REVIEW: Sugar Sweet Temptation


Title	Sugar Sweet Temptation
Developer	Recette
Publisher	Love Lab Inc.
Release Date	July 28th, 2023
Genre	Visual Novel
Platform	PC
Age Rating	All Ages (Steam) 18+ (JAST)
Official Website

I am always up for a visual novel filled with cute romance and plenty of sweetness, so when I saw that Sugar Sweet Temptation was being localized I knew I wanted to check it out. I loved the character designs right off the bat and after looking at very deary games not too long ago, I was ready for something much more lighthearted. Let’s see if these adorable girls can bring the sugary sweetness I am looking for.

The story revolves around a pastry shop called Folkroll. This shop is known for making the best cakes around, but the owner has fallen ill and the shop’s future is very much in question. On the magical night of fairies, the chef’s granddaughter, Meru, and her best friend Kōri make a wish to save their shop. Soon after a stranger with amnesia appears, and the girls decide to take him in. They grow close to him quickly, and as it turns out he is a patissier, so he decides to help the girls save the shop from being shutdown by the mayor. They do just that, and now we will see how his daily life progresses with each of our three heroines.

I really loved the overall story here. It had a good amount of comedy mixed in with some more serious notes and some very heartwarming moments between the protagonist and the girls. The side characters are very important to the story as well, since they show just how close knit the town of Fueya actually is. Everyone there is like family in this snow covered town, and this makes it feel very warm and welcoming. I also loved there was lots of lore surrounding this town from the Night of Fairies to the wish granting diamond, which you will learn about as the story unfolds during our heroines’ routes.

The common route here is pretty short and most of the story unfolds during our heroines’ routes. Each girl is very unique: Meru is very childish and almost like a puppy dog. She is the granddaughter of the Folkroll’s chef, and she loves sweets. Kōri is always scolding her to keep her in line like and old sister despite being around the same ago. Their interactions are priceless and provide much of the comedy found within the game, but also some very heartwarming moments as well. Overall I felt Meru was just a super sweet girl that you couldn’t help but fall in love with. This route is the most comfy of the three by far.

Chocolat is the daughter of the president of a large company who has come to take over Folkroll; however, after eating one of the protagonist’s cakes she decides to help the shop out. She wants to become a patissier herself, and is quite knowledgeable about baking in general. Her and the protagonist help each other out often during her route. She also loves history, and she wants to learn all she can about Fueya and its mysterious history, including a wish granting diamond. I thought her route was pretty good, even if it ended suddenly. While most of the girls’ H-scene are pretty vanilla, one of Chocolat’s gets pretty spicy due to an accident with a collar.

Kōri lives and works at the Folkroll. She decided to live there since it was very close to a school she wanted to attended. She is a very shy girl who wants nothing more than to help our protagonist regain his memory, since she thinks he should return to his family. Her route does dig into some darker topics than the others, and it reveals more of the lore surrounding the town. I would suggest playing her route last so the story flows better, even though I consider her route the canon route. She is the best girl as well, but that’s my bias talking!

There are no choices in Sugar Sweet Temptation that affect the overall story, other than which girl’s route you choose. The only impact from these choices will be different variations of H-scene CG you unlock. Each girl has at least three H-scenes and the CG work here is amazing, just like all of the artwork in Sugar Sweet Temptation. The backgrounds look amazing, the character sprites are detailed and give off a range of emotions. I liked the artwork here so much I want to check out the two Amairo Chocolata titles as well since the artist worked on those as well.

The music in Sugar Sweet Temptation isn’t anything special, but it does set the mood for the game nicely. The game mostly has a comfy laid back vibe and these tunes help you feel that. There are some more somber tracks for the game’s more emotional moments and I felt those worked great as well. The real credit in the sound department should go the voice actors for our heroines. They all did an amazing job bringing these girls to life and making you instantly fall in love with them. Some of the best character work I’ve heard in a long time.

Sugar Sweet Temptation isn’t a deep visual novel that will have you pondering many of life’s crazy questions for hours, but it is very much comfort food for those looking for a laid back sweet experience. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of substance here: the routes here cover topics like following one’s dreams and figuring out exactly what makes you happy in life. I feel like we all should take more time to search for these answers rather than delving into darker areas of life. The game will set you back $24.99 and will take you about 12 to 15 hours to cover all of the content offered here. Players opting for the Steam version will need to download a patch to access the H-scenes, and you could fully play this one without them, but I feel like you wouldn’t get as much out of it, especially in Kōri’s route. I have no issues recommending this one to fans of laid back visual novels or those looking to spend some quality time with some cute girls. You will find this sugary sweet purchase well worth your coin.