The Dark Reign is nigh.
From right to left
From right to left
"The word 'hope' has two meanings. One is a wish for something to be, while the other is an actual force which drives and sustains us. The word connotes both a wish and a power. So I would like you to imagine for me. Something that gives you hope, even if it is empty or meaningless. That will be the power that sustains you when all else has been exhausted."
— Towa
Lkyt. is a Boys' Love Visual Novel released by parade (who also worked on No, Thank You!!! and Room No. 9), and is also the developer's third work. The game was released in Japan on August 28, 2020, and is also picked up by MangaGamer for an English translation, which was released on April 20, 2023.
The story is as follows: In a world that had been nearly annihilated by a catastrophic event known as the Dark Reign, which consisted of the merciless onslaught of monsters known as hollows, the soldiers of the Shoreline Nation prepare for when the hollows surge forth from the underworld once more and attempt to consume all life on the surface.
However, when the people of the Shoreline Nation receive signs that the cataclysm may already start far sooner than they had expected, they are forced to take immediate and drastic action if they hope to counter the threat the hollows pose and prevent humankind's complete extinction.
Tasuku is one of the soldiers who has long made it his mission to fight the hollows and protect both his kingdom and his family. While he's only but a foot soldier, he soon comes to realize that a grander fate may be awaiting him from the moment he is personally summoned by the Divine One, the mystical protector of the Shoreline Nation.
Lkyt. provides examples of the following tropes:
- Age-Gap Romance: The trope applies if Tasuku (21) gets together with Ango (32), Towa (36), or to a lesser extent, Yael (28).
- Darker and Edgier: It's telling that Lkyt. is even bleaker than parade's previous game despite the premise for Room No. 9, since Lkyt. is essentially a tale about how War Is Hell, and everything else that comes with the trope.
- Depopulation Bomb: Towa theorizes in Ango's bad ending that every time the Dark Reign occurs, it's because the number of humans dwelling on the earth have increased to a level that's alarming and staggering enough for the mother essence to cull the numbers as a defense mechanism.
- Distant Finale: Once the player has completed everyone's routes, an epilogue becomes available, showing Fuuka and her son, 30 years into the future, visiting the Tree which is now commemorated as both a holy symbol and as the honored gravesite of Tasuku and his chosen love interest. The player is also informed of what happened to the Shoreline Nation depending on which love interest had perished.
- Eating the Enemy: When Tasuku reaches the source of the hollows, he immediately sees that the mother essence can't be destroyed no matter what. But he then realizes that the organism can only consume the dead, thus its influence can be ceased should it be consumed by a living being. This causes him to ingest the mother essence, and once he's able to completely resist its corruption, all the hollows immediately stop moving.
- For Want Of A Nail: The trajectory of the plot will drastically change depending on who Tasuku chooses to visit after the memorial service. Likewise, whether the player gets the good or the bad ending in each route depends entirely on decisions that seem miniscule and inconsequential at first.
- Fun with Acronyms: Technically speaking, the visual novel's title is actually an acronym. What takes the fun out of it is what the acronym stands for.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Even with a powerful supernatural threat just looming ahead, the plot makes it clear that another conflict that the protagonists have to face is the folly brought about by humankind's ambition, prejudice and greed. Tasuku, who grew up in a nation that he had known to be united due to the threat that is the hollows, is even disturbed at the notion of humans killing their own kin, whatever the reason may be.
- Kill the Ones You Love: No matter the chosen love interest, all of them are forced to kill Tasuku in the end so as to stop the core hollow once and for all. The only consolation they get is that they join Tasuku in death.
- Meaningful Name: The visual novel isn't given its title without reason. "Love kills you twice"... as in both Tasuku and his love interest will die twice. The first time is due to the Mitate family's treachery, and the second time is so that the mother essence is permanently sealed, ensuring that the Dark Reign will never endanger humanity again. In spite of their ultimately tragic circumstances, both still take comfort in the fact that they are now Together in Death.
- Non-Standard Game Over: Takeru and Yael's bad endings show either what happens to the soldiers embarking on the mission heading to underworld or how things are faring back in the Shoreline Nation when the mission inevitably ends in failure and the hollows make their way towards the city.
- Not His Sled: If the player opts to take Ango's route after having taken Takeru and Yael's, they may expect the celebratory banquet to end the same way it did in the true ending of the latter two routes... except that it doesn't. In Ango's true ending, the banquet concludes peacefully with everyone returning home rather than falling asleep from the drugged food and wine, and Ango takes Tasuku back to his quarters where they share an intimate moment, before Ango gives Tasuku a cup of amazake— which turns out to have been laced with a paralytic. It's then that Ango kills Tasuku after the latter falls completely asleep.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Even then, it's still pretty bleak in nature. Ango's bad ending shows what were to happen if Tasuku meets his demise the same way he did in Takeru and Yael's good endings. This time around, however, Tasuku doesn't get to have formed a strong bond to his beloved person, which is what kept a part of spirit tethered to the mortal world in the other endings. As a result, the mother essence manages to return to the underworld and regains control over the hollows, making the Dark Reign all but imminent. Knowing that they have no way left of combating the impending apocalypse, Takeru and Towa discuss about what measures they can still employ to at least ensure the survival of their people until the threat of the Dark Reign subsides once enough of the world's population has been consumed by the hollows.
- Stripped to the Bone: This trope is the unfortunate fate of anyone who gets exposed to the corruption of the hollows and isn't able to stave off the corruption in time, and the process happens all too quickly. This is the reason why the Shoreline Nation's soldiers wear identification tags, as it is the only other way that the troops can confirm who had fallen in battle when the casualties are already no more than bones by the time their still-living allies start counting the corpses.
- Sword and Sorcerer: While both brothers can use mystic force, Takeru serves as more of the combatant whereas Towa is the magician. Even among the main cast, Towa is most qualified for the role of the Sorcerer whereas the other four serve more as the Swords, all of them fighting with different kinds of bladed weapons.
- Utsuge: Even more so than parade's previous two works, both of which are emotionally and mentally heavy in their own right. While No, Thank You!!! and Room No. 9 do not have a single truly happy ending, the relatively good endings still have protagonists get to live to see another day. With Lkyt., however, the good endings have Tasuku and his chosen love interest meet their tragic demise; though the Distant Finale does provide the reassurance that as harrowing as their deaths are, it wasn't for naught.
- War Is Hell: It doesn't take long for the game to establish the difficult world the protagonists live in and what they must do to ensure their own survival and that of their people, and the losses that everyone — soldier or no — has to suffer just in the hopes that one day, their fight against the hollows will finally end. But before that time comes, no one, especially not the Shoreline Nation's military forces, can allow themselves to let their guard down for even a second, since they make one wrong move and they will immediately crumble into ash and bone.
- Wham Line: Complete one route, any route, and at the end of it, the meaning behind the game title becomes all too clear: "Love kills you twice."
- Working Out Their Emotions: In his route, after Takeru learns that the mystic force that the Shoreline Nation uses isn't all that different from the corruption of the hollows, he is so shaken by the truth that he asks Tasuku to spar with him on the mountainside overlooking the city.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After the decisive battle, it appears as if the Shoreline Nation had finally achieved victory and can enjoy a new era of peace, and Tasuku now has all the time in the world to spend with both his family and his beloved. Unfortunately, Gengan attempts to start an insurrection and kills Tasuku and his partner in the process. While the safety of the Shoreline Nation is ultimately ensured in the end, it still comes at a tragic cost.
