Nurse Love Syndrome Review

In 2019 the last thing I expected to be doing was playing a newly released PlayStation Vita title. This comes in the form of the Yuri visual novel Nurse Love Syndrome, which is an updated version of Nurse Love Syndrome Re:Therapy which was only released in Japan. Promising an interesting tale of life as a nurse all while trying to find love, I was keen to sit down with this title and experience what it had to offer.

In Nurse Love Syndrome players will step into the shoes of Kaori Sawai on her first day as a nurse at Yurigahama Hospital. Following a near-death experience when she was a child, she has always had the desire to become a nurse. Starting out as a fresh graduate the story will follow Sawai as she grows both as a nurse and an adult and along the way learns about love and medicine. The story is engaging from the first moments and explores a lot of details around both relationships and medicine that make it a very human tale.

Though you’ll be experiencing and navigating the world of being a nurse you will also be pursuing love. For those unaware, Nurse Love Syndrome is a Yuri visual novel which means it focuses on lesbian relationships. Often these types of novels are referred to as ‘Girl's love’ and mean all relationship storylines will be with girls. The case of which are varied each with their own personality and story to experience. Some will be more light-hearted than others with a few moments really hitting home the hardships of adulthood. Regardless of which girl you choose to romance, earning that good ending will take time and patience.

Nurse Love Syndrome, like many visuals novels before it, features over twenty possible endings with the players’ dialogue choices determining the direction the story follows. An initial playthrough may take you anywhere between ten to fifteen hours with following routes and endings requiring plenty more hours. You see, Nurse Love Syndrome loves to explore the fine details so expect to be reading a lot into each character and story beat. Thankfully to help with this long story is the inclusion of traditional gameplay features such as the option to fast-forward through previously read text and multiple save slots.

The story is made even more engaging thanks to the beautiful artwork found throughout. Each character, background, and unique moment is clearly rendered with a pastel colour range that is a treat to the eye. This is the same for the more intimate and emotional moments with the image always remaining easy to read and the colours evoking emotions within the player. To top this off is a soundtrack that is fitting for the story and easy on the ears. All of this, along with the writing, make it easy to lose yourself within the story.

The title is not without some bumps in the road mind you. One of these is the translation which for the most part is completely fine but you’ll encounter multiple instances where the odd word is clearly out of place. It doesn’t prevent you from enjoying the story but it can ruin some emotional moments. The other issue is the UI used for the menus. Sure, they function but actually understanding what the options mean at first is a nightmare. This might seem like an odd complaint but in a visual novel having an easy to navigate and understanding the menu is important given how often players will be saving and loading.

At the end of the day, Nurse Love Syndrome is a charming and beautiful visual novel that doesn’t skip on any details. If you want to experience a Yuri story about love, life, and the challenges of being a nurse then this is the one for you. With hours and hours of routes to explore, you’ll be here for the long haul but it is truly worth it. Nurse Love Syndrome is a must have for any visual novel and PlayStation Vita fan.