Love by the Water

Love by the Water is a narrative-driven casual game. Following the relocation of his academy to the waters near "MC," the player steps into the shoes of Wake Shelley—an extremely introverted young man with severe social anxiety—to witness his new life and see if he can make up for lost time. On the island, he will encounter a diverse cast of locals and become entangled in a series of events and conspiracies. Can he overcome his introversion and thwart the schemes of the mastermind behind the scenes? The outcome rests entirely on the player's choices. As the story unfolds, players will meet various girls, earn their affection through different events, deepen their relationships, and unlock steamy animated scenes. The game is currently undergoing continuous updates and optimization, with more story content, bug fixes, and intimate scenes on the way—so stay tuned!

Gameplay of Love by the Water:

Love by the Water redefines gameplay by centering it entirely around player choice and emotional investment, eschewing traditional combat or resource management in favor of a narrative-driven experience that unfolds through exploration and conversation. The core loop revolves around the protagonist’s daily routine, which players structure through their actions: morning chores with his father, school attendance, exploration of the town’s various locales (the library, the docks, the abandoned lighthouse), and evening reflection by the water. Each location offers unique interactions—books to read, objects to examine, or NPCs to engage with—with the protagonist’s emotional state influencing which opportunities become available. For example, a stormy day may drive the protagonist indoors, limiting outdoor exploration but increasing the chance of meaningful indoor conversations. The game uses a “Momentum System,” where positive interactions build emotional momentum, unlocking new dialogue options or areas, while neglecting relationships causes regression, forcing players to rebuild trust over time. This system ensures that every playthrough feels personalized, as players’ choices directly shape the protagonist’s growth and the story’s direction.

Features of Love by the Water:

Dynamic Character Interactions: Engage with over 15 diverse and well-developed characters, each with their own backstory and personality. Build meaningful relationships or keep your distance—it's up to you.

Choice-Driven Storytelling: Every decision impacts the narrative, leading to multiple branching paths. Whether you choose to focus on romance, unravel mysteries, or face challenges head-on, your choices shape the protagonist's journey.

Exploration and Discovery: Discover hidden locations around the town, from secret beaches to abandoned warehouses. Each location holds clues about the protagonist's family history and the industrialist's plans, adding layers of depth to the story.

Urban Fantasy Elements: Experience a world where reality intertwines with supernatural elements. From mysterious occurrences to hidden abilities, the game keeps you on your toes with unexpected twists.

Optional Love Scenes: All romantic encounters and intimate scenes are optional and can be avoided if desired. The game respects player preferences, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable experience for everyone.

Linear Romance with Branching Endings: While the core storyline follows a linear path, various side stories and character arcs offer different endings based on your choices. Enjoy a richly layered narrative with multiple possible outcomes.

Changelog:

Every single menu, button, and setting in the game has been completely redesigned. The main menu has been redesigned with 40+ brand new dedicated character sprites, a changelog banner, updated menu buttons, new icons, new music, and even a hidden pickle. The settings page includes dozens of new quality-of-life settings including multiple customizable quick menus, a brand new custom cursor and CTC icon, increased dialogue/dialogue box customization, and more. The save and load pages have been condensed into a single, dedicated page. The about, history, and quit pages have also been overhauled.

There's a brand new photo gallery launching with 175+ unlockable photos pulled from Patreon and a new scene replay gallery hosting all 30+ unlockable scenes (scene replay is no longer stuck on character pages). Both pages let you sort by character and view hints on how to unlock every picture/scene. There is also an optional cheat in the settings to help make hidden photo discovery even easier. You can also use a Patreon/SubStar exclusive password to unlock everything in the game. Character biographies have also received a major visual overhaul, and you can also find a character's replayable scenes on these pages. All of these pages are accessible from anywhere in the game (making it easier to check what Abby's favorite movie is during the game!).

Turning on the save rebuilder in the settings allows players to quickly and easily jump to any chapter in the game OR rebuild their exact save from scratch by answering a series of questions. You can also jump directly to any scene with a major choice. This should help with photo hunting, as well as make up for the unfortunate reality of this update breaking everyone's saves.

Alongside the brand new quick menus, render hint systems, and fuller dialogue settings, you can also change the name of your player character at any point during the game. You're able to flip what side of the screen choice buttons and the drawer quick menu appear on (helpful for those playing with one hand!). When using the new drawer quick menu, you can not only change its size/opacity but also hide it entirely until it's hovered/clicked. Character names now also appear color-coded in dialogue, but this, and lot of other things, can be toggled off entirely.

This update also comes with 800+ renders and 30+ animations worth of updated lewd scenes from the first two chapters of the game. Updated scenes include: Sasha's shower and clothing haul (Chapter 1), Behr/Cass library test (Chapter 2), Mallory's cosplay show and solo h-scene (Chapter 2), Sasha x Wake bedroom scene (Chapter 2), among other minor render updates here and there. Examples below:

The biggest purpose of this update was the opportunity for me to fix many coding errors I made as an amateur game developer. I've now been able to fix many pathing issues, organize my scripts, and just generally ensure this game will be easier to develop and code for going forward.

Player Comments of Love by the Water:

An incredible game—I love the story, the variety of love interests, and the fact that they have different personality types and body types. Plus, the romantic moments are really great—this could become one of the best games on the site.

At the start I didn't think I would like it, since it has somewhat too many gags and random humor, but after a bit that settles down and the plot and characters become more interesting. They don't entirely disappear, but they become more of an occasional element rather than the whole game.The main character is pretty interesting. He does sometimes come off inconsistent, though the game attempts to explain that it only half makes sense, but he is overall a more interesting than usual harem MC.The graphics in the parts that haven't been redone are a bit rough and some of the characters look different, but it doesn't last all that long. There is a lot of variety between the character models, which is a pro and con (you are likely to find some you like, but also likely to find some you don't like, and while all the characters are optional, skipping them skips content).The characters sometimes ramble a bit much. It's an in world thing, but it doesn't change the fact that you are still reading a long ramble of sometimes intentional nonsense.But I think the characters are well written and developed, even if they fall into broad cliches, they are well done and I was looking forward to the upcoming events with them when I got to the end of the update.There's not a ton of content for being as far into development as it is, but there's a solid bit.Overall, I think its pretty easy to recommend. If it doesn't click in the first bit, give it a bit more time. Even if the graphics of the intro have been redone, it's still a more 'serious' game than the first couple bits would make it seem like.

This game really surprised me, I didn't expect much of it at first, however It ended with me going to patreon and subscribing to the creator.The highlights Is definetly Frankie and Sasha imo.If you want to play an excellent VN with an amazing story, then this is for you. Just get passed the scenes that haven't been remastered yet, and you won't be disappointed.

Final words:

Players guide Wake through his first real exposure to campus life, reading through dialogue-heavy scenes while managing his nervousness and the people he meets along the way. The game layers in a phone interface, hidden clickables, and a small mini-game to reward exploration between story beats. Choices shape how Wake's relationships and confidence develop as the term progresses.