The quick elevator pitch for London Detective Mysteria would be to say that it’s a combination of detective fiction and romance, with analogues for a handful of famed literary detectives as your potential love interests. As intriguing as “cute detective boys” sounds in its own right, the magic here runs …
Visual Novel
You can always count on certain things with an otome game from Otomate: stunning artwork, excellent writing, cute boys, and a tragic undercurrent to the romance that defines the genre. Oftentimes, Otomate will also use that framework for some sort of big-picture philosophical exploration: Collar x Malice is as much …
If you enjoy cute, lighthearted romance visual novels, then roseVeRte’s Story of Eroolia series are well worth a look. Set in a fantasy world were humans and cat people coexist—not always peacefully—each Story of Eroolia follows a different heroine on a tale of adventure and budding romance. There have been …
It was inevitable that sooner or later, Otomate would turn their attention to the Nintendo Switch—after all, their specialty is visual novels, visuals novels are a perfect fit for handheld consoles, and the Switch has dethroned the Vita as the premier handheld. What is, perhaps, surprising is just how many …
Despite being the first half of a two-part remake, last year’s Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds stood on its own surprisingly well. It expanded greatly upon the original Hakuoki, with six new romance options and narrative routes, and three entirely new characters among them. Even though the original routes were “cut …
Set within a lordly mansion in the 19th-century English countryside, Ebi-hime’s kinetic novel Blackberry Honey tells a sweet, heartfelt story of unexpected romance among a pair of maids. After being unceremoniously dismissed from her previous job at Hartwell, she finds herself new work at Bly estate. A maid’s work is …
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an explosion in support for entry-level game development tools like RPG Maker and GameMaker. Such tools were once written off as too simplistic to make “real” games, but the current indie boom has given these engines and the games made with them a …
Since its release, Danganronpa V3 has been a controversial game for a bunch of reasons. A lot of fans are unhappy with the big twist ending. The localisation quality has come under fire. It’s a new direction for the Danganronpa series—at the very least, it’s a fresh start, with no …
Yukie: A Japanese Winter Fairy Tale is a haunting interactive folk tale, and another example of what can be done with RPG Maker and a bit of creativity. Despite the limitations of RPG Maker as a development tool, a lot of folks have been able to produce some fascinating games …
Although it’s almost certainly a coincidence, the timing of the release of Collar X Malice couldn’t be more apt. Particularly in America, but across the globe, there’s a growing distrust of law enforcement by the very people the law is meant to protect. We’re seeing fascist movements gaining prominence, civil …