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hpowellsmith · 5 months
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I was already having a rough day. And this is really sad.
Working on Love Island the Game wasn't always easy in a variety of ways, especially at the end, but even after most of us were laid off amid dramatic circumstances, more than two years ago now, it was nice knowing that some people enjoyed our work that was still out there.
The Season 3 episodes and scenes, and the ones I edited, were my first experiences in a game studio team (shoutout to the scenes with Tai, Rafi, and Lily that were the first pieces of writing I did on the game!). I learned so much from that, from The Wedding, Chelsea's Murder Mystery and The Boat Party, from all the prototypes and ideation that never went anywhere (that wonderful Regency-era Noah art... sigh...), from how the characters and storylines came together for Season 4 aka Bombshell (I loved coming up with the original concepts for Bruno, and Oliver, and Juliet, and Lexi, and Tiffany, and Valentina, and Kobi, and Hazeem: absolute joys to write and to see other writers bringing them extra sparks of life, and to do the same with helping bring other writers' concepts to life, and to start doing all sorts of exciting senior role stuff). It was very sad and stressful when it turned out that we couldn't be there to complete Season 4 in as polished a way as all of us wanted.
I'm still friends with many of the people I worked with on Love Island the Game and our other projects, and the things that didn't end up going out there, and I've worked with some of them since which was an absolute pleasure. I saw a lot of them earlier this month, and chatted with one on a video call just this morning. The way it ended for us was very painful, but a lot of it up to that point was so much fun.
There will still be some of the work I did for Love Island the Game out there in Season 4/Bombshell and Matchmaker. But what a shame that a huge chunk of the work we all did, and the work before my time that got the studio its audience in the first place, turns out to be so ephemeral.
Thank you to all the people who played and enjoyed the work we made.
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ariendiel · 5 months
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Well, I guess this is the end then. What a shame, but also not surprised as fusebox has run this game into the ground 💔
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beasartblog · 4 days
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I’ve noticed a rise in fan artists for LITG on Tumblr and when I tell you, it makes me so happy!! I remember being one of the few back when the game sparked joy, BUT it was my intro into fandom and it’ll always have its own little special place in my heart. I’m happy for the new LITG fans and those who have resiliently stuck through Fusebox’s fuckery lmao.
To the artists: YOURE ALL LITERALLY SO TALENTED!! 💗💗💗 And pls never stop drawing 🥹
And to the fans who wanna see more LITG content: my old blog is @beesandfigs-abandoned you just gotta check the “litg fanart” tag 🫶🏼💕
You probs won’t see any stuff for the new season as I denounced my LITG card during S7 lol, but I know there’s a lil bit of something for everyone. 🤭
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mrsbsmooth · 10 months
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Making excuses for the LIs if they bring back a girl from Casa— an exercise:
I wrote 80,000 words to make Suresh’s actions make sense. I’m a professional when it comes to making excuses for mens bad behaviour. I can do this.
So without further ado, here’s what the LIs were thinking:
Jamal:
He’s never been serious with a girl before. That grand gesture was out of character for him, and then she just left the villa… and he was going to follow her out. Holy. Shit. He is panicking. He’s never had feelings like this before. He’s never felt this way about a girl before. He is freaking out.
He was going to follow her out on national tv. He was going to put himself out there like that, risk everything, potentially humiliate himself… and he is very, very frightened.
Cue Casa Amor. Meets Flo. She’s hot, she’s fun, and she’s absolutely not the kind of girl he wants to be with forever. He can go back to what’s normal- to the flings and short term options he’s used to, that he’s comfortable with. He’s in absolute denial about his feelings for MC, it’s way too much for him to deal with. He can’t be falling in love with a girl he’s known a few weeks.
It takes a few days at CA, but he’s starting to relax. Flo is easy. Flo is comfortable.
Until he gets back to the villa… and MC is there. Those feelings come rushing back.
There’s no easy way out of this one.
Ryan:
He’s always trusted the universe. Every major decision, every “vibe” he’s gotten from someone he’s met… the universe has always had his back. Damn, it led him to love island. It led him to MC.
When she leaves, he knows he has to trust the universe, but something doesn’t feel right. For the first time in his life… he wants to fight for it. He wants to leave with her, universe be damned. He’s never felt like this before, and he can’t take the risk that the universe won’t bring them back together. It would crush him. Ryan runs out the front door of the villa, telling her to wait, but he’s too late. She’s already gone. The universe wins again.
He arrives at CA, and the universe is telling him something. Flo. That’s been almost his motto his whole life. Go with the flow. Follow the music, go where life takes you. It’s a sign- it has to be.
It feels so wrong, but he chooses her anyway. There must be some reason for it- a plan or a pathway that he needs to follow. So he goes along with it.
But when he sees MC back in the villa… he makes up his mind. Universe be damned. He’s never letting her go again.
Lewie:
Lewie’s been set on her since day one. From the moment he met her, he kinda knew. There was something special about her, something he wasn’t going to find anywhere else. He was set.
But the thing about Lewie… he’s a little bit too… how would you put it? Nice. He’s always been a little bit too nice. A little too honest, a little too willing to step aside and not go after what he wants. He’s agreeable to a fault. Honest. Friendly. Loyal. He’s a team player, even if it means giving up his own shot at goal.
His grand gesture was the moment. He wanted to tell her how he felt. He’d found what he was looking for. He knew she wanted to be with him outside, she’d said so herself.
So why didn’t she ask him to leave with her?
He didn’t want to put pressure on her by just packing his bag. If she wanted him to, she would’ve asked. Wouldn’t she?
Casa arrives. Lewie’s still there. He’s sleeping on the daybeds. He’s loyal to her. The lads are telling him he’s an idiot. “She’s gone,” they said. “She didn’t ask you to leave with her, so may as well crack on.” It feels wrong. He knows what he wants. He still wants to follow her out, but with every passing day, it feels more and more stupid. Further and further away.
He’d blown it.
He’d had his shot with MC and he’d blown it. By not following her out, he’d made his choice. She’d never be interested now.
And along came Flo.
It felt wrong. It felt so awful and wrong, but she was a second chance. A chance to do things right. To try to form a connection with someone that would last. A chance to find someone he could bring home to his Nana. He didn’t feel the same way about Flo as he did about MC, but at this point did it even matter? He would never have a shot with MC again. She was gone. And even if he saw her again, she’d never want him.
… or would she?
Roberto:
He wasn’t planning on falling for her. He knew she was gorgeous, and he found her intriguing, but he never planned on having feelings this strong. Since the day he met her, he knew there was something special between them, and he wasn’t planning on letting her go.
But there was always the matter of distance.
Portugal is a long way from the UK. His job took him all over the world. He would never be the type of boyfriend who could be there when she woke up every morning, or be waiting for her to get home in the evenings. He would always be fighting with distance. And he knew it worried her. When she was dumped from the island, he was devastated, of course, but this gave him an opportunity.
What better way to show her that the distance would only ever be a blip on their radar?
Flo was only ever a strategic move. He knew that he had to make it through to the finale. He needed that £50k. Moving to the UK was expensive, and he’d need it. He was going to do it for MC, for the girl he loved, the one who didn’t care about his bad dancing or corny lines. The one who loved him exactly the way he was.
He was doing it for the money. He was doing it for her.
Ozzy:
He’d left it too late. He had one chance and he’d left it too late.
It would’ve been weird to follow her out, right? They weren’t even in a couple. One kiss and a few whispered conversations weren’t enough to figure out if you’ve found the one.
So why did he kind of want to do it anyway?
He was being crazy, he knew he was. There was no way he’d fallen for MC that fast, and from afar. He had to get his head back into the game. And the game was about to get complicated.
He knew she’d be watching at home. And he knew what her main concern would be. It would be the same thing she’d been worried about since the very first day.
Did he like Grace more than her?
There was only one way to show her.
Flo was great, but not at all his type. It was obvious they were just friends. And she was perfectly willing to go along with it.
He would bring Flo back to show MC that he was done with Grace. Even when MC wasn’t there, he was done. He’d sooner recouple with a girl he barely knew, bringing her back to the villa for her own shot at love. But he needed to make it clear.
Him and Grace were done.
Elliot:
Life is a game of strategy. Every decision, every choice, the result of a dice roll telling you how successful you’ll be.
And strategy was all he could do.
He liked MC. Really liked her. But when she got dumped, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He could’ve followed her out, but god, her original love interest was damn near chomping at the bit to do that. She looked so uncomfortable at the thought— he couldn’t put her in that position. She would feel obligated toward him forever, knowing he gave up his shot on Love Island to be with her after only a day? That was way too much pressure to put on a new relationship.
Even if it did feel like she might’ve been his endgame.
Casa Amor was a whirlwind, but he had a strategy as usual. He just had to bring a girl back. Last season had sent home anyone who was left single, and he now no longer had a partner in the villa. He couldn’t risk going home yet- the exposure from being on the show was too great. He needed this boost to his profile if he was going to get the money he needed to build a life for himself and MC— Err— for himself and the girl he’d end up with. So he had to switch.
But strategies don’t always pay off.
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k3elai-the-li · 10 months
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WHOEVER WROTE THAT EP WAS COOKIN. THEY JOB WAS ON THE LINE. LIGHTS OFF, WATER BILL NOT PAID, KIDS TO FEED, OVERDUE CHILD SUPPORT ALL OF IT
OH MY GOD??
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willkimurashat · 9 months
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HISSSSS HISSSS NO NO NO ABSOLUTELY THE FUCK NOT
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I cannot express to you how much I don’t want Eddie to come back. Let’s put aside for a minute the fact that he is my personal nemesis. Here are the reasons why they shouldn’t do it:
Making an all stars season is a bad idea (if that’s what they are hinting). There are canons and headcanons and players married with their favorite pixels, so you can’t just bring in anyone and say, “yeah they’re single and ready to mingle” when jennie_69_timswaifu has already been happily married with Tim for years. Think of all the broken hearts, fusebox!
It’s lazy. I could forgive bringing back a non-problematic, previously non-romanceable character, but excuse me, that is not the case at all with Eddie because he is very very problematic.
No one from s5 should be coming back. Period. Are you kidding me?? Of all the seasons??? You’re picking on s5????
In fact, s5 doesn’t even exist. Not in my mind, it doesn’t. Ex in the villa who? No, never heard of them🤷‍♀️ ITS NOT REAL IT CANT HURT ME
EDDIE’S ALWAYS BEEN A CREEPER! It’s not like he can change - he just really is like that! He can only exist peacefully in fanfics, where he’s literally just a shell and his personality is completely rewritten by the author (kudos to you lovelies!). Otherwise, his only charm is actually in being amusingly villainous, so they shouldn’t be getting rid of it.
He’s not really all that imo? But of course, that’s just personal preference. Still, I don’t know how can anyone want to get together with someone who’s previously been gaslighting and manipulating his way through? I would like to believe that players have more self-respect than that…
Because I said so.
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styles-harriet · 7 days
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Carl - Data shows you don't want Jin/ Max/ Kyle/Jack/ Theo/ Shawn/ Oakley/ etc
It shows you need him ( us)
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Huge shout out to @netteloise. Their constant support and cute reblogs keep me going and make my day.
Here is their blog netteloise. They post their thoughts about the season and reblog other awesome people's art!!! Definitely check out their page and follow them.
I will be tagging and linking every new account in every post that I make. Let's help each other grow!
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I will never ever forgive fusebox for taking away season 1-3. Yeah sure it's on matchmaker but its not the same, it's very different from what it used to be. Matchmaker with the art style and the puzzles killed the fun tbh.
I did a discussion on reddit and about 90% of the fandom is in love with season 2. All of the characters became comfort characters in some or the other way
Not Blake, she can fuck off.
Without further ado, this post is dedicated to my two husbands from S2 whom I miss very very much. Carl and Bobby .
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Main masterlist for LITG
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crimswnred · 27 days
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fusebox thought they would catch me cheating lmao not today satan
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stromaitresse · 20 days
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so um, I’ve changed my opinion on the Casa Amor guys 😅💕
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Im kinda interested in the tattooed one and Shawn 🙈
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potionsprefect · 8 months
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Winning the baby challenge vs realising the prize is a double date with Amelia and Toby
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wardingoffevil · 1 year
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Bobby McKenzie as a Dad
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Omg this is one of my favorites! Bobby as a dad gives me brain rot. Fatherhood was meant for Bobby. I wanted to save him for last but I couldn’t wait. I finally finished this
Note: Please don’t attack me if we have differing opinions. Be respectful or don’t interact.
🧁 It was a rollercoaster ride for Bobby when his kids were born. He definitely tried to get the mom, nurses, and doctors to laugh while putting on the gown, gloves, mask, and wrapping a stethoscope around his neck. He may have tried to lighten the mood but inside he was a nervous wreck. Bobby’s a crier. He sobbed for each birth. Full on ugly crying.
🧁 Bobby wants a lot of kids, I’d say about 3-4, if not more than that. It doesn’t matter if they’re all girls, all boys, even number of both, odd number of both, he’s happy regardless. A baby around his chest, a toddler wrapped around his left leg, a seven year old putting icing on the fresh cupcakes out of the oven—that sort of chaos is Bobby’s bliss.
🧁 All of Bobby’s kids inherited his pretty freckles.
🧁 There’s no Bobby as a girl dad or a boy dad—he’s the same dad to all his kids: energetic, lovable, silly, and supportive. He’s just happy to be a dad. Period.
🧁 Bobby is the child-at-heart type of father. The type of father that loves to see his kids use their imagination, their creativity. The type of father that doesn’t see “weird” or “eccentric” kids. He sees children being children. He may be an adult, but his childlike sense of wonder and curiosity still flows through his veins.
🧁 Bobby’s eldest daughter’s named Paisley.
🧁 Chelsea designed the nurseries. Bobby helped a lot with ideas and quirks. They’re an amazing interior design team and Bobby thinks he may have a future in it if his bakery fails (it won’t).
🧁 Bobby has no problem at all checking on the baby during the night. He knows the drill. Even if he gets home late, even if he has to be up in three hours. He’s making sure his children are alright.
🧁 He named cupcakes after his children at his bakery.
🧁 Nap time isn’t just for kids in the McKenzie house. Bobby likes to join in because it gives him an excuse to watch cartoons and nap.
🧁 Bobby calls Gary a lot asking him for advice, telling him what curse word he taught his toddler to say, planning their next “dad’s day”, etc. They were best mates in the villa and it remained the same outside the villa. If they’re not texting, they’re FaceTiming.
🧁 You’re insane if you think each of his kids don’t get their own unique boops from him, complete with sounds.
🧁 Bobby makes all the kids’ lunches every day before school. Something different every day, too. Complete with a cupcake/cookie and a smiley face Post-It note from dad.
🧁 There’s always some kind of music playing in this house at all times, the genre varies from day to day.
🧁 Bobby sings “You Are My Sunshine” to his kids. With a guitar or without.
🧁 Bedtime stories are reserved only for Bobby. Sometimes he’ll read their favorite books, sometimes he makes the story up on the spot. But his favorite story to tell is “The Adventures of LongBob Cupcake.” He tells the kids that it’s based on true events.
🧁 The McKenzie’s (including his parents and sister) do go to Jamaica, once a year, to visit Bobby’s nan. Everyone looks forward to it.
🧁 Bobby never gets mad at his kids for throwing parties while he’s gone. All he cares about is the kitchen not getting trashed.
🧁 Bobby’s another loud and proud dad that attends every single activity for his kids. Definitely can hear him shouting over all the other dads, and he’s always front row center when taking videos. His social media accounts are flooded with his kids’ things.
🧁 Gary, Rahim, and Noah still hang out with Bobby. Bobby loves when everyone comes to visit because it gives him an excuse to bake and to try new recipes out on them. Gary eats anything, so really he tests the recipes on Rahim and Noah.
🧁 Bobby is the father that every kid dreams of having. He’s so loving, so accepting, so supportive of his children. He is never NOT proud of them.
There are so many Bobby pages on here that are amazing, but one in particular sticks out the most: @ravenadottir (currently on hiatus), and it can be found here. There’s all sorts of information/route guides/headcanons for Bobby. She even has an amazing fic for him as well (Paisley Cuddle is a must-read if you haven’t yet). 🖤
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longbobmckenzie · 4 months
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Okay, I have some thoughts.
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If you enjoyed Season 7, that's cool, I'm happy for you. If you intend to play Season 8, that's cool, I hope you find some enjoyment from it.
But holy hell, Fusebox. Maybe S8 will be good - people keep saying it's all the even seasons that are better (although I still maintain S1 is one of the best as far as the writing, though it does lack in other ways - but first try gets a pass), at least as far as enjoyment and good characters.
But here's the thing. Season 6 had its issues for sure, and we loved to complain about certain aspects of it, but the characters were generally great and a lot of us enjoyed it for that.
But no sooner was it over than S7 was announced. We didn't have time to soak in what S6 was, to let the characters live in our heads rent free, to start missing the game and thinking about what we wanted from the next season. I remember between S2 and S3 there was so much hype because people couldn't wait for more content, every day there were memes on the Fusebox sub from people dying for information. Releasing S7 so quickly on the heels of S6 made it less exciting because people didn't have a chance to yearn for it.
And now they're doing the same thing with S8, because with AI they can just pump out content. We all know it's to get as much money as possible (whether from the few suckers paying for gems or from ad revenue), but it's a great way to actually kill people's interest in the game. Hardly anyone talked about S7 after awhile, partly because the season was boring, but partly because of oversaturation of content. Sometimes you can have too much.
It's just like the show. When it's once a year, everyone gets excited for it. The winter seasons? Meh. So then the ratings for the winter season were low, and then the people who watched the winter season were burnt out and didn't watch the summer season. They're diluting their fanbase and killing their own ratings by making too much content while also not finding ways to make it fresh and exciting (being a CA girl was an attempt, but it ultimately fell flat).
Do yourselves a favour and stop rushing to put out new content every few months that's AI-generated, and take your time to create something good written by actual humans. Please.
Personally, I deleted the app the moment I'd finished today's episodes. Unless something at Fusebox changes, I have no intention of downloading it again.
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trystcnthorne · 11 months
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the way s5 tanked so hard yet we’re all running back to play s6 icbbb but it can’t be any worse right…? RIGHT??
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mrsbsmooth · 10 months
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litgniamh · 1 year
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someone restrain me from these two i’m begging you i’ve had ENOUGHHHHH
my poor mc
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willkimurashat · 8 months
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Exactly 0 people asked-
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Oh, never mind, Andy wants to know, so here I am yet again, rating Love Island the Game: Double Trouble this time!
Here’s the rating post I did for s5, for anyone curious:)
I just wanna preface this by saying, I love this game. I know it is greatly flawed and I get frustrated, annoyed, irritated, riled up very often, but it’s still my comfort place and I enjoy playing it so very much. I am aware that fusebox as a company has many issues and I am not thrilled that they might be using AI to write their scripts, even if it's just a speculation. I don't spend any money on the game and I play it on plane mode, so I don't get any ads. Additionally, I think it’s long established that nothing will ever repeat the success of s2, the one hit wonder I’m afraid, so I choose to not compare it to earlier seasons to not ruin my expectations. However, my one hope for s6 was for it to not be worse than s5. Did it fail my expectations? No. Did it exceed them? Also no. But it did meet them exactly where I set them, so to me, this season was generally a success. But not without its issues, of course.
Disclaimer: I tried to be as objective as I can, but at the end of the day, I’m a mere human and these are all just my humble, subjective opinions. Feel free to agree/disagree/add on/make your own:)
Also, beware of the potential spoilers ahead:)
So, without a further ado, shall we?
Character Design: 9/10
Lots of hotties this season, that is for sure. The design team (I think/hope/want to believe that a human did the art for the most part at least) worked very well this time and the art style is wonderful. I personally found myself attracted to most of the islanders - Bella, Jamal, Ozzy/Marshall, Chloe, Andy of course… Their faces look proportional, I love most of their facial expressions, the blushing faces are just so adorable (especially Andy’s, but I may be a little bit biased lol). Took the point off for some weird poses though (*ahem* Andy *ahem*), some odd expressions, Ryan’s mop of hair that just doesn’t sit right on him, and for the fact that both sets of twins have the exact same sprite - I understand that they’re identical and share the same face, but like, give them a different pose at least?
Character Personality: 6/10
This is where my main issue lies: they’ve given us so many fun characters with distinct personalities, and then they merged them into one. Why? Less work, I assume. How can a bad boy wannabe Jamal who never settles for a relationship act the exact same way as a golden retriever footballer Lewie? Conversely, how can a golden retriever Lewie become a villain in the same exact way that a suave, confident pilot Roberto became? Why do we never learn about their personalities besides the first date in the first volume and then through random sprinkling of one sentence facts about them to give a slight illusion of variety? Why are all their personalities boiled down to recollection of past events that were so surface-leveled and so superficial that even talking about them in later episodes feels like an afterthought, or, dare I say, a chore? Why do all the og’s personalities revolve around love bombing? So much potential down the drain.
Personally, my favorite islanders this season are Casa Amor people. To me it seemed that that’s where the most energy went when creating the season. Everyone in Casa was their own person with unique personalities and stayed that way for the longest time. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they all had unique dialogue and shared bits about their life, their worries and concerns about relationships and life that helped me get to know them better, understand them as people, as characters with personalities. And even after being merged post casa, though they suffered from the merging as well, Flo remained the most interesting girl and Marshall kept his snarkiness still.
Character Diversity: 5/10
This section brings me great sadness, I can't lie. Yes, this is about Grace. You've talked about it, I've talked about it - we're all in consensus that the way her character was treated is absolutely wrong. How many times can Fusebox step on the same rake to finally get it in their heads and stop villainizing women of color? It is frustrating. The treatment of Black women in the fandom is already... not great, even if the characters themselves did absolutely nothing wrong (Thabi, Genevieve). So, of course, let's perpetuate the stereotypes, let's make the one Black woman in the game possessive, territorial, immature, and the main rival to MC if you're romancing Ozzy. Why? What reason does it serve? Who hurt you, fusebox?
Let's look further. LGBTQ+ players were downright neglected this season. All three queer women in the game share the same route - it's not really a choice to keep eliminating women so that you're only stuck with one per wlw route and basically pre-pick who you like most solely based on looks. Why can't we have them all in the villa at the same time and get to actually learn who they are, then ruminate on who we like the most, and toss and turn in our sleep, and then pick amongst them? Why couldn't we couple up with Bella right away? There was literally no obstacle to do that, it's just ridiculous that we can bring her to the hideaway, but not couple up. Why can’t it be done in equal measure to, you know, picking male li’s?
Overall, I’m glad the cast is diverse, but I still wish we’d gotten a better look into everyone’s culture and identity, and I would’ve loved to see at least some nod to their cultures throughout the game.
MC Design: 9.5/10
MC is beautiful. Every single MC I’ve seen is absolutely gorgeous and none look the same. She fits in with the cast, she stands out as a true love islander, she looks fantastic in a couple with any and all LI’s. Might even say, s6 MC is the most beautiful and unique MC we’ve ever had. Half a point off for reusing s5 pose - while it didn’t bother me at all, that is a little bit of a lazy move.
MC Personality: 8/10
Well, I'm glad she has one. If I were to compare her to myself - we are completely different people, but that doesn't make her any less fun and/or entertaining to watch/play as. Let's put aside for a moment her generic comments a la "oh yeah?" or "oh really?" because she has said many a gems this season. She's not afraid of putting people in their spot, she's telling it like it is, she's an instigator, she is fun and fiery and so unashamedly herself that I strive to be more like her. Truly. You cannot tell me she doesn't cuss like a sailor and I love her for it. If I knew her irl or even if she were one of the npc's, I'd probably love to hate her because frankly, she's a bit rude, but that's what makes her loveable. Or a loveable bitch, so to speak.
MC Customization: 7.5/10
I was easily able to make my MC look like myself (more or less), but I am a white cis girl and can’t speak to experiences of bipoc players. I will be honest and say that I didn’t register the prices for any of the customization choices because my game has unlimited amount of gems, so there might have been choices for more diverse hairstyles that were gem blocked, as has definitely happened before. I thought the game had a lovely range of facial features and hairs to choose from, though I’d love to have seen more color choices for hair. The outfits were hit or miss - some I loved, others I cringed at, the shoes were outright ugly, but I’m just glad we put granny fashion to rest and no glass shard bikini was detected. I’m glad they kept the choice for a curvier or skinnier body, but I think they can definitely do a bit better, for example giving us a choice of feminine/masculine presenting figures, variety of curvy body types, allowing us to pick pronouns - here’s already typos and inconsistencies in the script, I don’t see how that could make it worse.
Challenges: 6/10
Is it bad that I can’t really remember much of them? Yeah, I’d say that’s a bad sign… The challenges were so… forgettable? And just not done correctly? Couples quiz - over too quickly and I didn’t learn anything about anyone. The doghouse whatever it was - I don’t even know the purpose of it. What were those categories in villa vs. villa? “The sportiest girl?” “The most well traveled?” Is this a joke? Why are we having a snogathon in casa amor? How is movie night not giving us the most tea and why is it not stirring any pots? How can you manage to make the baby challenge so.. boring? And just fleeting? I would say, the heart rate challenge was the most elaborate and fun, Snog, Marry, Pie was okay, but nothing to write home about, unfortunately. Fusebox, you have good ideas, but just see them through to the end next time please. Oh, and maybe watch the show for inspo? You know, as a suggestion.
Drama: 5/10
I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think fusebox definitely took our feedback regarding drama. Of course, Ivy’s pettiness and twin mix up is.. annoying to say the least, and Grozzy-MC love triangle is tiring, especially if you’re not on Ozzy’s route, but otherwise we are able to have a chill summer of love, just like you signed up for. Personally, I love drama only when it has nothing to do with me, and that’s how I felt about playing this season. If you want to be a little more involved in it - by all means, go for Ozzy and pick ruthless choices, but if you want to sit it out - sweep all the arguments under the rug, couple up with an og for a loyal route, or play around in casa amor with no repercussions and couple up with someone there to enjoy the rest of your a chill summer. The choice is yours. After the disaster of s5, this felt quite refreshing and exactly what I wanted, but I wouldn’t say the drama was so otherworldly that it kept me very invested… Therefore, I’m afraid by toning things down they ran into another problem - they made it a tad boring.
Relationships: 6.5/10
I touched upon this already, but I’ll just say this, I strongly dislike the merged routes. In my humble opinion, the og route was written for Lewie, the post-casa route was written for Andy (or I can also see Elliot sharing some dialogue with him), and the only other unique route is Ozzy. Oh, and I suppose there is a Bella/Chloe/Flo route (you see how sad this is that they don’t even feel unique enough for me to consider them as a separate route? Yeah, sad.) I personally think casa amor li’s/Elliot are the best relationships, if you’re looking for a sweet, loving route with no drama, where your li is head over heels with you in a cute kind of way, and you learn a lot about them that isn’t just rehashing past events and/or love bombing. It progresses so naturally and realistically, in my opinion. That romance just makes sense and I love it. I haven’t played other routes, of course, but from what I’ve seen, they just feel a bit lacking in something. They feel superficial, perhaps boring. I don’t think they did a good job with their attempted slow burn route with Ozzy either - all his chats became so repetitive that it didn’t interest me enough to pursue his route. That being said, I appreciate that we could have a completely loyal route this time, with no backstabbing, no persistent exes, and no drastic change of personalities.
Friendships-wise… Did we have any? I know all the girls are kind of friends and all the boys too, but I feel like after the first few volumes where I could definitely tell the islanders were all bonding and having their lil bro moments, it all kind of vanished with time. Of course, we had those moments of gossiping with the girls and the boys, but yet again, it felt a bit surface-level. It was just not enough. In addition, I would love to see relationships bud between the islanders I didn’t interact with as much. It can’t be that mc is the only one who developed feelings for one other person - what about others? Why are they just extras? Why aren’t there bromances and romances and girlmances happening among the rest? We need those background friendships and couples who are genuinely in love to make it feel more realistic and more interesting and more fulfilling.
And of course, we can’t talk about s6 and not talk about family (insert a Dom Torreto gif). Introducing a twin to our mc was a risky move, but we’ll talk about that later. I’ll just say, family relationships are complicated and nuanced and their attempt at doing that kind of failed. Amelia could’ve been our saving grace, she could’ve been our confidant, she could’ve been our best friend. Or, she could’ve been our rival, our source of unresolved family drama, or at least our shared attempt at building bridges. We, on the other hand, got none of it. The twins seem neither close nor distant - they are just paid improv actors who pretend to like each other, but just don’t share any sentimentalities. I was hoping they’d tap into why they seem so estranged, but instead they just kept on talking about Zeph, which turned out to be the most worthless and meaningless plot point ever. They could’ve just made MC’s relationship with Amelia very close and non-problematic, that’d be so easy and lovely to have an instant bestie in the villa. Or, they could’ve let us shape our relationship through the choices MC makes - become closer or more distant or remain neutral - but instead, we got a very superficial relationship yet again, where Amelia is hopelessly desperate no matter what your choices are, and MC is deeply uninterested in what she has to say.
Recouplings: 4/10
It’s funny because I don’t actually have much to say about recouplings this time. Nothing extra disastrous happened, nothing drama worthy - just rather predictable. Yes, we could pick who we wanted, more or less, but at the same time, recouplings are a great way to stir the pot and we didn’t have that. Did the boys pick at least once? I can’t remember… And the way we had recouplings so close to each other in the beginning and then they barely meant anything in the end - meh. Also, I still don’t understand why we couldn’t couple up with Bella early on - she went first that one time and could have definitely picked us, but for some reason that was too much to allow for us…
Finale: 7/10
The finale did what it set out to do and checked off all the required boxes, so technically, I have nothing to complain about. We got the final dates, the prom prep, the speeches, the winners, the love or money, a spicy scene on the swings, and even a little lighthearted pranking moment with the girls that I enjoyed. I would have actually liked to see the afterparty this time because I truly loved the characters, but I guess it’s too many personalities for fusebox to handle at once. Fine. The final date was nothing special and didn’t differ from any other dates we had, although the overall vibe of the date was quite sweet, I can’t lie. The declarations of love were cute as well, we got to make things official, although no “l-bombs” were dropped, which is a little sad, if not disappointing. Massive bonus points for bringing back Hamish as the host - he is such a perfect showman, I think that was actually a great decision! He’s hilarious and no one takes him seriously and that added a lot of charm to the final, in my opinion.
Structure: 5.5/10
The structure of this season was so odd to me, I can’t lie. It just needed more volumes and more chapters to be better paced and to really take time with the storyline and all the twists they set up, give us the character development we deserve. The beginning started so well and promising, then everything was incredibly rushed, then Casa Amor happened - the best three volumes in my humble opinion, and then the plot just dragged on to the point where I just didn’t feel excited to play the episodes. The challenges were rushed and some were nonsensical, the recouplings oddly sprinkled throughout, gossiping around the villa was just weird, when we could’ve just asked the islanders concerned straight on. Though I loved Casa Amor, it also felt weird how we could go on dates during our time there or to the hideaway, and none of the challenges were done correctly either: the raunchy races were weird, and the beer pong not substantial enough, and the snogathon doesn’t really happen in casa. The beach huts are completely abandoned at this point, which I hate because it was one of my favorite things, but at least we had the hideaway this time and the box with spicy trinkets, so I’ll give them that. The finale hit all the necessary points, so that’s good I guess. I don’t know, I just want them to draw more inspiration from the show itself, I suppose, which they are not doing as much anymore.
Storyline: 5/10
Double Trouble. Amelia. Our beloved. Or beloathed - however you choose to look at it lol. Like I mentioned previously, giving us a twin was a risky move. I’m an only child who always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling, or a twin at that, so I was madly excited about this sibling plot line. On the other hand, again, like I said, families are complex and nuanced and are not always sunshine and rainbows. Much like the ex storyline, the family one could be just as triggering. Moreover, deciding MC’s identity and background story for us, the players, is far from a good choice. Even if we pretend it was done well, which it wasn’t, not everyone wants to have a sibling steal their thunder in the game where we are the main character. Not everyone identifies as a woman, but giving us an identical twin forces us to be so. You see where I’m going? The interactive game is becoming more and more of a visual novel and we are just living in that story instead of creating our own.
Overall, the storyline of the game was just not pushed enough, not elaborated enough, not drawn out enough. Of course, they’ve beaten to death the Grozzy thing, and the sister chats, and Tobelia, but everything else… Zeph - the most anticlimactic and useless plot point. Ozzy and Marshall - so much fuss and completely unrewarding resolution. The fake dumping plot twist - wasted potential. Casa Amor - no consequences. Movie night - I ran out of synonyms for “useless” and “wasted potential.” What saddens me is that they had so many interesting ideas and just did not see them through - they gave up too quickly, untwisting the twists too easily, which made the plot, yet again, superficial and a tad boring.
Writing: 4.5/10
I know I said I don’t like comparing, but I was replaying s4 at the same time as s6, and even though back then s4 felt like a downgrade, the difference in writing is humongous. With the speculations that fusebox is using AI to write their game, I feel like I could exactly point out to where it was written by a robot and where a human hand was involved. All the superficial, going in circles, love-bombing moments (which make up about 70% of the season) were definitely the product of a computer, but I think the moments where we learn something personal about our li was written by people. The first couple of volumes were written by people, when the characters still felt unique. Casa Amor islanders were written by people, I’ll stand by that because that’s where characters had the most charm. MC’s telling off moments were written by people, I am sure. But right as we got back to love bombing and all those “hey remember when *something superficial that happened before*” and every! time! a sentence! ended! with! exclamation! points! it all went back to AI. I wouldn’t say in general the writing got worse, but it didn’t exactly get better either. No raw animalistic NSFW display of passions happened, and the spicy scenes seemed a bit better this time, but as with what seems to be my main concern with the season, it felt very superficial a lot of the times.
Replayability: 4/10
Initially, when they’ve given us the illusion of branching routes, I was very excited to go back and replay for other characters, but I have since changed my mind. I lost any interest I may have had in Ozzy’s route, and I fell out of love with Jamal, who was my og li because they made him (and other og’s) boring. Knowing Elliot shares his route with Andy turned off any temptations I had for pursuing him either, especially because I like Andy more than any other character in s6. The girls routes? *sigh* I was curious about them, but not anymore, sadly. But you know what? Despite all that and my hatred for shared routes, I can see myself replaying this season. They’ve given me Andy, who has become one of my favorite (if not the favorite) li’s of all time and I would absolutely replay the game to relive his moments again. Plus, there’s so many scenes that I genuinely found funny that I’d play again to have a little laugh for myself. I can see s6 becoming a comfort season on par with s4 for me (at least the Casa Amor bits).
Overall Score: 6.2/10
This season had a lot of pressure on its shoulders - it had to convince us that things could be better than s5. Some people loved it, others - hated it, and as for me, it was okay. They tried to do better, I could tell, and maybe they were careful not push it too far for the sake of preserving whatever the thing that fans keep coming back for, yet not without making heaps of mistakes along the way. I think that’s the main problem with s6, it had an interesting cast, a fun premise, a promising start, curious twists - everything needed to pique our interest, and then they just didn’t use any of it to its full potential. I appreciate that we could have lovely, loyal li’s, and they’ve given us the best casa cast, they’ve given me Andy lol, and I definitely had a fair share of laughs throughout the game. I think after s5, Double Trouble felt refreshing, which created the illusion that it’s better. I’m not saying it’s much worse, not at all, but it’s positively mediocre, which I would still take over s5 every time.
Thank you for reading through this sheet of text, if you did! I’ll definitely be here for s7 because I don’t have that much respect for myself lol. And I’ll still be here in between the seasons - we have the fanfics to get through, don’t we? But until then,
Stay hydrated, islanders. xoxo
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