This is a reblog of my site http://geekysweetie.com – Other stuff may appear here such as reblogs from other wordpress.com sites. I blog and reblog about anime, video games, kdrama, toys, technology, and kawaii fashion and decor.
I love Aksys Games, probably my favorite Otome Game localization company. In just the past few weeks Aksys has announced the following upcoming releases. Check Out their videos below. Which games are you most looking forward to?
Lover Pretend Synopsis:Chiyuki lives alone, spending all her time studying for university and doing part-time work. She has two dreams in life: to become a s…
Soon, the girl’s power, which previously only brought her misfortune, will become an invaluable asset to the Oniwaban and their efforts against the monsters…Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo is coming to @NintendoSwitch in 2023!Pre-order your copy today – https://t.co/eOtbZh2lmD pic.twitter.com/p6y697LznB
Kisa is about to give up her dream of being an actor when she is given the chance to go to the prestigious All Boys Drama School with 2 conditions. Will Kisa…
Re-watch our All Aksys Online Event!Relive all of the excitement and surprises from our show as we road map our future titles. New Releases Dates, New Titles…
I think for myself, I’m most excited about playing the next chapters of Amnesia. I played the original one years ago, and always wondered why we never got the rest of the games in the Amnesia series localized into English. I’m actually not sure if Aksys is involved in this translation project or not. If they are they aren’t doing much to promote it. I saw the trailer as an ad, and sniffed it out. Perhaps Idea Factory is going to take a stab at directly releasing games in English.
The otome visual novels Amnesia™: Memories and Amnesia™: Later x Crowd are coming to the Nintendo Switch™ this Fall* (despite what the end of the trailer say…
I would like for them to release English versions for the rest of Norn 9 someday… But no word about plans to continue that series at this time… A girl can dream, right?
It’s been 3 years and we still don’t have the sequels nor the remake of the Switch version. Come on Idea Factory!
2018年9月27日発売予定Nintendo Switch「NORN9 LOFN for Nintendo Switch」プロモーションムービーゲーム公式サイト：http://www.otomate.jp/norn9/lofn/オトメイト公式サイト：http://www.otomate.jp/アイディアファクトリ…
2018年9月27日発売予定Nintendo Switch「NORN9 LOFN for Nintendo Switch」VAR COMMONSオープニングムービーゲーム公式サイト：http://www.otomate.jp/norn9/lofn/オトメイト公式サイト：http://www.otomate.jp/…
I’m also extremely interested in Jack Jeanne – I played the Japanese version a bit in a demo – It might appeal to a slightly different audience than most otome games. Should be interesting to see how it is received.
I’m excited for the new Piofore entry too as I’ve played the first game already.
All of the games look great though, from Paradigm Shift to Lover Pretend to games yet to even be given an official English title.
I am so thankful Aksys Games is taking risks by bringing Otome Games to English-speaking gamer girls. Not many other companies give these games a chance outside of Japan.
Of course, many other studios are bringing us Otome games these days. Including a lot of Western fans who have created their own indie titles inspired by great Japanese otome games. Guess we got tired of waiting for the big guys to give us girls what we really want.
There’s still far too many Otome (or even just Visual Novel) titles that never see an English release – or a HUGE amount of them that need to be brought back to life – in a digital format – from now dead publisher Hirameki International – including the greatest visual novel of all time, Ever17… But also Animamundi Dark Alchemist was a really unique and wonderful visual novel as well. Oddly, the only one preserved digitally is YoJinBo – the only (?) Otome title that Hirameki released.
Since we’re chatting about Otome and Visual Novels, I also just learned that Key is releasing a new visual novel in 2022 on the Nintendo Switch. They are probably the most beloved visual novel developers, famous for projects such as Clannad, Air, and Kanon – to name a few. And Little Busters – I didn’t like that one for some reason but most people love it. Their new title is called Loopers. I don’t know if it will get a physical release in North America, but the Japanese version has English subtitles. https://www.play-asia.com/loopers-english/13/70f8f3?ref=blog
Tell me, what Otome games are you excited for in 2022?
Thanks to the folks at Galdra Studios for allowing me to review their debut visual novel, Arcadia Fallen. As a first release from an indie game publisher, Arcadia Fallen definitely exceeded my expectations in many ways. First of all, the game’s high production values from voice acting, to character portraits, and even a catchy anime opening song and animation, all pull you right into the game. From there, the characters and story and unraveling the mysteries of the game keep you glued to your gaming chair. For those that find routine visual novel gameplay a bit dull, you might like the puzzle aspects in Arcadia Fallen because it has a nice crafting and alchemy feature.
With that said, let’s dive into our review. Keep in mind, Arcadia Fallen is a small indie game, but is being held to the same scrutiny and standards as any other game I review here, be it from an indie or bigtime game publisher. For what it is, a small first attempt by a new indie studio, Arcadia Fallen actually holds its own in many areas.
Title: Arcadia Fallen
Platform: PC and Nintendo Switch
Release Date: November 17, 2021
Genre: Visual Novel
Publisher: Galdra Studios
Overall: 68/90 76% C+ “Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 3/5 – At the end of the day, Arcadia Fallen is a story driven visual novel. For some people, these games are too casual, but for most of my readers, this is our preferred genre of games. I do think Arcadia Fallen has some breakthrough potential to reach a wider audience due to high production values and the alchemy crafting puzzle aspects of the game.
Sweetie: 5/5 – With high replay value, a lot of inclusivity when it comes to who you want to play as, same sex dating options, gender options, and interesting characters and story, girl gamers will love Arcadia Fallen.
Gameplay: 7/10 – Gameplay, like most visual novels, consists of reading a lot of character dialog. When you aren’t reading and making branching plot choices, you’re crafting alchemy items by using a puzzle like mechanic of dragging and dropping ingredients into three spheres and turning them until the inner rings hold the ingredients to make your items. These puzzles range from simple to challenging. It really adds to the gameplay and breaks up the monotony of visual novel style read and click gameplay that all of these games suffer from. It’s a much appreciated little break from the story.
There’s also numerous choices you make as a player that drive and determine the story, or even which characters will join your party. As mentioned, you have a lot of freedom in who you want to romance, including same sex, or gender fluid characters which is nice for diversity and inclusivity.
Another nice touch is that you have a ton of freedom in where to travel to and what order to explore and do things in. You aren’t just forced down one path. From the overworld map, you can go explore side quests, or make branching plot decisions on where to go and what to do next.
There are a lot of quests and rewards and gameplay diversions that help Arcadia Fallen stand out from other traditional visual novels.
Story: 8/10 – The story and writing are very interesting. Without spoiling too much for you, the game starts with a spirit accidentally binding itself to you, and a string of events that have people accusing you and your employer of being evil witches. In an effort to clear your name and unbind this spirit from yourself, you begin a journey where you meet many other interesting characters.
Characters: 10/10 – I really enjoy the diverse characters. The cast is small, but each character truly stands out. I feel like the developers have probably played a few dungeons and dragons campaigns. These characters are spot on representations of the classic “Lawful Good” “True Neutral” “Chaotic Good” “Chaotic Neutral” “Lawful Evil” etc. From a wandering bard/magician who seems to only be tagging along out of amusement/interest, to a young scientist seemingly motivated by fame and greed, to a knight working for the government making sure you don’t try anything suspiscious. These are just some of the characters you’ll meet along the way. The voice acting definitely helps the characters feel more real and personable as well.
Graphics: 6/10 The graphics are not my cup of tea and have a distinctive western style to them, opposed to traditional anime visual novels from Asia. But none the less, I will say these graphics are clean, sharp, and clear with numerous facial expressions.
Music: 7/10 – The opening theme is so cute and was a real surprise. Many of the background ambient tracks are nice and fitting for the scenes. There just wasn’t a big variety of music, but that’s to be expected in an indie game.
Voice Acting: 8/10 – I was surprised at the quality and also amount of voice acting used in this game. There was maybe only one or two characters that I didn’t really care for their voice actors, but the rest I thought fit the characters perfectly.
Character Customization: 4/10 – I was surprised by lack of character customization. It does ocassionally show your playable character. When I played there were only 2 hair styles, and ability to change eye/skin/hair color and a few (less than 10 maybe) options for colors for your clothing. hmm this was a miss for me. But a nice effort to include customization at all.
Replay Value: 10/10 With a somewhat nonlinear approach, and where your decisions matter, this is a fun game to replay to see all of the different effects of your decisions.
As you may know from my blog, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side is one of my favorite game series. I’ve played all 4 of them now – although none to 100% completion (meaning all routes). The fine folks in the fan translation community have translated all 3 of the first games and I have had the pleasure of playing each of them. I bought the 4th game as soon as it released and have been using Google Translate on my phone and aiming it at my Nintendo Switch.
I’ve used both a lazy neck holder and a snake like clamp holder with varying degrees of success. Both of which I bought on amazon. You just need to make sure the holder you buy does not cover the back camera of your phone because you need that camera to use the Google translation app.
The translation is not 100% accurate, but it is instantaneous and I’d say like 85% or more accurate. And that’s good enough for me, since we’ll likely never get any Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side games officially released in English.
Sprinkled in here are some screenshot’s from my phone’s translation. I said “Hey, Siri, Take a Screenshot” so many times I lost count lol. If you’re wondering how I purchased and translated this game, take a look at my review for Angelique which will go into detail how you can play any Nintendo Switch game in English.
Onto the review!
Overall: 65/80 81% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 2/5 – unless you’re into stat raising simulations and visual novels – this is a pass – no combat etc – doesn’t bother me – but just a heads up for those unfamiliar with this type of game. The graphics are kinda hit or miss for me too… They tried a different artstyle I think, compared to the past 3 games. Probably new graphics engine, and it feels stiffer to me and not as cute and nice as the first several games. But your mileage may vary. Maybe you’ll prefer this newer art style.
Sweetie: 5/5 – of course 5 out of 5 – dates with cute anime boys, hundreds of dressup items, part time jobs, stat raising school simulation, yup a must play for shoujo fans.
Gameplay: 10/10 – As always – 10 out of 10. There’s just literally nothing else like this on the market anywhere! Dressup, go on dates, touch the boys, get good grades in school, part time jobs, female friends and rivals too. Holidays, school festivals, events around town – ah so much to do! Your love life and how you do in school and at jobs affect your endings you receive. Super high replay value. Crazy high replay value really. Simple fun relaxing cute gameplay. Definitely one of my favorite game series of all time just for how unique it truly is. You can join clubs, make valentines chocolate, run a 3 legged race, go to all kinds of date spots, and more. Truly unique wonderful amazing highly recommended game for girls. I do feel like the dressup system in this particular version is more complex and interesting and challenging. I enjoy dressing up according to season, my date’s preferences, style trends, etc. And this particular installment of Tokimeki lets you layer more tops and bottoms and outerwear and accessories in creative ways.
Story: 7/10 – EHHH I want to give this higher rank – but really can’t – Story isn’t really this series strong suit. It has a little bit of story – but largely is focused on allowing YOU to create and live out YOUR OWN story. There is some mystery always in every game with some characters and a legend about a church – this game too uses that same story more or less.
Characters: 8/10 – OMG Himuro became president of the highschool – He was a dateable boy in one of the last games (can’t remember if it was 2 or 3 now honestly) – and you can pet and poke him all you want to in a Skinship tutorial. And he has a super cute nephew as a datable boy in this game too. And in previous installments the principal is always a secret datable character – and in past installments – the principal is a fat creepy pedo like guy – I’m happy to see Himuro is now the principal lol. – All of that aside, there are so many cute boys I dunno my favorite. I’m torn between Honda and Kizuma but I also like Nana and the new Himuro (or even old Himuro lol). Plus there’s lots more boys I haven’t met or unlocked yet. I’m aiming for Kizuma the childhood friend cannon route on my first playthrough but I had Himuro and Honda confess feelings for me too. I deducted two points because there’s only the 2 girls for friends. All previous games had much more variety of female friends that would be your love rivals and I miss that aspect. Also they removed the little brother to help check for bombs. I don’t even know if bombs are a thing in this game. Bombs were jealous boys who you weren’t spending enough time with before. Now the two twin female friends can give you fashion advice or show you “flowers” which are the boys feelings for you. Meh. They like to invite you and 2 guys to the amusement park and create love triangle drama lol. But not between them and your crush, but between the 2 crushes and you. Little bit different than before.
Graphics: 8/10 – They’re not terrible but they do feel different from the last 3 games – and I dunno if it’s a change for the better to be honest…. lol.
Music: 5/10 – Not bad, not fantastic, just kinda there… nice appropriate background music, but nothing memorable.
Voice Acting: 10/10 – One of the best parts of these games is that they are 100% fully voiced – and the acting is fantastic. And I think they brought back Himuro’s voice actor – so kudos there!
Replay Value: 10/10 – If I could give it a million out of ten I would. I almost NEVER complete these to 100% because there’s soooooo many endings. There’s best friend endings, rival endings, single endings, true love endings, marriage endings, and different endings for careers, and more. SO MANY ENDINGS – I do think deep down that this 4th game probably has less endings than its predecessors because of getting rid of most of the rival girls and the girl “friends” or “rivals” endings that were in each of the previous games. Still this game does not disapoint in replay value.
I recently started playing Angelique Luminarise in English. The game was just released in May of 2021 in the Japanese Nintendo Eshop. It is not available in English. Not commercially – and not fan translated either. So how am I playing it in English?
Well it ain’t pretty, and it ain’t perfect but here’s how. Pretty simple really. The main thing you need is a smartphone with the free Google Translate app. I like to download the Japanese language pack for offline viewing too – but you don’t have to.
The other thing you’re going to need is to create a Japanese Nintendo Eshop account. This process is easy.
Enter or create a new email address different from your existing nintendo email address
If it asks for a street address, you can use Tokyo University (just google the address) (this also works when creating Japanese Itune accounts)
Now on your nintendo switch create a new user account and link it to the new account you just created.
If any of the menus or text on screen is in Japanese, now you can get your phone and use live translation to convert it to your native language (which for me is English)
When you want to purchase games in the Eshop you will need a Japanese Nintendo Eshop Giftcard – I buy mine at Playasia and recommend them. I’ve bought probably over $500 in Japanese Egift codes from them and never have had a problem.
I would just use Paypal but Nintendo refuses paypals from my country (USA)
So I buy my giftcards at Playasia.
You can enter the giftcards into the Switch OR you can access the Nintendo Japanese eshop at https://store-jp.nintendo.com/ and add your balances or buy your games even this way. I find this easier – since with Google Chrome it automatically translates my screen without me needing to fumble around with my phone.
Even if you buy the games on the computer, you can install them remotely from your computer to your Nintendo Switch.
Very easy to buy Japanese games this way.
Now that you have the Japanese game you want to play, the awkward part may be trying to work two devices. I prop my Switch Lite up a bit – Switch users can use the kickstand, or play off their TV. I keep my Switch Lite in my lap, and in one hand I hold my phone with Google Translate running automatically.
Now in the case of Angelique you will want to go into settings and turn off the automatically advancing text option – use your phone to find it – It is on by default – and Google Translate is not fast enough to translate the screen before the text changes. Once you turn it off, you will have to press A to advance the text. It’s tedious but much better translation this way.
In my screen it says “Automatic Feed” TURN IT OFF!!!!!!! OFFFFFFF!! – You can thank me later lol.
Some scenes will still be “lost in translation” – not only because it’s machine translated and not 100% perfect – but because also some scenes are video and voice without text etc.
But nonetheless – this lets you play Angelique – and virtually any other game you can think of – in about 95% decent English.
The translation is pretty decent most of the time.
The funniest thing I saw was when playing Monster Rancher – the trainer introduces herself by saying “Hi, I’m Horrifying” instead of “Hi, I’m Holly”. After a few seconds google translate corrected itself – but it still made for a funny screenshot.
But no, in Angelique, from what I’ve seen with my brief like 15-minute journey into the game before work this morning, the translation is decent. I get the main gist of the intro story.
It starts out with a girl (that’s you) being soundly asleep and woken by a loud very rude kinda pompous and demanding character. He accuses you of being rude for not greeting him properly but says since you’re new he will forgive your rudeness. He introduces himself as the God of Light and one of 9 Gods in this universe and that he has taken you as a queen candidate from another world.
You meet a girl who arrived one day before you who is also another queen candidate and you meet a butler – who is also a God who gives you some paperwork to file. You enter your name, horoscope, blood type and answer a personality quiz.
After this, you’re taken to see the God of light again who explains the test you are about to face. You and your rival will be developing a nation using the powers of the gods, and whosever nation is more developed at the end will be elected as the new queen.
All of the screenshots that you see in this post were taken by me as I was playing Angelique Luminarise for Nintendo Switch. These are not edited in any way. Except for my featured image – the text is all correct – I just cropped it to fit as a featured image – and it was too funny and too appropriate not to use! “What the hell are these people saying? I have no idea” is exactly what I would be saying if I didn’t have my smartphone translating everything lol. So yes, that is what the character is saying in that scene, and every other image here. This is how it appears on my smartphone, replacing the text on the screen with English.
You don’t need to take photos – It does it real time. I just took a bunch of photos to illustrate on my blog here. I mean it’s not awful for machine translation. I have seen worse! And it’s better than being in Japanese – I have tried to learn before but it’s hard when it’s not just another language but a different alphabet – in fact… three different alphabets all of which can be used interchangably and like wtf… lol. Google you’re doing a good job. Keep being a bro.
It can be tricky especially if there is a glare or trying to get things at just the right distance or angle to translate properly. But it does in fact work, with a little finessing and fanangling.
What games will you be playing in English now?
I’m still most looking forward to Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart this October and Air I think in September – but for now, Angelique will keep me busy.
Japanese games are expensive I feel like… I feel like I’m spending $70-80 for one game – where in USA I’m used to spending about $50-60 – But still worth it. Because most of these games will never come out in English.
Angelique has been around for 25 years. Angelique Luminarise is part of a 25th birthday celebration. But we have never received a single Angelique game in English.
Another game series I treasure is Idol M@ster. I think there are ways – probably with android more so than IOS – to automatically translate the text on the phone screen while playing games – I do know there’s a new (or remastered) Idol M@ster coming out soon – or recently released for PC and PS4 – but I am happy with my many different Idol M@ster games on my phone. I haven’t figured out a good way to translate the phone app simultaneously as google translate and the game are running. I imagine there’s apps for that on android – or people are using bluestacks. I just do it the tedious way by taking a screenshot, translating it in the app, and repeat forever.
It’s different now on the Switch or other device because I can LIVE translate, so I don’t have to take screenshots or exit and re-enter the game. I can do everything on the fly.
Plus if I’m being honest….
I skip almost all the dialogue in games like Idol M@ster, Love Live, Bang Dream Girls, UtaPri, Ensemble Stars, etc…. Even when English versions are released because it’s not that interesting? LOL….. It’s really not. – I play to collect the cute girls (and cute guys) and enjoy the music… I think maybe it’s the way the text is divided or structured – forcing you to read bits of it to unlock the next scene or song – and wanting the rewards etc. I just skip all that shit – am I the only one? And I love story driven games – but damn, I just feel like all those mobile apps, the story slows down my gameplay and I just want to play and not be bogged down. Maybe because it’s slice of life? But that’s my preferred genre when reading manga or watching anime – I dunno what it is – but really – I’m not missing much by Idol M@ster not being in English – I’d be happy just with an English menu patch/release really. Good enough for me lol.
Other games like Angelique or Tokimeki Memorial or Air or Kannon etc where the story is actually interesting and good – I’ll use my smartphone to be able to enjoy the story – even though it’s inconvenient.
I already know I’ll buy Air and Tokimeki Memorial.
I’m thinking of buying Memories Off Historia 1 and 2 (a total of about 7 or 8 games there).
Plus lots of other Japanese games.
It’s awkward and cumbersome – but yes – for the most part “This will do”.
2021 is more than halfway over. Here’s what I have been playing (new releases) and what I’m looking forward to releasing for Nintendo Switch this year. They’re not in any particular order. The first one is my favorite, the next 20 are in reverse chronological order (newer games or unreleased games first) – After that, who knows lol. There’s of course many more great games that I just couldn’t cover all of them here. Nintendo Switch is truly the best console for gamer girls.
1.) Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart
Without a doubt, The game I’m most looking forward to is Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart. It won’t be in English sadly – but you can always hold your phone up to your screen and use Google Translate – that’s what I plan on doing. I already have a Japanese Nintendo Switch account and already play a few Japanese games this way. The translation isn’t perfect since it’s machine translated but if it’s the only way to play Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart, then I’ll do what I have to do. It’s inconvenient of course to hold the phone and work 2 devices, but small price to play for my hands down favorite gaming series.
Overhauled with new graphics and available as a 2pack digital or physical game. I will probably only purchase one of the games myself. Pokemon Diamond was one of the best Pokemon games. So I’m looking forward to this remake.
Available November 19, 2021 A double pack containing the Pokémon™ Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon™ Shining Pearl games will be available for purchase as a packaged version or as a digital downloadable version.
I have never played the other 2 games – or even heard of this series until now. However, it looks very fun. You choose if you want to be good or evil and it has cute anime graphics.
Available August 13, 2021 WitchSpring3 Re:Fine – The Story of Eirudy takes you deep into the Misty Forest, where the Witch Eirudy lives secluded from the rest of the world, when one day she meets an adventurous young man named Adrian in the forest, Eirudy’s life changes as she is thrown into the tide that determines the fate of deities and humans.
Mario Party is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises, so I’m excited to see a compilation of some of the older Mario Party games now releasing for the Switch.
Available October 29, 2021 Calling all Superstars! Mario Party™ is back with 5 classic boards from the Nintendo 64 Mario Party games. Frosting meets flowers as you race to get the most stars (and sabotage your opponents) on the Peach’s Birthday Cake board from the original Mario Party game.
Shin Megami Tensei is the series from which Persona became an “off-shoot”. This child has exceeded the parent now and become far more popular, but I still love Shin Megami Tensei. I don’t think I have ever played this one. I don’t know if it’s new, or possibly a remaster. Either way, I am excited for this game as well.
Available November 12, 2021 The ambitions of god and human clash amidst the horror of a dying world. Neither human nor demon, the newly-forged Nahobino and his friends must decide what is worth saving… and prepare to sacrifice everything in its name. In a world without its Creator, which path will you choose?
Available September 02, 2021 Kitaria Fables is a delightfully cute action adventure RPG with farming and crafting! Armed with a sword, bow and spellbook, fight back against a rising darkness threatening the world. Discover diverse regions in search of relics and resources, tend to your farm to grow your own provisions, and take on quests solo or with a friend in local co-op mode!
Another remastered Sonic Game – kinda meh – but it’s sonic. I rather see a new game similar to the dreamcast Sonic Adventure series. It’s the best. But I’ll take some more Sonic in my life anyways.
Available September 07, 2021 Join Sonic in the high-speed adventure of a lifetime! The evil Dr. Eggman has built a gigantic interstellar amusement park bursting with incredible rides and colorful attractions – but he’s powering it with a captured alien race called “Wisps.”
Available September 09, 2021 Restore Light to a Darkened World The last surviving member of her clan, Olympia travels to Tenguu Island to perform a ritual to bring back the sun. The heads of each district lead a society governed by rigid class structures. Able to travel between the districts, Olympia discovers their wonders and weaknesses.
Available September 10, 2021 A bold new era of the award-winning Life is Strange begins, with an all-new playable lead character and a thrilling mystery to solve! Alex Chen has long suppressed her ‘curse’: the supernatural ability to experience, absorb and manipulate the strong emotions of others, which she sees as blazing, colored auras.
Return to Arcadia Bay and experience two award-winning Life is Strange games like never before! Remastered visuals and animation breathe new life into the great cast of characters and gripping stories. The Life is Strange Remastered Collection includes ‘Life is Strange Remastered’ and ‘Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered’.
Available September 30, 2021 Experience an epic story with rewarding, turn-based combat and expansive customization rendered in glorious hand-drawn visuals. Explore the vast and beautiful world of Orcanon Visit five different cities populated by unique creatures and solve more than 20 dangerous dungeons.
I have not played the Switch version. I have it on Playstation and while it’s not my typical type of game, it’s so fun and funny. It’s like a Japanese gameshow like wipeout. It’s an elimination style obstacle course with a few minigames. The playstation one does not have local co-op. If the Switch version had local co-op I’d pick it up again. Super fun and fast easy to get started, difficult to master, type of game.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout flings hordes of contestants together online in a mad dash through round after round of escalating chaos until one victor remains! Battle bizarre obstacles, shove through unruly competitors, and overcome the unbending laws of physics as you stumble towards greatness.
Available December 03, 2021 A new chapter begins! Danganronpa V3 is coming to Nintendo Switch™ for the first time! Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Release: Part 3! Welcome to a new world of Danganronpa, and prepare yourself for the biggest, most exhilarating episode yet.
Available December 03, 2021 Danganronpa arrives on Nintendo Switch™ to celebrate its 10th anniversary! Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Release: Part 1! Hope’s Peak Academy is home to Japan’s best and brightest high school students-the beacons of hope for the future.
Available December 03, 2021 Danganronpa 2 is finally available on Nintendo Switch™! Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Release: Part 2! Jabberwock Island – once a popular tourist destination, this now uninhabited island remains oddly pristine. You and your classmates at the elite Hope’s Peak Academy have been brought to this island by your super-cute teacher for a “lovey-dovey, heart-throbbing school trip.”
Available December 03, 2021 With an all-star dream lineup of characters from each Danganronpa game, gather Hope Fragments at a tropical resort. Explore Jabberwock Island and develop your Dangan characters. Gather money through battle and upgrade your equipment, then defeat bosses and move on to the next island!
I have this on the PC and it’s an excellent game – from the creators of another excellent game called To The Moon. The writing is fantastic and the stories in their games are very emotional.
Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts have peculiar jobs: They give people another chance to live, all the way from the very beginning… but only in their patients’ heads. Due to the severity of the operation, the new life becomes the last thing the patients remember before drawing their last breath.
A journey into a magical land full of mysteries to discover. Baldo is an action adventure rpg, full of puzzles and intricate dungeons to solve. Travelling around the world, Baldo will interact with many weird and funny characters scattered everywhere, to complete the main story quest and many other sidequests.
The graphics look like a hot mess, but the concept of the game seems very fun. It claims to be very emotional and have a lot of interaction and choice and consequence.
She Dreams Elsewhere is a surreal adventure RPG about dreams and the extent to which they mirror reality. You play as Thalia, an anxiety-ridden, comatose woman on a journey to defeat the nightmares preventing her from awakening, while also finding out how exactly this mess happened in the first place.
Play as Naomi, a journalist from New York who moves to a backwoods British town called Rainy Woods in order to pay off her massive debt. The only way for her to escape from debt hell is to take pictures of happenings in the town and report on them.
Unify a broken community as the newly-appointed Guardian of The Grove. Traverse a vibrant island to combat invasive Rot, inspire its inhabitants, and rebuild your home. You won’t have to do this alone: fruity friends await, ready to lend a hand!
Play as Mineko, a curious girl who has just arrived at her new home on a struggling Japanese-inspired island at the base of Mount Fugu. The superstitious locals on the island worship the Sun Cat, Abe.
Bear and Breakfast is a laid-back management adventure game where you play as a well-meaning bear trying to run a B+B in the woods. Hank and his friends find an abandoned shack and, equipped with their teenage ingenuity, turn it into a money-making bed and breakfast scheme for unsuspecting tourists.
Set off on a grand adventure in a fantasy world with the latest entry in the Rune Factory simulation RPG series. After losing their memory, the hero lands in a small town blessed by nature. There, they are recruited into a band of peacekeeping rangers, and their new life begins.
Seek out and take in-game photographs of Pokémon in their native environments in the New Pokémon Snap™ game, only for the Nintendo Switch™ system! Snap photos from the NEO-ONE as you you encounter and research lively wild Pokémon. You might see unexpected expressions or behaviors-Pokémon patrolling their territory, playing, or lurking in out-of-the-way spots.
This company’s mobile games are always fun and cute. Lately they’ve been porting their mobile games over to Nintendo Switch. This is one of my favorites by this company. All of their games play similar so if you like this one, check out the other Kairosoft games too.
The house of your dreams is a dream no more! You play both architect and landlord in this fanciful new sim, and it’s up to you to furnish your ideal abode with anything from arcade games to saunas to convenience stores. Certain combinations can power up your rooms…and their rent.
From the BAFTA-Award winning studio behind Monument Valley and Assemble with Care comes something entirely new! Join Alba as she visits her grandparents on a Mediterranean island. She is ready for a peaceful summer of wildlife exploration with her friend Ines, but when she sees an animal in danger, she realises she needs to do something about it!
Beasts of Maravilla Island is a 3D adventure game where you take on the role of a young wildlife photographer who traverses Maravilla Island’s magical ecosystems to discover extraordinary creatures, learn their behaviors, and, most importantly, photograph their majesty!
FATAL TWELVE, the highly acclaimed suspense adventure game, is coming to Nintendo Switch™! Watch the thrilling story unfold as twelve unique characters, gathered by the Goddess of Destiny, compete against each other for a chance to undo their untimely demise. Introducing tons of events and CGs exclusive to the console edition!
Join Trainers from around the world as they head for Aeos Island to compete in Unite Battles! In Unite Battles, Trainers face off in 5-on-5 team battles to see who can score the most points within the allotted time.
Do you like adventure and strategy games?Lotus Reverie is a visual novel focused on time management, following in the footsteps of other games such as Devil Survivor and Persona.
32.) Professor Layton’s Mystery Journey Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy DX+
Level5 Announced a new PLUS version of Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy. I don’t have a link for it. It’s out in Japan already, and headed over here soon I think. Below is a link to the non PLUS version from about 3 years ago.
“LAYTON’S MYSTERY JOURNEY™: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy” revamped as “Deluxe Edition” with multiple improved features! ＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝Enhanced puzzle-solving adventure experience with the Deluxe Edition!＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝ ■NEW PUZZLES: This Deluxe Edition includes more than 40 brand-new puzzles and additionally, some refined puzzles from the Nintendo 3DS version.
Follow the critically acclaimed tale of young Amicia and her little brother Hugo, in a heartrending journey through the darkest hours of history. Hunted by Inquisition soldiers and surrounded by unstoppable swarms of rats, Amicia and Hugo will come to know and trust each other.
Nintendo has a few versions of this game, each a different story focusing on a different main character. I have not played yet. I believe it to be just a straightforward visual novel or kinetic novel. I do not think it is an idol simulation game sadly. Missed the mark for me there. I rather have Idol M@ster in English :(. I might check these out eventually though. They’re cheap at just $10 each and look cute graphic-wise.
What if your childhood friend grew up into a gorgeous young lady? What if she asked you to move in with her? What if the two of you joined forces to make her the hottest new pop idol sensation?
“You’re the idol you used to sing to on stage?” After their first live performance, Nobuyuki and Ai have a fateful encounter with the top idol, Nagisa Yukihiro.Six months later.With Miwako’s kindness, Nobuyuki and his friends attend a joint lesson with Uesugi Productions, a long-established entertainment production company.While getting involved with Nagisa through joint lessons, it is decided that an idol festival – DivaFes – will be held, but…
After experiencing joint lessons with DivaFes and Uesugi Produce.Ai and Nobuyuki have taken another step forward as idol producers. What awaits them at the time when they thought their normal life was about to start again is an encounter with new idols. ‘I’ll take care of you from now on as an idol candidate!
This version is Japanese only, but there is an English version on Steam. It is by Key makers of Clannad and Little Busters. Since there already exists an English version, and since Clannad and Little Busters are in English on Switch, I assume we will eventually see Summer Pockets on the Nintendo Switch as well.
From the award-winning creators behind Journey (2013 Game of The Year) and the highly-acclaimed Flower, comes a ground-breaking social adventure that is set to warm your hearts. Welcome to the enchanting world of Sky, a beautifully-animated kingdom waiting to be explored by you and your loved ones.
Air is my FAVORITE visual novel by KEY – makers of games such as Clannad and Summer Pockets (I didn’t like Little Busters and Rewrite very much honestly). But Air – man I cry like a baby. I love it. I wish to god it was in English – I played a fan translated version way back in the day – plus loved the anime adaptations. But Air is arriving on Nintendo Switch in Japan next month. I might buy it and Tsukihime and work my Google Translate phone live scanning as I play it – which is what I plan to do for some of the other games on my list. Not the best – but until someone translates them, what can I do?
Sugar Style is coming to Switch later this year. Although this version is Japanese only, you can already play Sugar Style in English on the PC via Steam.
Sugar * Style is a Japanese-style visual novel produced by Smee, a Japanese developer of romance VNs. This is going to be the springtime of my life!A little while back, a scam artist got the best of my parents and put my family deep in debt.
This one surprisingly is being released in English. I remember covering news of its announcement at the last Nintendo Live event – However, I commented that it was only shown in the Japanese Nintendo Live and not the American one. Well, despite not being featured in the Nintendo Live Direct Event, here we have Caligula 2 releasing in English this October. The first game is very fun and often gets compared to Persona – It’s not nearly as good as Persona – but still good – and maybe 2 will be even better. I’ll be picking it up for sure.
Only in Japanese at the moment. It lets you play as a landlord and customize lots. Looks like fishing and farming are key. By the makers of Rune Factory.
It says it’s in English on the Japanese store page but I could not find it in the American Nintendo Eshop. I downloaded it because it’s 30% off right now. I’ll let you know if it’s any good.
“Bear restaurant” In this restaurant, the dead will have the last supper. Hamburgers, omelets, sushi, pudding, anything. Let us cook your favorite dish when you were alive. This is a story about “Bear” and “Cat”. You are “Cat”, the assistant of “Bear”, who is running this restaurant.
The classic otome game Bakumatsu Renka SHINSENGUMI is now more beautiful and easier to play than ever! This is a romance game for women where you become the first female soldier in the Shinsengumi, fight alongside the other soldiers, and fall in love. Experience historical battles alongside the likes of Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita.
In a world with four kingdoms, each colored by a season, where roles are granted by the Quadeities, strange happenings suddenly threaten the peace there. A quest begins to find each one’s calling in this intrigued fate and journey through the kingdoms to get to the bottom of the mystery!
The time that I spent with you at the house, the journey at dusk, the lost city and the way back home through the white breathing snow… “Stray Cat Doors”‘s continuation is finally here! It’s a escape adventure game where you solve the mystery and clear each stage with a cute character.
Aksys Games announced they’ll publish the Otomate-developed otome visual novel Paradigm Paradox on Nintendo Switch. Paradigm Paradox is set in the year 25XX, where mankind has been isolated in colonies. The protagonist, Yuuki Takanashi, is a student and completely bored.
LiEat is the classic story of a vagabond traversing a strange and mysterious world together with a dragon protégé, buying and selling secrets, while also attempting to uncover the truth about themselves.
Girls battle with sweets falling block puzzle! With Single play, 1P versus &2P versus mode. 3 sweets which are same and connected will disappear. And sweet in bottle be broke by other bottle fell on it. It is also for beginner to lightly enjoy the puzzle combo. Total of 8 character appear.
Sumire is an indie narrative adventure, featuring a one-day journey through a picturesque Japanese village. In this enchanted place, a disenchanted girl named Sumire meets a mischievous spirit who makes her a deal to fulfill her most desired wish.
Calico is a day-in-the-life community sim game where you are given an important and adorable task: rebuild the town’s cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures! You will journey to a small village filled with magical girls and other fantastical friends, where you are placed in charge of a run down cat café.
Cast your friends, family, or anyone you choose in a comedy-filled adventure to bring down the face-stealing Dark Lord! Create and customize Mii™ characters, assign them roles, and watch them come to life. Laugh along as your best friend and dear old grandma team up in the fantasy adventure of a lifetime!
■Real and fluffy! The Djungarian hamster expressed in 3D reproduces the unique fluffiness of the hair! Djungarian hamsters that move in various ways in a cage are healed just by looking at them. ■Introducing over 30 types of Djungarian hamster with various features.
Angelique is a very popular Otome series – but sadly – 25 years have gone by, and never a single Angelique game has ever been released in English. Again not to worry, you can use your phone and google translate to get a rough idea of the story.
CLANNAD Side Stories is an anthology of sixteen short stories penned by the scenario writers of the original CLANNAD visual novel. Featuring episodes set both before and after the events of CLANNAD, this collection is fully voiced by a stellar cast and brought to life by the gorgeous illustrations of acclaimed artist GOTO-P.
Welcome to Olive Town, a peaceful community established by your trailblazing grandfather and his friends. Now that you’ve taken over his farm, it’s your job to carry on his legacy. Plant crops, raise animals, build relationships, and get to know the residents of your new home in this brand-new entry in the STORY OF SEASONS series!
One month after Subaru’s life in another world began, an emissary brings news to royal candidate Emilia that the royal selection is postponed. A nun named Melty Pristis has appeared to defy prophecy as the mysterious sixth candidate seeking the throne.
Romance Of The Three Kingdoms has been one of my favorite strategy games ever since SNES Super Nintendo back in the 90s. I’m glad to see we’re starting to get some of the newer games in English again.
About the Game] The Diplomacy and Strategy Expansion Pack for the series’ latest title “ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV” is available at last! An all new world of strategy awaits you. Make a display of your strategies on an increasingly worldly stage!
In this kingdom management RPG, petitioners will arrive in the throne room each turn to ask for your advice and assistance. Decide whether to help them with their problems, or to conserve resources for more important matters. Remember: supplies are limited, and not everyone has the kingdom’s best interests at heart…
In the year 3716, humanity lives under constant risk of ruin from a colossal alien threat known as “GIGANT”. Fleeing its destruction, a mysterious young girl arrives on ARK-3, a magnificent city built in the sky. Ciel Fledge is a game about raising an adopted daughter in a future world that still has hope.
From the popular avatar “Selfy”, played by 13 million people globally, comes a new fashion coordinating game for the Nintendo Switch! As a newbie stylist, you get to travel around the world to coordinate outfits of your dreams! You can even make your own portfolio and share with your friends♬ Aim to be a top-rated stylist♬You are a newbie stylist working at shop “2-way”.
Become a princess of a magical castle! Pretty Princess Party on the Nintendo Switch transports you to a magical land to explore a long-abandoned enchanted castle. Learn to be a princess and decorate the castle any way you wish. Begin by creating a princess character with endless choices of dresses, shoes, accessories, and hairstyles.
A discounted set featuring all three Mysterious series DX titles: – “Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX” Main Game – “Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX” Main Game – “Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings DX” Main Game The “Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX Digital Art Book”, “Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX Digital Art Book”, and “Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings DX Digital Art Book” are included as a purchase bonus.
The beloved 1998 RPG Classic, SaGa Frontier, is reborn with improved graphics, additional features, and a new main character! Experience this role-playing adventure as one of the eight heroes, each with their own storyline and goals. With the Free Scenario system, unfold your own unique journey.
With a story by G.O. and art by Kuuchuu yousai, the PC gaming brand Frontwing presents the popular sci-fi romance-adventure series ISLAND. The secret of this world is uncovered through scattered keywords and masterful foreshadowing in this magnificent telling of an epic tale.
Experience Laid-Back Camp in 3D! Together, Nadeshiko (you!) and Rin embark on a new camping adventure at Lake Motosu, taking pictures and trying lots of delicious food. About the Game Set near scenic Mt. Fuji, Nadeshiko, Rin & co. encounter a variety of unique situations.
Experience Laid-Back Camp in 3D! Together, Rin (you!) and Nadeshiko embark on a new camping adventure at the Fumoto Campsite, taking pictures and trying lots of delicious food. About the Game Nadeshiko, Rin & co. encounter a variety of unique situations.
To get started please enter a query above or explore one of the pages below: Explore hundreds of games and find the one for you-fast! Catch up on all the latest Nintendo news. Dedicated section for Nintendo Switch packed with all the info you’ll ever need.
A gothic suspense tale set in a cursed mansion. ‘The House in Fata Morgana’ is a full-length visual novel spanning nearly a millennium that deals in tragedy, human nature, and insanity. This version includes three games and more: 1: The House in Fata Morgana: the main storyline.
Aksys Games is localizing the otome visual novel Lover Pretend, the company revealed today. A release window was not shared. Here’s some information about Lover Pretend: Chiyuki lives alone, spending all her time studying for university and doing part-time work. She has two dreams in life: to become a scriptwriter – also a dream of her late mother – and…
“Steam Prison” is coming to Nintendo Switch with upgraded content!! [Synopsis]There are two kinds of people.The rulers and the ruled. A catastrophic flood split the world into two.The Heights, a gorgeous utopia.
I recently shared news of the launch of Alice Closet, a new free mobile game with anime artwork by famed manga artist Arina Tanemura. Arina’s works include Full Moon Wo Sagashite, Phantom Thief Jeanne, and Time Stranger Kyoko, just to name a few popular shoujo manga by this artist.
I have been playing the game since launch and I am loving it so far. I did purchase some of the cash items admittedly, but the game is free to play and the cash items are totally optional.
The game offers a lot of dressup options by allowing you to control 4 characters at once pretty early on in the game.
Gameplay: 10/10 Gameplay is similar to other anime dressup games. You play gacha or complete story levels, quests, and achievements to unlock new outfits for your characters. You can piece together unique outfits from multiple layered items such as Hair, hats, headbands, hair accessories (yes you can wear all 3 of those categories at once if you want), shoes, socks, pants, skirts, dresses, coats, leg accessories, arm accessories, hand held objects, floor objects, etc. Objects are ranked based on scores such as fancy, cute, elegant, cool, warm, rural, etc.
Use your outfits to complete story driven levels, or go head to head with other players in fashion battles. The fashion battles reset weekly with prizes going to those who rank well. You can see how you rank with friends or against the whole server.
You can unlock limited time titles, event items, and more by participating in the frequent time limited events and other special content. Since the game just launched, there are a lot of events going on right now. Some examples of in game events currently being held include a themed cafe “mini level” where you earn “cake”. It plays similar to the story levels of the game, all single player. You can trade the cakes for limited time outfits. You are also scored and ranked based on how many cakes you’ve collected throughout the event.
Other events include time limited gacha outfits that only stay around for a few days at a time. There’s also more permanent gacha and some even offer free spins every few hours.
Other gameplay elements include running your own store. You must serve NPC customers who come to your shop by fulfilling their requests by dressing them in your existing items (don’t worry you aren’t actually selling or losing your items). Example, a customer might request elegant hair accesories and socks and a budget of 5,000 gold.
After you serve your customers, you will earn points and again be scored and ranked each week for how successful your store is. You might also encounter VIP customers who if you service them repeatedly will reward you with rare outfits and more.
Story: 5/10 – A twist on Alice In Wonderland. I did read the story up through chapter 1-5 or so, I saw the berserk Alice and thought that was interesting. But at some times – most of the times honestly – the story drags. I started skipping story, but will occasionally read it still if something looks interesting.
The basic premise is that you are from Earth and meet a young man from another world when both of you suddenly get teleported to his world. He tells you about mana and seeds and Alice. Alice are lifelike dolls, and the world is full of Alice owners. Alice owners love to challenge eachother to dressup battles to see whose Alice is the most powerful. Meanwhile you’re searching for a way home.
Early in the game, there is a lot of foreshadowing about berserk Alice and bad things happening a long time ago. It begins to repeat itself but you and your Alice save the day. Shiki seems strange after that and mumbles about having seen something like that before. Edgar also seems to know more than he tells you.
After learning about the legendary Alice and berserk Alice, you are invited to a special Alice competition by invite only. A Strange rabbit appears too.
Characters 6/10 – The characters are all based on Alice in Wonderland – There’s Gren the mad hatter, Shiki (I dunno if he is the white rabbit or if the rabbit is the white rabbit), Edgar (I haven’t figured out who he most closely resembles, maybe the catepillar?), The queen of hearts, a Lolita girl (also haven’t decided which character she is supposed to be). Etc. I like this twist on a new Alice in Wonderland story. It’s something I’ve seen before in other anime and otome, but not quite like this. I also love the Alice(s) themselves as I collect real life anime dolls, so the game fondly reminds me of my dolls. And dressing up and customizing the Alices is the best part. Ultimately though the story and character development are too slow to grow deeply connected to any of the characters.
Voice Acting: 8/10 The characters are partially but not fully voiced. There are a few typos in dialogue and the voices are in Japanese only at this time. The voice acting is actually good though.
Music: 6/10 Not many tracks, but the ones that are there are very nice.
Graphics: 10/10 – definitely the highlight of this game is the gorgeous artwork by Arina Tanemura. I would play this game just for the artwork alone. Some items are even animated. So many options with layering and other things too. It’s a beautiful game, especially for shoujo or lolita fans.
Replay Value: 10/10 – so many events, limited time items, quests, and daily tasks. I’m a daily player already hooked. Love it.
Community: 4/10 – No guild system? Or I’m not far enough to have unlocked it? No chat system. They do have an official facebook page for fans. And there are plenty of ranked and scored competitions with other players. You do have a large friendlist capacity up to 200 people, but seems you can’t do much besides send eachother stamina, view photos/outfits, see your rankings, and vote/compete in the online competitions with your friends. Seems they could’ve done more here honestly.
Still my favorite game series of all time, Lunar, deserves a sequel and has plenty of source material to derive such a sequel or rather, prequel from. What I’d like to play is the original tale that started it all, playing as Dyne, with the original reincarnation of the goddess Althena, and Ghaleon, and Mel, and the other 4 heroes (whose names I’ve forgotten at the moment). Of course, they could always just spin it off in a new direction in a future somewhere and use return appearances or references of some of the characters. But the logical next step to me, would be to let us see and play the tale of the original 4 heroes.
2.) Suikoden
Well Konami is crap and only cares about gambling pachinko machines these days – but that didn’t stop the original creators of Suikoden from starting a successfully funded kickstarter to a spiritual successor of Suikoden called Eiyuuden. I already backed it… It’s estimated to take about 2 years before we’ll see it. The gameplay is 100% Suikoden, just for legal reasons they couldn’t use that name, so Eiyuuden it is now. Recruit the stars of destiny. Some are chefs, or shop keepers, some are fighters, build your fortress, 6 team battles, etc. Suikoden is long one of my favorite game series. 2 is still the best really, but they’re all awesome. Very excited about this kickstarter. They’re posting lots of updates over here. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitandbearstudios/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes
3. Azure Dreams
One of my favorites back on PS1. I don’t think there was ever any sequels. There was a watered down version for GBA or Gameboy Color, but it was fundamentally different because they took out the best parts of the game, the dating and town building, leaving only a randomly procedurally generated dungeon crawling game. Still fun but lacking from the original. I’d like to see a sequel. A few different indie projects have taken inspiration from this series, but none have quite hit the mark for me.
4. Jade Cocoon
This game isn’t well received, but honestly I enjoyed it for its deep level monster breeding aspects. The last sequel was in 2001. One of the kickstarters I backed recently and shared on this blog mention they were inspired by both Azure Dreams and Jade Cocoon – so we will have to wait to see how the final product turns out. Read more about that kickstarter here.
5. Monster Rancher
How fun was this game? Pop in ANY CD – could be a music CD, game CD, DVD, movie, whatever – and generate a unique monster. I had (and probably still have) an enormous collection of CDs (games, movies, not so much music), and finding rare monsters was so much fun and so exciting. Exploring, Training, and Fighting the monsters, also fun. Now in a world of digital games, they would need a different system. I think it could be a fun mobile game, maybe like Pokemon GO, using some type of VR elements to find and capture monsters maybe. If it was on console or PC perhaps it could scan your digital library or use bar codes or CD key codes or something of that nature. There was a mobile game at one point but I recall it not being very good honestly. Monster Rancher was popular enough to have 4 or 5 sequels, but I believe the last was on PS3? or maybe even PS2? Let’s bring it back for PS5 – or better yet, the Nintendo Switch.
6. Dragon Seeds
Am I the only one who remembers this game? Like Monster Rancher, it too allowed you to generate random monsters, though not from discs. I believe it used some type of in-game items (strands of DNA) that you found while battling. Was there a sequel? I feel like there may have been 2 games maybe total? But maybe only one (too lazy to look it up right now). I think both were on PS1, with possibly the sequel – if it exists – being on PS2. I enjoyed this little underrated gem. I liked that I could battle in 2 player mode – but now with the internet – and online games – it seems those capabilities could be expanded.
7. Arc The Lad
Working Deisgns brought us almost all of these games back on PS1 (and likely is the reason they shortly thereafter went bankrupt) There may have been a few sequels on PS2, but now I’m pretty sure it’s been over a decade, perhaps nearing two decades, and no new installments in this series. I liked the branching plot, deep storyline, and anime graphics of these games. Why did they stop making them? They had so many of them at one time. Working Designs collection had what? 4? or 5? of them I think, and I know there were others released after that too. It seems weird for a once wildly successful RPG series to just vanish.
8. Lost Odyssey
The only reason to own an Xbox gaming console in my opinion is for Lost Odyssey. It legitimately is one of the greatest RPGs of all time. But I’m too lazy to dig my Xbox (360 I think right?) out just to play one game. I loved this game deeply. I know the creator is working on some mobile shit now and we’ll probably never see a sequel to this game ever in our lifetimes – which is a shame. What a waste of such talent. But I know he’s got to make a living and just going to where the money is (with mobile games and pay to win being the new way kids are gaming in 2000 and beyond). I’d like to see him return to work on Lost Odyssey 2… Or even just a port / remake of the original…. I’d even buy a next gen Xbox console just for this one damn game or its well deserved sequel, and then never sell it, so I could replay it over and over.
9. Skies Of Arcadia
Here’s another great, and forgotten RPG game – It has had a few remakes and ports, but never a sequel. Why the hell not? A quick google search tells me that the creator wants to make a sequel and aknowledges there is a strong fanbase – so why the hell doesn’t he just make a kickstarter campaign? Duh… Even if you have to change the game title and tweak the gameplay “just enough” That’s what everyone else is doing. Suikoden became Eiyuuden, etc. Shenmue 3 finally came out via Kickstarter, and loads of other games got long awaited sequels. One thing’s for sure, if Skies of Arcadia creators did start a kickstarter, I’d back it. It’d probably be funded in like less than 24 hours. For sure. One of the best, most unique, fun, and outstanding RPGs, ever made. It is now over 20 years old.
10. Inherit The Earth
Well this is already happening – although it’s taking its bloody sweet time in development. It appears to still be happening at least. Seems the last update on the website was about 4 or 5 months ago now. This was a childhood favorite of mine. The sequel looks interesting…. from what little is actually shown…… the patreon page is mostly web comics? But it seems there is going to be a sequel to this game… we can only hope. I mean it’s only been almost thirty years since the first game and all…. lol. You can follow the progress on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/wyrmkeep/posts or take a look at the official website… which is pretty damn bare at this point. http://inherittheearth2.com/ The web page does show 2 youtube videos… which gives me a little hope that something might eventually come from this project.
Support Inherit the Earth: Sand and Shadows development by becoming a patron at http://patreon.com/wyrmkeep.May 2019 development update for Inherit the Earth…
But sadly, the most recent video is from May 2019 – almost a year ago. Perhaps this project is dead in the water now? Although it is still very deserving of a sequel. I hope to see it reach its goal someday.
11. Ever 17
This is one of the best visual novels of all time – I don’t care if it has typos and if the names are confusing – that’s arguably, intentional, anyways. Not the typos, but the name thing, you know. It’s one of the most mind fuckery games ever created, with huge revelations upon completing all branches, that nicely tie the story up and make it all, finally in the end, make sense. I do know that Ever 17 is part of a large series of games including Never 7 and Remember 11 – which I have played thanks to fan translations. Only Ever 17 was commercially released in North America, for the PC by the now bankrupt and defunct, Hirameki International. I love all the games, but Ever 17 was arguably the best. There’s also Riven 12, by the same developers, but as far as I know it did not receive a fan translation. After Riven 12, the creators went on to develop 999, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, whatever it was called, as well as Zero Escape and Nonary Games. The creator is hard at work right now on a new game, that’s not actually a visual novel, but still does have a branching plot, and like Ever 17 takes place in an abandoned theme park. I saw footage of it during the Nintendo Live Direct. So it appears to be coming along nicely still in 2020.
Anyways I don’t really want a sequel to Ever 17 because it’s perfect the way it is. The ending after all routes is perfect, leaving not a single question unanswered. But I do want someone to port this game to Steam or Nintendo Switch please for the love of god. Why hasn’t anyone brought this over yet? No one should own the rights anymore to it, so it seems like easy pickings. Someone even said years ago it was spotted in the steam database, so where the hell is it? I just want to play my favorite Visual Novel again please? thx.
12. Dogz and Catz – Petz
Ok so Dogz and Catz is argueably still going. Ubisoft bought them, and there’s been a few games here or there, but they’re poor clones of nintendogs at this point. They have lost what made them so great. Using the perfume to breed Muttz, to get unique looking petz, to mod the game to create your own breedz, the community – which could now be brought into an online or even mobile aspect to have showz, and so much more. I want THAT petz experience again please and thank you. Or at least bring PF Magic Petz 1-4 or whatever onto Steam or GOG.
13. Princess Maker
Where the hell is Princess Maker 4? People don’t particularly like it, because it’s text heavy and more like a visual novel, but I loved it. It had the cutest princess by far. Although Princess Maker 2, actually looks damn close to my real life self, with the brown curly hair, and brown eyes, lol. I like the animation style of Princess Maker 4 so much. Princess Maker 5 is kinda rather ugly, but I know the gameplay is better. I still haven’t beat it yet. It’s a long and slow game. Well that’s true of all the Princess Maker Games, but 5 feels slower than 1-3. I dunno why. I want 4 so bad I can taste it. I think I read one of the reasons it isn’t included is because of the ending where you can marry the princess. So if that’s all the fuss, just remove that one ending, shouldn’t be that difficult. I also heard it has too much text and they don’t want to bother translating all of it. Stop being lazy. We want PM4. Say it with me now. I’m still waiting… But while I’m waiting for that… where the hell is Princess Maker 6? When the hell was the last time a Princess Maker game was made in Japan? Like a million years ago? I just googled it and 5 was released in 2007… that was almost 20 years ago. We need more daughters. Release the daughters to us immediately.
14. Graduation
OK the last time we had a graduation game was in 1995… It was I think the 2nd? possibly 3rd game in the series in Japan and after that, they had many more graduation games, including Graduation M with all male students. These are not hentai games, though there is some questionable things, like you can marry all the students all at once lol. But anyways, these games are awesome. Can we at LEAST pretty please get the already 1995 English version on Steam or GOG? Please? Remember when GOG used to be for “great old games” – now it’s like an indie marketplace or Steam clone, and that’s a damn shame. I want more OLD GAMES. Gimme Graduation. I love the theme song. I love the game play. I love the whole game. I still play it from time to time. It’s challenging, it’s fun. It has a certain randomness to it, and unpredictability to it. It’s hard actually. You have to manage not just one daughter, but 5 or more girls (or boys in Graduation M). There’s dozens of endings, for each character. The voice acting was SOOOOOOOO bad. lol. I reviewed Graduation 95 over here. Can we get a re-release, with new voice acting? that’d be great.
15. Oreshika Tainted Blood Lines
I did not know until I went looking trying to remember what the hell this game was called, that I found out it was 1, a remake, of a 2011 psp game and 2, a sequel of a 1999 ps1 game. Oreshika Tainted Blood Lines was released in 2007 and a PS vita exclusive at the time. I really enjoyed it. It is very unique. And in some ways reminded a little bit of Azure Dreams. It has dungeon crawling, and a generational element. It stands out in my mind. And anything that stands out deserves a sequel. It seems to get remade or ported to other systems, about once a decade. So I think it’s time we see a remake or sequel of this unique dungeon crawling multigenerational RPG.
16. Earthbound (AKA Mother)
OK I know A.) The creators of Earthbound have 0 interest in any more games in the series. B.) The one we know in North America is Mother 2. C.) There are fan translations for at least one, if not both of the other Mother games. D.) Mother 3 is one of the greatest RPGs of all time according to many sources. E.) This has led to fans demanding a fourth game. Creators explicitly refused, which led to fans developing their own 4th game. F.) Work on the 4th game began in 2010. It originally was going to be a free no cost fan game. G.) Last year, it was announced it would sever ties with the Mother series and become its own commercial project titled Oddity. It remains to be seen how similar or dissimilar Oddity will be to Earthbound / Mother.
In the meanwhile while we wait for Oddity, could we get all 3 of the other games officially released in North America? And available on Nintendo Switch. I think the one we already know and love is available as part of the nintendo online thing. Maybe.
17. Breath Of Fire
What in god’s name happened to Breath of Fire? One of the greatest RPG series of all time and a favorite of my childhood? The last I heard, there was a mobile one a few years ago? When the hell was the last console installment? PS2? I think? It’s long overdue. Feels like forever ago. We miss you so much. Come back to us!
18. Tsukihime
OK where the hell is the Tsukihime remake? I remember sharing news that the remake was under way, like 10, or even 20 years ago, here on my blog… They keep pumping out god damn Fate/Stay Night/Extella games… All I want is Tsukihime. One of the best visual novels I ever played. We never did receive an official release. I was lucky enough to play the fan translation. Tsukihime is a long ass visual novel. It’s graphic and violent as hell. It has rape and murder. But also a pretty damn interesting story about psychosis and childhood and love and other interesting things. I assume we never got it because 1.) There’s a few possible incestuous things going on, and 2.) It’s just too damn offensive and violent. It is definitely a Porn game or Hentai game – however, it’s a LONG ASS game – did I mention this game is REALLY FREAKING LONG?!!! And the amount of Porn or Hentai only accounts for like 2-4% of the total story – So it’s not that bad – I’ve seen worse on American TV. Plus, I think it mostly could be edited out if they really wanted to? Without changing much of the story really.
I liked the story. I’m a woman, and I’m not offended by this game. It was quite interesting. I like the mystery aspect. Really probably the murder is no worse than say similar novels like Higarushi, although perhaps the rape thing would be bad, because of the latest in “cancel culture” I mean if we can’t handle a skunk hitting on cats, how will we handle a young man whose vampire hunting bloodlines, give him uncontrollable desires and urges to kill a vampire princess, in the most brutal of ways, only for her to appear before him the next day after being thoroughly violated in every way imaginable. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. You see, as the story goes on, we learn why he has these urges, we learn about his fucked up family, his case of mistaken identity, psychosis, and childhood trauma, and why the heck he was sent away from his family as a child in the first place, and in the end, he even falls in love with this vampire he tried to rape and kill, and would do anything to protect her…. or not… the choice is up to you.
There’s other romanceable characters too – but she is definitely “cannon” (that is, the developer’s obvious path that they want you to take). But, you won’t know the whole story, unless you complete all the routes, the last of which is one of the lovely maid twins. There in lies the secrets to what the hell is actually going on in this bizarre, but brilliant mystery.
Uhhh OK I just went to google… to see where the fuck this remake is… because it was legit announced almost 2 decades ago… and it appears it’s COMING Summer of this year of our lord in 2021 AD. – they have a trailer and everything now…. How exciting…. Will we see it in English? Let us hope. If so, it will be the first time most English speaking gamers experience this beautiful story. One of the best, most intriguing visual novels I have ever played – and I’ve played just about damn near every visual novel ever. Tsukihime is one of my favorites. Top 5 for sure. LET’S GET EXCITED PEOPLE COME ON!!! Demand an English release of this game please. Write to everyone possible LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN!
TYPE-MOON’s long-awaited remake of its cult-classic visual novel, Tsukihime, is set for a Summer release in 2021 on consoles. Best known currently for their popular mobile game, Fate/Grand Order, was one of TYPE-MOON’s original works. Released in December 2000, Tsukihime served as the starting point for TYPE-MOON’s numerous franchises.
Ok this is an odd one – Pretty sure no one reading this will know what the fuck this is lol. It’s a playstation 1 game, that’s KINDA almost like Monopoly in a way…. We also recently saw Billion Road on Nintendo Switch (I’ve been meaning to do a review of that, but haven’t gotten around to it). It’s kinda like Billion Road too… Sort of… But not really? I dunno it’s hard to explain. It’s like Kairosoft’s Mall Story and Mall Story 2, but multiplayer? LOL. You roll dice and move around a shopping mall. If the building is empty, you can open your own store. If someone owns the store, you pay fees. You can upgrade your properties (similar to adding houses or hotels in monopoly). The visuals are cute. The theme is cute. I dunno it’s very fun. It’s been well over 30 years now since the game was on PS1. Reminiscent also of 100% Orange Juice kinda? I mean all of these games, are KINDA like Top Shop, but none quite EXACTLY the same? Top Shop is the best of its genre. I want to play it right now lol. Very very fun party game or 2 player versus game.
20. Air
OK Arguably the best Key Visual Novel – There is a fan translation for this game. I have played it. We got Clannad in English for multiple platforms now. And we get Key’s other new games, like Summer Pockets – I want them to give an official release of Air (and also Kanon, but my list is limited to 20 games, and I liked Air a little more than Kanon). Both Air and Kanon are better than Little Busters, and whatever else garbage Key games we got. The only other really great Key Game we got was Clannad. For me, I’d rank Air 1, Clannad 2, Kanon 3, haven’t played enough of Summer Pockets to rank it yet. Little Busters somewhere near the damn bottom. And the other one – oh Rewrite, yeah I’d put Rewrite dead last of the Key games. I greatly prefer Air and Kanon over Rewrite. Rewrite was so boring I never did finish it, same with Little Busters. Snoozeville. Is there any hope we will ever see official releases of Air or Kanon? In English ever? Air is so damn sad. The anime makes me cry like a little bitch. Every time she is just lying on the bed crying and crying and crying and crying…. It might be the saddest anime I’ve ever seen, and one of the saddest visual novels I’ve ever seen. If you remember the movie, Benjamin Buttons, it’s basically like that, yeah? That plus toss in some reincarnation and ancient curses, and first love, and fucked up mother/daughter neglectful relationship, and the mending there of that relationship, and death, and rebirth, and there you have the story of Air.
Honorable Mention:
Tactics Ogre:
Tactics Ogre definitely gets an honorable mention on my list. There have been recent interviews with the creators of the series and talks about possibly porting the existing games or a new game, but nothing currently in the works. It is like Final Fantasy Tactics, but more advanced? And with a branching plot? and Some good/evil/neutral type of elements going into it. It’s one of my favorites. It gets remade ever so often. First appearing on Super Nintendo in the 90s, with Sequels on Game Boy Advance (I think?) and N64 (one of the only good RPG on N64), and remakes on PS1 and PSP. It’s been well over 20 years since we’ve had a new entry, or a remake. I’d like to see the old ones brought to Steam, Mobile, and Nintendo Switch, and eventually some day, a brand new Ogre Battle or Tactics Ogre game.
Well there are lots of other games that deserve to be on this list too of course. Tell me, what game do you think deserves a sequel? Are you a fan of any of the games on our list? Leave me a comment below!
I just watched both the English AND Japanese Nintendo Direct Lives – and it came as a little surprise to me, that they both feature some different games!! – The Japanese one looks fantastic! So many good games for girls. The North American one – not as much but still some good surprises!
You can watch both of the presentations below for yourself in full. Each one is an hour long. Each one has a few of the same games – but also some unique to each region. I hope beyond hope that most of those Japanese games will get an English release!
I have a Japanese nintendo switch account and an American nintendo switch account – so I can play both – but I can’t read or speak or understand Japanese so… still hoping for some English releases.
Tune in to a Nintendo Direct presentation featuring roughly 50 minutes of information focused on available games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate and games com…
Miitopia remake – now with horses and some extra costume features
Untitled Triangle Project Strategy RPG where your decisions influence the story – probably most excited about this game overall!
Famicom Detective Club – I already saw this in the upcoming release on Nintendo Eshop and immediately added both games to my wishlist. I have a MIGHTY NEED. 🙂 First time in America. I’d never heard of or played any of these, but they look hella awesome.
Bravely Default 2 – I am a fan of this series and looking forward to this new game,
Skyward Sword remake – kinda “meh” about this… I rather have seen a link to the past remake (my fave) or Ocarina remake (everyone elses’ fave)
DC Super Power Teen Girls (or whatever the hell it’s called) – The voice acting is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad – damn nasty. But the game itself… might be pretty sweet. It is an action game with some life sim elements. I’m down for that. – The Japanese voice acting is SOOOOOOOOO much better and actually cute… Not annoying like the American garbage voice actresses in this game. Still… will probably play it.
World’s End Club – from the creators of dangan ronpa and zero escape – pretty excited about this one. Kinda wish it was less actiony and more live novel-ly. but I’m still looking forward to it.
So I think that covered all of the games in the North American feed that I was excited for…. which is quite a large number – there were other games, but largely they were action or shoot em up games – not my style at all.
So moving on to the Japanese version here’s what I’m really excited about that I hope will get an English release!
Japanese Nintendo Switch Announcements:
Caligula 2 – I’m a big fan of the first game. So come on and give us an English release of this one too please!
Shin-Chan’s Summer Vacation – I highly doubt we will ever get this game. As far as I know we never got the anime, any of the other games, or any of the merchandise. But this looks wholesome as fuck. I want to play this. This is the game we need right now.
Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town – We are in fact getting this game next month in English and everything – so not sure why it was so coldly left out of the North American live stream – guess they think we are all barbarians who only like to shoot and kill things – despite Animal Crossing still being the top earning game for the switch – fucking face palm…. If I’m ever a millionaire, I’ll make my own video game console and video games and hire all the Japanese developers and scenario writers and animators – and do global releases and announcements for all of the games – and focus mostly on girl games. That’s my dream anyways – equal representation for games for girls – why wasn’t it in the damn live stream? Discrimination. Makes me sad they assume that we don’t care about these games because it means fewer of these games in the future and continuing to get left behind of all these awesome games for girls that come to Japan, and sadly stay in Japan – luckily that’s NOT the case for this game. Looking forward to playing it on March 23, 2021 – In English.
“Untitled” Otome Game – Where you play as a girl cross dressing as a boy – and date boys – it’s at about 40:00 into the Japanese live stream – not sure what this game is – looks good though. We do have a pretty high track record of getting Otome games on the switch – soooo fingers crossed!
I would best describe “Tell Me Why” as an LGBT+ visual novel puzzle solving adventure game. The gameplay is similar to Tell Tale’s Walking Dead, or D4 Dark Dreams Don’t Die, or Quantic Dreams’ Detroit Become Human, and of course DONTNOD’s other adventure games such as Life is Strange. All of which I love. So It comes as no surprise that I would then also love Tell Me Why.
So let me tell you why (pun intended lol).
Although it is a game about transgendered youth and homosexuality, and I am a straight born this way female, I have always accepted gay rights and had no issues with that being the focus of the game. Most my family has always been against gays but even from a young age I would try to argue that they should be allowed to love who they love.
And from a young age I’ve felt just as I’ve been born into this world as a straight female, they too have been born into this world as a gay male/female or feel gender disassociation with their own bodies.
I really strongly feel that it is not a moral thing. It doesn’t corrupt our children or our society because it is not a conscious choice. It is not something someone chooses. It’s not like someone just wakes up one day and says hey I want to be gay today I saw it on TV or in a game and it looks fun. LOL.
There’s too many cases of very small children, talking like toddlers here, that want to dress as the other gender or insist they are not their biological gender, etc.
It’s not a sexual thing since it’s way before they have any concept of sexual desire or sexuality. It’s just they feel different. So I’m pretty confident that it’s not some dark terrible horrible thing. That’s how I’ve always felt. Even back in the 80s/90s when being gay was largely not acceptable for society.
I’m straight but I feel it’s fine for other people if they wanna be gay, let them be gay, what’s it hurt?
As for the religious angle, I always say God doesn’t make any mistakes. God created man – and woman – and he looked at his creation and he said “It is good.” – And besides if God doesn’t approve of gays, well that’s between them and god – only god can judge them – we have no right to judge other humans when we too have sins of our own. We all sin. The two main commandments are to love god and love thy neighbor. There is no commandment that says thou shall not be gay. lol.
Ok sorry by the way I am ignorant and really don’t know all the politically correct polite terms for LGBT+ stuff. So Excuse me. I don’t want to offend anyone here. Really really not my intention. Much love.
I honestly have no idea if Tyler would be called a transgendered man or a transgendered female or if it’s even politically incorrect to call him trans at all, maybe he should just be called he/him/his or referred to as a man. So that’s what I’ll try to do is refer to him in the masculine.
Alright, now that we have all of that out of the way, let’s talk about the actual game.
I already compared it to other similar games, but in case you’re completely new to any of these games, the gameplay is like this: it’s like an interactive movie. You watch it and sometimes you can take control of walking around but most of the time not. You watch and watch and watch, and occasionally there will be some prompts for interaction. Such as replying from multiple choice responses.
Now I want to point out – most reviews are positive – but I saw one negative review (there are other negative reviews but this jumped out at me) and they said they only ever had 2 choices and it was pretty clear which one was the correct answer – I disagree. I saw numerous times 3 or 4 or more choices especially later in the game.
I spent 73 hours with the game and completed all 3 chapters.
The person making the negative review said he spent 8 hours.
Only less than 50% of users on steam have even completed chapter 2.
Less than like 40% have found the princesses treasure – I won’t say what it is because it’s a pretty shocking spoiler.
Less than 50% keep the twins connection – on the other hand – less than 3% complete the game with the twins severing their connection.
Of course multiple play throughs are needed to get both.
Less than 40% find out who their father is
Less than 40% get the confession from Tessa
Less than 40% make peace with Mary-Ann at her grave, etc.
So no, it’s not clearly black or white, as it’s about 50-50 what people have chosen to do on their play throughs – if they’ve even played long enough to see all the choices available.
I’m the type of player who likes to run around exploring every nook and cranny and going everywhere else except or where the story is prompting me to go. I’m an explorer. That’s my play style. It’s not even that I want achievements. I just want to unlock more back story and find hidden easter egg type things tucked away in the game.
I am the type that will read and click everything, sometimes even multiple times.
And even I still missed some achievements on my first play through – most are because of the branching fork nature of the game, you can’t see or do everything in one playthrough. I got 20 out of 30 and got a pretty nice ending though so I’m happy with that and I don’t really think I’ll play again for awhile (years – if ever) because I have so many other things I want to play first.
So that’s gameplay. Let’s move on to story.
So the story of the game is about two twins who grow up in Alaska. Their mother is a free spirit Tinglit (I may not have spelled that correctly, some type of Native American tribe). She wants to raise her children in the ways of her ancestors. And it is pretty clear she loves her children, but also pretty clear that she’s weird and “out there”.
The family is shunned by a lot of people in town. But because it’s a small town they also have a few close friends growing up that love and support them.
Until one day, their mother crosses a line that should not be crossed and then even old friends turn their backs.
With no where and no one left to turn to, their mother has a mental break down. It’s up to you to decide as the story unfolds what really happens, either suicide or murder. I won’t say who or what. I won’t even say which one I chose. But that’s the heart of the game really.
In addition to the suicide/murder mystery – it’s also as heavily mentioned above about a transgendered character. Both twins are biologically female, but one twin feels like a male trapped in a woman’s body. A lot of the game’s story deals with themes of LGBT+ equality and rights and even the personal fears and questions and doubts and experiences that an LGBT youth experiences and trying to fit in, and other psychological issues, both while young, and then later in life during, and after their transition.
And not to be forgotten in the story, is the bond between siblings, especially in this case twins. They can talk to each other using their inner voice which also becomes part of the gameplay. And they have shared but differing memories of the events that happened. Their experiences or memories of those experiences sometimes differ and you must choose which one feels most true to you. All to piece together what really happened the night of the murder or suicide in which all of the characters are involved.
Overall I liked the story and the characters. They seemed real. They had their own struggles and issues and concerns and hopes and dreams.
I didn’t like the story as much as Life Is Strange (by the same developers).
This story didn’t move me emotionally.
Maybe it’s because it’s harder to relate for me personally to LGBT+ because I am not one myself.
Maybe the story is very emotional to an LGBT person playing the game. But I can only talk about my own experiences.
Detroit Become Human (similar gameplay different developer) moved my soul and stirred my imagination and touched me on a much deeper level than Tell Me Why. I’d also say the same for Life is Strange – it too moved me more deeply.
I don’t know what the disconnect was for me in Tell Me Why, it just felt flatter to me. Maybe like I said I found it harder to connect to the characters or really truly understand their issues because I have nothing in my own life to compare it to.
That didn’t make the story bad per say. It just made it less relateable. But still with over 70 hours I put into a game, in which other people spent 8 hours with before writing off – I’ll say this – I was drawn into Tell Me Why’s story the entire time from start to end. It had me hooked. I couldn’t put this game down. It’s the only game I’ve played in over a month – aside from a few mobile games when away from my computer.
I wanted to learn more about the twins and the fate of their family in their small Alaskan town. That kept me wanting to play. I didn’t play every single day, but I played whenever I had free time, choosing this game over any others in my “to be played” pile.
That right there says a lot for the story. Because I play video games primarily just for the story. That is why I love these types of games after all and why I review so many of them here on my blog.
Replay value is also high because if I ever want to unlock all achievements or see other endings or other branching plot points, I will need to replay.
Graphics are hit or miss for me. I will say I like the texture and details. Hair, Beards, Clothing, Grass, and other fine small details look extremely natural and nice.
The downside of the graphics is that while Alaska can be a beautiful place… It’s also a place that for many months is covered by snow and ice each year. And well that gives it a kinda baren white bleak back drop for our little murder mystery.
Also it just feels SMALL. It feels smaller than most other DONTNOD games. I feel like it consists of 5 locations used over and over and over ad nauseum.
For example, Mary Ann’s House, Tessa and Tom’s General Store, Eddy’s House, The Police Station, and late in the game – Chapter 3, introducing Sam’s House and The Attic. Like I said, about 5 maybe 6 locations – I forgot to mention the cemetery for a brief moment there too.
Everything is grey, everything is bleak, everything is blah. This doesn’t make me want to go to Alaska. Meanwhile, I have legit seen things in real life (TV Brochures etc) that would make me want to go on an Alaskan cruise.
Also the game feels still and lifeless. Alaska is a place of natural beauty and lots of animals. And while they do a good job at Native American culture and animal symbolism, nary is an actual animal present in the game, except a bird here or there.
There is some beautiful story book artwork mixed in here or there at key story points. Look a very very old fashioned fairy tale. All hand painted or wood carved. Full of whimsy and fantasy and full of animals and details. It’s truly a delight to see and much preferred over the bleak almost post apocalyptic actual game environments.
So like I said graphics hit or miss.
Voice acting was good I thought. I almost always like the voice acting in DONTNOD games, and was equally impressed with this one.
Music again hit or miss, there’s not much variance. What’s there is mediocre at best honestly. And some of the vocal tracks aren’t great or memorable. That’s my take. Your mileage may vary. We don’t all have similar music tastes.
Geeky: 3/5 – Most males don’t really enjoy these types of intellectual puzzle games with little to no action and little control over their characters. Also I think most males will be more closed minded about the whole LGBT+ thing. I think this game is more focused on story and puzzle solving and requires critical thinking and not a twitchy action shooty game. I rate it moderately because unlike Anime visual novels, this one actually gives you some freedom of movement and control at some parts to explore and discover new things like an action adventure game, or when solving puzzles, but those moments are limited. Most the time you’re just watching a movie unfolding and making choices to direct the path of that movie. If that’s your thing cool this is for you – otherwise move along.
Sweetie: 3/5 – Again moderate rating here – while traditionally us ladies love these types of “visual novel” or “puzzle games” – this one just doesn’t tug at my heart strings – and I think us women crave something more deep and personal durring our gameplay experience. I don’t know also if the bleak boring backdrop of this game’s setting really appeals to us girls who prefer bright cute anime styled games over this.
Gameplay: 5/10 – moderate – it’s what’s to be expected of this type of game. You can see why under “Geeky” above, but as a recap, it has little interaction and is mostly like watching a movie unfold instead of directly controlling the action in the game. I’m fine with this – it’s my most preferred genre – but objectively speaking – yeah not much actual “gameplay” aside from there are a large number of puzzles in this particular one, more than most other visual novels tend to have I think. And if you’re into exploring there’s lots of easter eggs and achievements. It’s just the time given to you to explore those things is often limited.
Story: 8/10 – I liked the story – a lot. I already explained at length how it drew me in and I couldn’t put this game down. How I explored every nook and cranny trying to unlock more and more twists and turns in this murder/suicide mystery game. But still, as repeatedly mentioned, I just didn’t connect emotionally to this game. I’m a crier, and this game didn’t make me cry. I just didn’t get “the feels” from this game and I’m not sure why not. Even though I did find the princesses’ “treasure”. Even though I picked the path of love and forgiveness… I still — I felt something, like sympathy or understanding, but I didn’t cry. Detroit Become Human and Life is Strange made me cry… but not this.
Characters: 8/10 – A story is only as good as its characters and one thing I love in a good story is strong character development. The cast is small but their personality shines through and you get a good look at their intellectual thought process and personal motivations and how it all ties back to the fateful night of the murder/suicide. But again since I wasn’t emotionally invested in the story for some reason, I also didn’t really grow to care very deeply about any of the characters.
Replay Value: 10/10 As evidenced by the steam achievement statistics with less than half of the people learning what really motivated Mary-Ann to act that way on that night, well I’d say replay is pretty high and obviously choices are not as black and white as some negative nancies would want you to believe. There is depth here, and grey here, and not really right or wrong answers. I was constantly switching between favoring the feelings of Aly or Ollie. I didn’t believe a single person 100% of the time. There’s always room for differing opinions and always room to forgive or condemn those who have done wrong in the past (in this game, but also just as in real life).
Graphics: 6/10 – Eh I’m torn – am I low balling this too much? It’s just so damn bleak and apocalyptical and boring and the same 5-6 environments just get reused over and over. But the texture is A+++ – Hair and Beards and Clothes all look friggin fantastic – super realistic. And I love the story book art too. I love that even more than the normal environment art. Also as mentioned speaking of environment, where are all the animals and nature and true beauty of Alaska? blah.
Music: 5/10 – MEH – very meh – just finished playing this morning, and like 5 hours later already forgot it all. Nothing stands out. I won’t be buying this soundtrack that’s for sure. There were also some vocal tracks that I really strongly disliked. That’s just my preferences though I suppose…
Voice Acting: 10/10 – I give credit where credit is due. I love 1.) that the game is fully 100% completely voiced (except for I guess the goblin story book – they could have voiced that too – oh well I won’t take any points away for that.) – and 2.) The voice acting is decent – like what we’d see on TV – a real TV show – not a bad anime dub LOL.
Little dirty off topic secret about myself though – in the last 4-5 years I’ve been watching more dubs than subs even though I was anti-dub for like 15 years – shush don’t tell anyone LOL – for one thing, it’s the default setting in most apps – Netflix, crunchy, and others – and I’m lazy – for another thing – slowly bit by bit by bit trying to get my fiance to watch some anime – I’ve got him to watch some movies but he doesn’t have patience for series – even short ones that are like 20-40 episodes lol – and for third thing, I started an anime club – before covid – and most of them all prefer dubs, so that’s what we tend to watch – which works better because everyone can multi task and visit and do other things – sometimes we play games and have anime in the background – so while I SLAM most dubs as garbage… I’ve slowly recently been becoming pro dub – ah no what’s happening to me?! LOL :(.
I just started playing “Starry Love” yesterday after seeing a Facebook ad. It’s a brand new game from someone named Modo Games whom I’ve never heard of.
The gameplay is quite similar to Love Niki, or Mr Love Queen’s Choice or Wanabe Fashionista… all of which I’ve reviewed here and all of which I definitely recommend.
When I started playing Starry Love there was only one review and it was a one star rating. Maybe someone was confused and thought one meant good and 5 meant bad.
There’s not much bad about this game so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.
The worst part of this game is the chat filters which block weird common words such as game or server as well as av such as the word have will be h**ve making it difficult to chat in the game.
On the plus side, the chat is active and community seems friendly. Today there was discussion about Kdrama and Anime which is right in my wheel house of interests.
The search function and guild function is also pretty flawed making it darn near impossible to recruit people for your guild or find a guild to join.
Another negative is a lot of game’s content is only unlocked later into the game’s story. There is plenty to do, but it might not seem that way at first.
Lastly, the writing is hit or miss with some glaring typos or awkward wording. The story itself is pretty interesting.
You are a model who under distress from catching her boyfriend with another woman, runs into the road and is hit by a truck. When you wake up, you’ve gone several years into the past when you were just getting started as an online streamer.
Most of the activities revolve around this streaming and modeling theme. You can get ideas for new live streams, invite cohosts, talk to your fans, join other live streams, and so on. It’s worth mentioning that this is all within the context of a fantasy world and fantasy characters and you yourself need not appear on camera or anything yourself.
You recruit other characters to help with your live streams and some of them you can even date. All of them you can level up to increase your overall stats and popularity and viewer count. Also they will be useful later in fashion battles and server events.
Speaking of server events, there are a lot of them. There’s four going on right now, some focus on story some focus on spending in game currencies and some focus on community events.
You can unlock special outfits titles and items by participating in these events.
Artwork is all very cute and colorful. Again it is similar to love niki or mr love queen.
Overall: 54/70 77%
Geeky: 2/5 Artwork is good but chat and community features are severely flawed and limited.
Sweetie: 5/5 Cute graphics and interesting story. Dressup game is sure to please fans of love niki and mr love Queen’s choice.
Gameplay: 9/10 I think once you get far enough into the game to unlock all the content there is plenty of things to do from modeling to fashion battles, dating, story events, photo shoots, live streams, cohosts, support crew, tea parties, shopping, and more. It honestly in my opinion has more things to do than love niki or mr love Queen’s choice. The only option it may be missing is to decorate your room or house like love niki has, and it seems like that gameplay element could fit well with boosting stats and live stream concept to me. Maybe we will see it in the future as this is still a new game.
Story: 7/10 I like the theme of reincarnation or alternative reality and there are currently over 30 chapters to read. But the story is pretty flawed by typos and some grammar issues.
Characters: 6/10 Most of the characters are interesting and developed well as the story goes on. Sometimes some of the characters including your main character are rude or mean, I’m not sure it’s intentional or if it comes across wrong due to being lost in translation but it can put me off. And much like a game I recently reviewed it, this one also makes fun of overweight characters which is not very appealing .
Graphics: 9/10 Enjoy the graphics a lot, some do get reused a bit but the graphics are one of the highlights of the game for me
Music: 6/10 Slightly above average, not annoying, peaceful music that sets the tone of the themes in the game.
Replay Value: 10/10 with numerous events and new content added all the time, some of which is very limited, sometimes even one per server, this game has a high replay value.
Overall: 54/70 77%
If they fix up some of the actual interface and gameplay mechanics it’d easily be in the 80s or 90s ; it’s a super fun game. Check it out if you get a chance.
kawaiifluff 