(Confession: I backed this game on Kickstarter.)

Lovely game; well worth the wait. Easy to read, very fun and light-hearted, with just the right amount of drama. Character interactions are gold. Definitely recommended to VN fans.

The only drawback is that there are no achievements. Otherwise, I have no complaints!

Trouble Comes Twice is a romance vn in which you can play as either of the twins (male and female) and can pick between four possible love interests which give this eight routes in total. There are also two versions of every route with one being more dramatic than the other. Once you complete both versions you also unlock an extra short epilogue for the love interest. One route is always around 2-3 hours long and pretty much ends with the protagonist getting into a relationship with the chosen love interest, so the largest portion of this VN is the road to the relationships and not content where they are already together. The writing in general is good and I enjoyed reading through the routes I have completed. I also like that this game offers such a variety as you can play as straight or gay and as both sexes.

The art and character models are good, but you will also notice that the devs couldnt afford doing a big variety. Every route has a few really nice artpieces though. In general the quality is really quite good and I like the length of the routes as they never get boring cause they are too long, but they also take enough time for some good character development.

Overall a pretty nice VN with good variety, good romance and a fair price.

these bisexual disasters have me smiling like a damn fool

This game has a fantastic sense of humor, with two ridiculous but highly entertaining protagonists and a small but compelling cast of love interests to complement them. Whichever protagonist you pick for a route, the twins have a great bickering sibling dynamic--it never ends up feeling like a lonely island of Protagonist & Love Interest where no one else intrudes or really matters. The romance is ostensibly the point, but the main characters' family is just as important and just as fun to read. If you like to have options that heavily influence the story, you won't find that here; the choices mostly just impact the immediate dialogue and then whether you get the Romantic Ending or the Dramatic Ending, both of which I found to be both romantic and dramatic, and neither of which is disappointing or negative. If you aren't too fussed about player control, however, this makes for a fun, stress-free romcom reading experience, since you never have to worry about making a "wrong" move. And I will emphasize it again: This game is hilarious. If you are looking for a romance that is both very sweet and very funny, you'll love this game.

The only definite negative point I can give to this game is just the fact that the art is rather inconsistent; the in-game sprites and the menu art/route CGs are drawn in different styles and sometimes look like different people entirely, especially in the case of the twins, whose coloring differs dramatically. That said, this is not a CG-heavy game and the sprites you spend most of your time looking at are well polished, so this is a minor gripe.

This game is still incredibly witty and fun to play, so unless you are an extreme stickler regarding art or consequential player choices, the charm far outweighs the flaws.

One last note for anyone for whom this may be relevant: The game does run on Steam Deck, but you will have to adjust the proton version to get it to launch. I have been running on 4.11-13 with no issues.

Trouble Comes Twice is a romcom (romance comedy) visual novel developed and published by Foxglove Games. You take on either the role of Hazel or Jace (both of whom are fraternal twins in university), neither of whom has ever been in a serious relationship. They make the following bet - whoever ends up with a boyfriend or girlfriend first wins. It's a silly bet, but this is nothing new for the twins. However, as they go about their daily lives, the bet might end up being in the back of their minds, and who knows? They might actually end up finding romance along the way. I'll stop my story synopsis here to avoid spoilers and all that.

As for the gameplay, there is the initial choice of whether to play as Hazel or Jace and then the choice of four possible romance options: Zoe (the next door neighbor who is best friends with Hazel), Stephanie (the quiet, shy music student in Hazel's class), Cameron (the seemingly troublemaker who occasionally plays basketball with Jace), or Adrian (Jace's longtime childhood friend). There's a short common route in which choices are presented although most of them don't affect getting on the intended route. I believe they're simply present to add flavor to Hazel's or Jace's personality. Once the romance route is triggered, though, the choices presented and made determine whether you obtain their dramatic or romantic endings. There are no bad endings, and once you obtain both endings, then the romance option's respective epilogue is unlocked. Also, there are lots of CGs, including chibi art, that are shown throughout the story although there are no Steam achievements or trading cards at the time of this review.

Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my critique. After having played through quite a few of the more adventure, drama type visual novels, playing a romcom feels like a refreshing change of pace, and Trouble Comes Twice certainly fits the bill. First, I enjoyed the story very much. It's very much on the light-hearted side although there is the occasional drama (a little more if you're headed towards a dramatic ending). However, it has plenty of comedy and lots of fourth wall breaking from the twins. I especially enjoyed the banter between Hazel and Jace as they would interrupt the story and give their comedic, witty commentary towards one another. Although the story premise is based on a bet, the bet hardly ends up on either of the twins' minds (well, it depends on the route, but it isn't their major focus). Rather, I got to witness the growing relationship between the chosen twin and the romance option. I felt like some of the routes were better written than others. In particular, I liked Hazel x Zoe, Hazel x Stephanie, and Jace x Adrian (the last one is especially my favorite).

As for the characters themselves, I liked playing as both Hazel and Jace. Although they both think of themselves as beautiful people (they surely don't hold back on praising themselves lol), their personalities are quite different. While Hazel keeps more to herself (not shy, but she'd rather not interact with many people) and likes to play the piano, Jace comes off as more of a friendly, easygoing person although he has very few close friends and he's more of an athletic type. In regards to the romance options, I liked their varying personalities as well as how their routes were written (although as I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed some routes more than others). Each romance option has their own issues and such. For example, Zoe has issues with her mom while Cameron has to deal with bad boy reputation image although in reality, he's actually a good person.

Regarding the writing, I found it paced fairly well. I noticed the occasional typos and such, but they don't distract from enjoying the routes. As for the art, the sprites were well drawn and colored, and the backgrounds are kept simple. Regarding the CGs, I have varying opinions on them. While I liked looking at some of them (the Hazel x Zoe CGs and Jace x Adrian CGs were my favorites), others felt a bit off. For example, I found it a bit weird that Hazel looks kind of muscular in some of the CGs despite that she's not an athlete and more of the classical musician type. Also, it felt like some of the CGs were better drawn than others, but nevertheless, they're lovely to look at. In regards to the music, I enjoyed listening to the variety of tracks. The tracks fit well in the scenes they're placed in. I especially agree with regards to the comedical and dramatic tracks. I do wish that there had been tracks where I could have heard Hazel play the piano or Stephanie play the violin rather than silence. (Also, I enjoy listening to classical music, so yeah. ^^)

Overall, would I recommend Trouble Comes Twice? If you enjoy visual novels, are in the mood for a romcom, and like a variety of romances (otome, bishojo, yuri, and yaoi), then I recommend giving this a try. I found this visual novel to be very fun, and I enjoyed every minute of it from the comedical to the dramatic moments. For the asking price, I'd say it's worth getting, as it took me fewer than 28 hours to complete all of the routes and such.

Finally, I want to give a major thank you to Foxglove Games for the review key, and I'm looking forward to future visual novels by them. ^^

Flying free and writing reviews solely for The Introverted Gamer.

While I enjoyed this game and I really like the concept, the individual routes felt relatively short but that doesn't warrant a negative review.

What irked me the most was that the Jace routes with Adrian and Cameron felt neglected. Not to mention that both of these routes have the least amount of CGs. I would've been very happy with this game if this wasn't the case. I appreciate the game for being inclusive but why couldn't those routes have at the least the same amount of CGs as Hazel's versions?

Adrian/Jace route fills me with indescribable feeling of envy. It’s hard to witness someone living your dream.

i think adrian and i , have something special

At first I was planning to wait for a discount or simply postpone the purchase, but here we are, ready with 2/8 routes, and I regret absolutely nothing
It's fun, it's fluffy, it's like a great portion of comfort that will keep you around for at least a couple of hours
I really like the system which allows you to romance the characters from the points of BOTH twins, and this influences the relationship dynamics significantly - none of the MCs feels like a replacement for each other
The only complaints I may have - somewhat uneven pacing, which creates a feeling of rush, especially near the end, and artstyle difference (?) in sprites and CGs, but this does not really ruin the experience, so it's okay (and for the indie project I cannot even call these drawbacks)
Thanks a lot for this VN - I'll definitely complete it and come back again ;).

Some TMI: my current favorite will be Jace | Adrian route - I was crying giggling howling kicking my feet while watching their interactions, and with twins' comments? Even better. Now my screenshot folder is full of their photos all. along. the. route. Probably should've saved it for the later game, but simply couldn't wait any longer, and I LOVED what I've seen there, so thank you once again for this shot of serotonin for my heart

honestly, i had high hopes from the description, but the game turned out to be extremely short, already ending before things got truly started. a shame