Late last year, I decided to bring back the monthly Community Game-Along roundup posts after a suggestion from a reader. But with my trip to Japan at the end of November and the hectic holiday season, I completely dropped the ball on posting roundups for November and December‘s themes! I’d still like to highlight some of the great contributions and game selections from folks who participated, so I’ve decided to combine both months for today’s post. I’ll do my best to make sure I’m not this late again!
Otome games are steadily gaining popularity outside of Japan, with releases such as Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth, and the breakout Korean hit Mystic Messenger making waves over the past couple years. However, not much is known about Ruby Party, the female-led development team at Koei Tecmo behind the Angelique series, which is widely regarded as the start of the otome game genre. In what hopefully will become a larger series, I’ll be translating interviews and other information on Ruby Party to help spread knowledge of this influential team!
So you’ve decided to learn Japanese to play all those otome games that haven’t been released in English (not to mention other games!). Good for you! But what games are best for beginning language learners? I get a lot of questions about learning Japanese, particularly from people who want to play otome games because so few of them are available in English. So, I decided to round up 5 otome games that I think are good for Japanese language students!
I’ve always been a fan of stories about someone trapped inside an MMO, so when I heard Aksys Games was localizing Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~, I was thrilled! As an otome game featuring that very premise, Period: Cube centers around a high school girl that gets trapped in the MMO Arcadia. After searching for clues of her missing brother’s whereabouts, all signs point to the mysterious “World V,” a new server in Arcadia where death is absolute. If your character dies, you die!
I always love hearing about new visual novel fundraising projects, especially when they’re otome or BL games. That’s why, when the folks behind the psychological otome game Silent Voices asked if I could write a post about their Kickstarter, I was happy to oblige!
Happy New Year! I’m planning on doing a Chic Pixel-style year in review post in the next week or so highlighting some of my favorite media from 2016, but since this is my first official post of 2017, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read, commented on, and/or shared my posts over the past year! Your support means the world to me!
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that the Community Game-Along is back for another year full of themed gaming months, starting with the return of #DatingSiMonth for the month of January. Since I’ve done the dating sim Community Game-Along twice now, I’ll refer you to my previousposts for ideas on what titles to play. But if this is your first time participating in a Game-Along event, read on for details on how to join in the fun!
If there’s one thing I’ll never get enough of, it’s Alice in Wonderland, so when I heard there was a new otome game on Kickstarter inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic book, I just had to check it out! On top of that, A Very Important Date is a romance visual novel that takes place in a café, which is another tick on the “things Anne absolutely loves” list!
I had a look at the demo, which contains the prologue and three chapters each for two different character routes. The premise immediately struck me as something of a mix between OZMAFIA!! and Alice in the Country of Heart, so if you’re a fan of either of those games, definitely check it out! While the characters generally fall into certain common archetypes (the strict stoic guy, cool suave guy, pervy guy, etc.), the designs are fun and evoke Alice in Wonderland in subtle ways. Stretch goals for the campaign include additional girl x girl and boy x boy romance options, which would be great to see!
#relatable
I recommend trying the demo for PC, Mac, and Linux first, and then heading over to the Kickstarter page for details on all the reward tiers. The game is also currently on Steam Greenlight and could use some upvotes! The Kickstarter is looking to raise $11,000 by January 5th, so be sure to get your pledge in before then if you’re interested.
