. I mainly clicked on this because Emily is my type

A bit tedious to play, honestly. Navigating around is extremely tedious to do because there is no school map you can open and just go there, you have to click around on arrows and up and down stairs and on doors to get around. If you can't get sidetracked because the game doesn't let you navigate there because you need to do something else, why have the navigation system at all? Also, for the dialogue, a lot of it is chopped up into one or two words of what you might mean, so you never really know if what you're picking is going to be what you really meant to say. An example of this is when you can flirt with your math teacher, you can say the real problem is.... Well, if you didn't know what you were going to say, too bad. There is no rollback features so you are locked into your choice. Some of the dialogue also doesn't come across as natural. Sometimes I lose points with characters even though what I chose was not a rude option, and sometimes the nice options don't give you anything. Graphically, the games gonna be hit or miss. I didn't mind the art style and graphics, though they are a little fuzzy and pixelated. However the one thing I will say is that the save times are ATROCIOUS. I believe this has to do with the unity engine being shit rather than the devs fault, so I can't really knock the dev for that one. Overall though it's not BAD, but it's not GOOD either. It's tedious to play, which means it's hard to enjoy. If the navigation was cleaned up and the dialogue system given more clarity to them, like having a + or - sign next to the options to indicate which options will give you or lose you points, it would feel a lot nicer to play.

Tats what I call a game release!
This game and its release feels professional and polished. Information regarding the game development and its direction are clear as day!

Gameplay:5/5
Animations: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Charachters 6/5
Arts/Theme of the game:10/5

Game looks very promising various kinks and characters, cant wait for later releases, hopefully we get anal with all girls.

Great game with a lot of potential. Still fairly early in development, the game is still in his introduction phase but already stand out quite a lot by the dev choices in terms of visuals, writing and gameplay. (and planned tags)

The girls that have been introduced so far seems all quite nice and interesting, there is/will be a girls for all tastes, all with their unique vibe (also trans character and in the future even guys apparently) So really no matter your preferences, they will be something for you there at some point.

The dev is very nice and friendly guy , very much open to discussions and to share heavily about what he is doing and is planning to do. Even willing to spoil things for you if you ask and really want to know what's gonna happen. So that's really cool. Overall is seems very invested and passionate about what is he doing.

Learn myself about what he is planning for the game and i didn't expected it lol. It left me looking quite a bit forward to it. So I really hope he'll able to make the game he truly want.

Looks great. May be a good story as well. Found navigating around to be a chore. Navigating conversations is a pain as there is apparently no rollback feature. It is very easy to make a bad comment when it is not your intention to do as you are just presented with a tiny sample of the actual conversation you are about to make. Lots of content simply comes up as support me on patreon so I can make it or even enter your patreon passcode to view. Aside from those major complaints the characters have a nice development to them. Too bad its just a pain in the ass to get to know the ones you actually want to involve yourself with. Oh and the few cute sex scenes you see in the preview photos.....spoiler. They are not real life. Its from a porn scene you can unlock access to when you read the site on the bathroom wall. No nookie for you.

This project 100% deserves attention. The narrative, set in a time when "the grass was greener" (for my generation, at least), features early cell phones instead of today's AI-laden smartphones. This choice makes the plot incredibly inviting, with realistic storytelling and a wonderfully slow, organic relationship progression, a refreshing change from the rushed, illogical "dummy fuck-fests" so common elsewhere. The story is truly top-notch—an 11/10.

The visuals are also great. The appealing image filter creates a unique style that sets it apart from competitors. While cartoonish, the characters fit perfectly into the environment; decorations, though static, are uniquely placed rather than simply copy-pasted. The scenes avoid the generic "clothing boutique template" seen in many visual novels, if you know what I mean. Character avatars within scenes are nicely animated. The single animated scene I encountered was well-made, though I wished it were a bit sharper; on a 2K display, it looked slightly blurry, but despite that, the animation itself was excellent.

I truly hope more patrons discover and support this gem, allowing the developer to create what could be a true masterpiece.

Keep going, @AlienCatGames !

The first thing that really stands out is the art. It’s got a pretty unique and original concept. The technical side of the game is solid too. You can tell there’s been a lot of effort put into making everything polished and well thought-out. The animations are good, even if there aren’t many yet, but they’re definitely good quality.
The story isn’t exactly original, but the way it’s told is. The dialogue flows really well, and at no point did I feel the urge (which I often do) to skip ahead... maybe it’s a bit short for now, but let’s not forget that, like most games here, this is a work in progress that keeps evolving every day.
I saw someone mention that the MC talks weirdly adult-like for his age… That’s because the MC is actually an adult remembering things from his past. I didn’t have any trouble getting that part XD

Even if I only played the demo version on Itchio, can say is a breeze of fresh air to an oversaturated genre. It got a lot of potential.
I am looking forward.
The PC (you can name him) had to go to another town because his mother got ill and for medical expenses had to move to another town, there has to start a new at high school.
Graphics are not the usual DAZ/Honey Select (in fact are original).
Maybe is a slow burn story but at least it has some plot and characters are put effort on them.

I played this twice for some reason. It is an original approach to a cliché scenario. The strength of the initial focus on the theme of the story seems interesting to me, although it is not fully developed, so the continuation may take a different direction—but that is part of the charm.

The strength of this game lies in its vitality and how its characters are presented, their way of interacting with the player, and their characterization. They are not lacking in substance, so there will always be some that are interesting and consequently some that are not, which makes it quite refreshing.

The protagonist's approach is thoughtful and somewhat deep, which feels unusual for someone his age—something that ties into the game's narrative itself. It is up to each player to judge whether this is good or bad.

It is an early version, so there are elements of the development that are not polished, such as the map or mobility, but the direction is clear, so I assume this is intentional.

The eroticism is well-balanced for what the developer intends to tell (I think), but personally, I wouldn’t leave it aside, even if it is a slow burn.

Nice piece of work, I'll keep an eye on it from time to time.

Math teacher is the best. Period

The game is extremely well polished. Certainly a surprise!

Devs who put so much effort into their work are always an inspiration to me.

It could use a little more H content, but I'm confident it'll be added in the future. The developer seems to be fully committed to their project. So that's a very positive sign.

Worth checking out!