Tuesday, February 15, 2022

"Valentine Otome" Review

Publisher:  Synokoria 

Genre:  Visual Novel

Summary:  After unexpectedly getting married on Valentine's Day, Mira might just fall in love with her new husband, but complications await.

Gameplay:  Although decisions in dialogue affect the relationship between Mira and her husband, through a day planner deciding how she spends her time over the months controls various statistics that also affect the story and ending.  Since these build incrementally over the game, it can be frustrating to replay after getting a bad ending, but there is a cheatsheet helpfully included in the download if needed.

Style:  The art and characters are distinctive, although sometimes seemingly-important characters do not have have sprites (probably a consequence of the number of characters and story options, but it still feels odd.)

Story:  Mira is a great character and all of the major characters are well-developed too.  The world-building is deep and it's interesting to see same events develop a bit differently if one of the other three husbands is chosen (or even if one of the other romances from Halloween Otome is picked.)  The stories can be surprisingly dark, which isn't necessarily a downside besides the aforementioned frustration of getting a bad ending.