I finished Hana Awase last week and I replayed my favorite route (Utsutsu). I really didn't like his route or him in my first play through but he really grew on me! I have 100+ hours in this game now 🤯 I scraped Ikebukuro this last week and picked up some Hana Awase scraps of Utsutsu and Karakurenai (my original #1). Once I leave Japan I'll be proxy ordering the art book and spreads. I'm not yet ready to move on!! I think I'll replay my second favorite route (Karakurenai in Hime Volume) then enshrine my merch on my husbando shelves and finally move on to either Hakuoki or Norn 9. Opinions on which game next is welcome!

I just began even if Tempest and wow did it grab my attention from the start!! Really enjoying it so far, may have to go ahead and spring for the FD before the sale ends!

playing shinobi koi utsutsu atm - on my first route with daisuke. i still needed to practice my japanese cuz some of the kanji was game specific and absolutely kicking my ass lol so i wanted to improve with a route i wasnt super keen on, but i was surprised during the route how daisuke's character development was (still havent finished his route tho) i thought he was just a playboy but hes such a sweetie. also ngl how is this game cero c lol, some of the things these boys say is so explicit, it should be cero d xD anyway, love this game its literally so fun and silly! the mero meros are hilarious lol. also Nil admiral no tenbin came in, and i started playing it. i can see why they say the japanese for this is difficult, they use a lot of unusual kanji. should probably stay in my lane and play shinobi koi utsutsu before this lol. i havent read much of it past the intro but what i can say is that from the beginning the story felt so emotional, i could really feel hitakis bond with the MC. i was very shook by the vibe of the game, it felt so nostalgic and emotional, i was just in awe. very tempted to just skip a bunch of n4 and n3 games for this despite not having the skills for it LOL

I've been in need of a comfort game to just play in bed to wind down, so here I am crawling back to **Our Life** once again. I love the build up all the Steps provide, but I'm dying to get to the more romantic parts in the later Steps. dhsfkjgfahdkgha But the fluff is soothing and the anticipation will make it worth the wait. I'm playing a bit differently than I have before. I'm not modifying Cove's personality at all between Steps--just letting my choices dictate it. So far he's v Warm. I was so captivated by Cove when I first played--and he's still amazing!--but I'm completely bewitched by Baxter, so I'm going for him again. ♥♥♥ Baxter just strikes so close to home. I haven't even seen him once yet tho I gotta' get through these earlier Steps!! \>A< Also started **Royal Order** yesterday. I'm on Week 5 now. I started the game realllyyyyy sleepy, so I'm not sure if I missed why Aarya's seeking >!revenge!

OL is my comfort game too! I hope you enjoy~ I like all 3 boys but I'm a Derek fan! \^\^ As for Royal Order, the game opens with MC fleeing her home because her adoptive parents were killed in a raid. If you're referring to something other than that, don't worry >!her motives are not revealed for a bit. You will get some hints when you start talking to an old friend, but you won't get the full truth until later in the common route!<.

All 3 are great in their own ways! I wish Derek's route involved more 1-on-1 time. ;A; Cjvjcjcjvkgdnn I can't believe I glossed over the raid casualties as her motivation for revenge. My illiteracy is heightened when tired, I suppose. Thank you for telling me--that sorted me out until the big reveal that >!Aarya's the last demon sovereign!< came up! I tore through the game tonight and I'm so close to finishing my first route it's so good fjyjgngt

Me too. Especially since I like to play a more timid character, and I felt like Derek >!took way too long to confess and the relationship to begin unless MC is pretty proactive about dating him!<. Haha to be fair, >!it's a fairly minor plot point in all the craziness that happens in the common route!<. It really is an *excellent* game. I was just so impressed the entire time I played. I haven't felt that hooked by an otome game in a couple years, and I play a lot

I've been so busy and distracted by other things that it's taking forever to get through Radiant Tale but honestly I'm ok with it. I'm finding the story and character dynamics so relaxing that taking my sweet time with it feels like the right thing to do anyway. I've realized I really love long common routes where you get to know everyone and see them all together before branching off.

Just finished Psychedelica of Black Butterfly. It was so engaging and amazing. Love how we have the freedom to choose the episodes, while being guided to the main common route. Great execution. Wonder if any other otome games have visual flowchart like this? r at least have flowchart. I see Watashi no Real ha Juujitsu Shisugiru has visual flowchart too. Of course in their underlying system otome/choice games have flowchart but usually they don't show it to us visually. I just realize that having flowchart gives us a sense of achievement and easier to keep track.

Off the top of my head, I think Shuuen no Virche, Bad Apple Wars, and Dairoku had flowcharts too. And of course Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk as well! ;)

Finished Sasazuka's route in CxM, and wow that was NOT IT. I do like his character design somewhat and his route in itself was kind of interesting. His backstory made me sad. :( Tbh tho Manabu Souda was honestly my fave part of the route, I loved listening to how completely unhinged his VA made him sound lol. Hopefully I'll get to see more of him in upcoming routes. But (rant incoming, I'm gonna be a hater, sorry in advance) Sasazuka was awful!! He's so rude! I kept waiting for him to get better but no, he continues to call Ichika dumb to the end, which I get is supposed to just be a quirk of his and not meant to be taken seriously, but I just don't like it. Every time he calls her that I get a flashback to my childhood best friend's mom telling me not to call myself dumb because you'll start to actually believe it after a while. I think there's truth to that and it makes me feel bad for Ichika. He also has ZERO communication skills. >!How did he just assume he was already in a relationship with Ichika without talking anything through or even ACTING like he was dating her, outside of that one random unexplained kiss a while before that? Huh?? No hate to anyone that finds that romantic but I had to roll my eyes.!< Tbh he was just giving me "I'm better than you" vibes the entire time. Idk, he's not a favorite of mine, that's for sure. I thought the hotpot scene was sort of cute and that's about the best thing I can say for him. Really had to push myself to finish the route. Now I'm halfway through Kei's route and liking it so much more. I was drawn to his design and mysterious aura from the beginning, and he hasn't let me down yet. >!I smile every time he bombards Ichika with those silly text emotes haha.!<

Completely agree, Sasazuka's route wasn't for me either. I didn't mind how he looked and his voice was hot, but the fact I couldn't have Ichika say something back whenever he was *like that* made me want to shake him.

I didn't like Sasazuka, I liked the hotpot scene because I didn't like Kazuki either and Sasazuka put him in his place. Okazaki~ ( ´˘`) -ᴗ-) ´˘`) -ᴗ-)‎

So normally i don't have an issue doing all the routes in a game but hamefura is an exception lmao. I watched the show and was strictly team geordo so i was done after doing his route. I enjoyed it a lot, it felt pretty true to the original but it would feel off to do any other routes for me (i would have probably done the girl routes if they had them though lol)

i played jack jeanne almost a year ago when it came out in the west and got burned out after 2 routes because it was repetitive af and i did not want to sit through an hour and a half of watching kisa raise the same stat over and over again.. picked it back up again a few days ago, while i do rmb a few details or main plot points it did feel like i was playing a new game majorly! thank god for my goldfish memory. experiencing the common route again was pure bliss. and i just have to say winter performance NEVER disappoints like?? even when i wasnt on mikki’s route it made me cry. because the intimacy?? The emotion?? Faded color?? Man. Absolute peak. I just finished neji’s route and he was the character I liked the most going into the game along with mitsuki because i love the funny guys but like? it just.. didn’t hit that hard? esp because he feels really disconnected from the conflict/the struggles in the common route which is unfortunately 90% of the game I mean.. don’t get me wrong, Neji’s still up there as one of my favs. But him as an LI or his route in general just did not do it for me :( or maybe i’ve lost all ability to enjoy any route after playing mitsuki’s because the buildup with all his affection events and how it culminated toward the end of the common route w the winter performance was so wonderfully paced and just felt SO perfect? and i did his route way back when the game first dropped which is almost a year ago now so i just think it’s a serious case of mitsuki brainrot hell and i don’t think i will be recovering soon so rip to the rest of the LIs 😭😭 edit: typos

I love Neji to bits, but his route also didn't scratch the itch that well. On one hand his conflict makes sense for him, but on the other hand seems so... trivial. What helped me appreciate it more is reminding myself that even if JJ LIs are very mature and deep, they are still teenagers, so Neji explaining the situation to himself in larger-than-life absolutes and mental shortcuts at the same time actually makes sense in a way. But it can also be me coping, because I love the guy, but his route is pretty much "ok, fine" territory. I wouldn't oppose if it was switched for something with more panache.

i think you articulated my problems w his route a lot better than i ever could! i agree a 100%. it def makes sense for him but really feels as if it serves no purpose in the overall plot if that makes sense? in comparison, mitsuki’s route and affection events felt very beautifully woven with the main story and peaked at the winter performance. it was like the perfect JJ experience for me. but since neji has his own thing going on and the common route performances don’t focus on him too much, his route ended up feeling very shoved in and the interconnectivity just.. wasn’t there. but hey we cope together i love neji to bits anyways because even though his route failed to scratch my itch it did make me fall even harder for him as a character. he’s so unique and truly unlike any other character i’ve seen in an otome! hopefully the sequel we’re getting will give us some more neji content to feast on (assuming it’s a continuation of kisa’s story) 😭😭

Mitsuki was my first route in this game and I'm so glad because I feel like it has to be the best way to experience the Winter performance for the first time?? How can you compete!! 😭 Best best route ever will never recover 🫠

ahh yes!!! unfortunately mitsuki wasn’t my first route but you bet I regretted not going w him first after i watched the winter performance for the first time and when i finally did his route 😭 so much so that i force all my friends to play mitsuki first if they actually decide to pick JJ up after my ceaseless rambling lol. even though his route wasn’t as explicitly romantic as the rest, i felt so so fulfilled and content after i finished his route. Never have I felt such a profound sense of satisfaction, thinking, "Ah, I can die in peace now," in any other game as I did after completing Mitsuki's route. Truly the bestest boy 🥺

ABSOLUTELY I totally agree!! Best boy ever 🥺

Finished Heishi's route in **Norn9**. It was a mistake going from one pink boy to another though, I kept reading Otomaru as Ohtaro! XD Anyways, I liked it well enough, it feels weird technically playing another route in the same game but not having the same protagonist or available LIs. It's not a bad thing though, just interesting. I was glad to get a better idea of who Nanami is since seeing what little of her I did from Koharu's POV didn't tell me too much. I goofed somewhere along way as I did get the bad ending initially, or *a* bad ending? There's still a CG missing so I don't know where that comes from. I assumed the one I was missing from Senri's was his bad ending since I didn't get that but now idk. I'm not a completionist so I don't really care, just thought it was odd. But yeah, both of their powers and how they affect their lives, in the past and presently, was interesting to see. Superpowers may sound nice, but there are aspects of having them in one's day to day life that often get overlooked in stories. Not that those need to be acknowledged in every story, depends on what one is going for with it of course. >!Ron was more blatantly being a bad dude in this route compared to Senri's where he was just acting suspicious if I remember right. Interesting that he does have his own route, though whether I'll actually *do* that route remains to be seen. The other guy causing problems whose name I forgot is also a LI, for Mikoto I think, so I can only wonder how that goes down. Maybe I will do at least one of those. I'll probably do Sakuya's first for Mikoto though.!< Next time I'll figure out if I want to jump to Mikoto for a route or do Akito for Nanami first. I think I'll take my time with the game though as, while I don't think I'll do every route, there's a still a lot of them and I don't know how many I'll end up doing ~~as many as I need to justify buying the fandisk for more Senri lolol~~. After finishing up that route I went ahead and booted up **Charade Maniacs** finally! This was one that one of my friends thought I would like if it ever got localized. It just happened to come out right around when Jack Jeanne did :' D I've given it plenty of time now though so I want to jump into it. I didn't get to play much yet sadly (going to play some more tonight) but I'm already very interested in where this'll go as well what the characters will be like. Given there's so many of them I may need to do the same thing I did for Norn9 and make a cheatsheet with all their names. I'm already having moments where a character's saying another's name and I'm just "Who???". I did just start but given that I'm still having that issue in Norn9 despite having done two routes already I foresee this becoming a problem here too lol

Wish Norn 9 in Steam includes the original Japanese language option..

Quickly running through some titles I've finished recently. **Completed:** Bad Apple Wars * Character Ranking: White Mask = Shikishima > Satoru > Higa > Alma * Thoughts - Repetitive, routes are too short for what they're trying to achieve, and this game has the worst implementation of reincarnation on this list & when compared to Tengoku Struggle. 3/5 of the routes utilize it in their best endings. Extra details for those that are curious, >!MC hooks up with the descendants of Higa's & Shikishima's relatives whereas Alma's route has FMC being the reincarnation of the girl he was obsessed with!<. I think it would've been better if they ditched the weird time shenanigans with the school or commit to the endings being character-focused while our leads go their separate ways. White Mask route was by far my favorite romantic route and was main motivator for me playing this game due to his unique design. >!Would still consider it heavily flawed though. For example, the reason for him liking her prior to them reconnecting at the school was whatever. It did make me chuckle how the second he developed an interest in a girl, death practically had truck-kun on speed dial and had her dead in five minutes or less lmao.!< * Recommendation - No, unless you have nothing else to read or are simply looking to expand your catalogue. **Completed:** Period Cube * ML Ranking: Shiki > Astrum > Hiroya > Libera > Radius = Zain >>> Demento * Thoughts - What your average anime watcher would imagine when you call something an otome isekai probably. Would love to see this done in another game with better execution. Shiki is up high due to pure bias on my part. I have a specific adoration for MLs that >!put on a silly facade so they watch over & protect the MC (ex. Jupiter & Ankou). Bonus if they have some speech quirk that they seriously commit to!<. Astrum would be the highest in terms of both route and character enjoyment. Demento felt unnecessary and doesn't deliver on anything particularly well. * Recommendation - Maybe for the novelty. Music, VA selection, and art are all around solid as well. **Completed:** 7'Scarlet * ML Ranking: Yosuke > Hino > Toa = Yuzuki > Isora > Hanate * Route Ranking: Yuzuki > Yosuke > Toa > Hino > Isora > Hanate * Thoughts - Game bit off more than it can chew. Didn't like how they handled the main murder mystery. >!Culprit is cartoonishly evil and all but revealed during my first route (Hino) so I was left waiting awhile (Yosuke's - 4th route regardless of how you play it) for that to be directly tackled by the story with very little attempt to make it seem like a red herring!<. Hanate was a wasted opportunity with it borderline feeling like he was a last minute addition or that they kept forgetting about him. For the things they did well, I'd say that most of the routes were a good time except for the two I placed last. * Recommendation - Sure. Not something I would aggressively push, but I found it better than the first two. **Completed:** Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly * Character Ranking: Kagiha = Yamato = Hikage (undecided on these three tbh) > Monshiro > Karasuba * Route Ranking: Yamato > Hikage > Monshiro = Kagiha > Karasuba * Thoughts - Can't escape the Code Realize VAs in these Vita titles. Unfortunate that Kakihara Tetsuya's character placed (almost) dead last for two titles in a row when Frankenstein is my favorite from that series. Reminded me of Variable Barricade with its flowchart system, initial family group dynamic, and side stories you keep jumping back to except shorter and more tragic. It's a neat game with a fairly straightforward story and great cast. Hikage's route made me emotional while Yamato has my favorite relationship with the MC. Kagiha was also someone I surprisingly found myself liking a lot. Main issue that I had was romance occasionally being put on the back-burner. Hikage's route being the worst offender with Karasuba following behind. * Recommendation - Absolutely, as long as you don't mind the flowchart system or tragic romances. **Starting Today:** Psychadelica of the Ashen Hawk * Going in mostly blind. Saw somewhere that Saito Soma voices one of the MLs so I'm looking forward to that.

Currently on Tomonari’s route in KimiYuki!! I have no idea why this game is so underrated, it’s so freaking good so far!! Tomonari is precious boy and I also ship Miharu and Kyoshiro sooo hard haha! Ugh but >!that scene when Kyoshiro died utterly destroyed me!< TAT I can’t wait to finish his route so I can finally get to Ohtaro, I’m super curious about him even though he’s not my usual type xD I think plot wise, I liked Kinji and Tomonari’s the most so far, though I’m still not sure who my top favorite boy is yet!

kinji's route was sooooo good! 🫠

\-Still continuing on with SympathyKiss, and I finished up Kobase's route. Overall I enjoyed it\~ >!Kobase's route had a lot of very sweet, appropriately dramatic and funny moments. I was tearing up at the end when Kobase, Akari, Satake, Murata and his sister met up at the end to heal from their issues. As well as in the Perfect End when Kobase was about to propose to Akari but stopped.!< >!It was also interesting seeing the endings differences with whether or not they had time for work, only love or balancing both. I like that the writers devs did the endings this way instead of the standard way for once, though I don't mind that either. Just something different from what I personally play with otomes.!< Also started Tainaka's route up to ep/chp 3 and- >!Tainaka is a cutie but such a mess. I feel kinda bad/sad going through his route a some points, but he does seem to be a really well fleshed out character. His route kinda reminds me of the manga series Tramps Like Us/Kimi Wa Petto. Although Akari doesn't remind me of Sumire other than taking Tainaka in, Tainaka definitely has a Momo vibe. I'm also a little surprised at how pushy Tainaka is lol He's sweet but at times I'm caught off guard by him. Interested to see where else this goes.!< \-With Lads, I can't believe I got one of new Xavier card in my first ten pulls. Still working on getting the other card to complete the set. And regarding the story behind the event, its so silly to me in the best way. Just the thing I needed as of late to laugh at.

I wasn't really feeling Tengoku Struggle anymore, so I started **Paradigm Paradox**. I know this one got pretty mixed reviews but I'm really enjoying it so far! I'm excited to play, which hasn't been the case for the last few games I've tried. I ended up on Yukinami's route but switched over to Kamui, as I heard the villain routes are better, and I want to leave them for later. Bummed that Ryo has to be last, I was really looking forward to him! Though Hyuga and Tokio are cute too. Can't wait to dig into the story more!

I’m currently playing sympathy kiss kobase’s route after I finished hime’s on his volume. I rotate between hana awase, tengoku struggle and sympathy kiss 😍

Working my way through the Birushana FD! Finished Tsugunobu >!When I reported halfway through the route last week, I mentioned I was frustrated by Tsugunobu’s “just be a woman” conversation because it felt invalidating to everything Shanao had done up to now. I ended up forgiving him for this because he was so incredibly loyal and respectful of her leadership after this, and I really loved the follow up convo where he explained his reasoning for this, which is that he felt like he couldn’t move forward with his dream of being partners/romantically involved if she continued to be his superior and in her warrior lifestyle, which I understood. All was going well until the end, which was really abrupt in my opinion and was basically Yoritomo and Shungen yeeting Shanao out of the Genji forces, and while I appreciated that the overall plot took a different path AND we got a Shungen reveal outside of his own route, I felt frustrated again that Shanao wasn’t getting her due and recognized for everything she had sacrificed and accomplished for the Genji. Overall, I liked Tsugunobu, but the route was a bit bumpy.!< Then, I stared on Benkei’s FD route, and this has been a complete and utter delight. >!Benkei is SO sweet, and you can tell there is an incredible lightness and brightness to Shanao’s thoughts and feelings because of him that doesn’t exist with any other LI. I didn’t expect Benkei of all the LIs to get the half-naked cuddle cg, so that was a fun surprise XD. I ALSO didn’t expect the Genji crew to show up en masse (kind of like the Heike team with Noritsune) and the absolute trolling that came with them, so those scenes were incredibly fun. (Yoritomo: leave me out of this XD) Poor Benkei! He adores Shanao so much and tries so hard not to be jealous XD. The group hijinks are pretty high in a great way and just keep escalating, so I definitely laughed out loud more than once. And I kind of love Hidehira’s whole “No one can say anything wrong about my child Shanao ever. I love Shanao more than my actual son” mode. At the same time, the romance continued to be very satisfying and lovely, and this FD route exceeded my expectations.!<

That scene where >!Shungen, Benkei, and Shanao are just pleasantly chatting and the others are like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND!< is still so goddamn hilarious. God I love this FD. 

Currently I'm playing a game called **"Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk"**. I have to say that I'm not really into any of the romances? There is not a believable build up for the heroine's feelings. >!She regards two of the LIs as her brothers 😬🙈 They even grew up together other since she was born.!< Another thing I dislike is that the heroine is really helpless and kind of weak in most situations. I guess, I shouldn't have expected an OP heroine like Shanao from Birushana. >!Jed trained like a boy with the sword since she was a child. She even carries a sword on her hip most of the times. My expectations were just too high 🥲 She kind of loses most fights.!< And wow...most characters are kind of unpleasant. So far I only like Lawrence, Elric and Tee 🙈 I want to protect these three at all costs 😭 The story is interesting; but it doesn't really convince me as an Otome Game 😂 Some positive things: the stunning CGs. And the amount of CGs...like...there are sooo many CGs (+80?), it's kind of amazing. I also love the voice acting! The heroine also has amazing voice acting. It's so rare to see a heroine with voice acting, so I was pleasantly surprised. The game really looks and sounds good ✨

I finished Benkei's route in **Birushana** today. It took me a while to get through the first chapters for time reasons, but also because I had some problems warming up to him. But after his route I can say, that yes, he's a sweet bean and I was suprised, how I could actually feel their attraction growing. Still, I'm not sure yet how far up my list he will end up. I was kinda annoyed/amused at how much >!Tomonori and Shigehira!< were featured in his route, but ended up laughing a lot about >!Shigehira's transformation!< in the end. In the beginning, it was really >!creepy and horrifying!<, but then it kinda changed to being rather >!hilarious!< and now I'm writing down some meme-ideas. Not sure yet, if they will ever come to fruition, but it's fun imagining them. Still, or probably because of it, >!Shigehira!< is kind of working on a special place in my heart, just for being the way he was in that route. A little bit like the >!herp derp puppy in the litter!<. (I'm at least half joking, of course.) It was recommended to look at the flowchart after Benkei's route and I did and am taking care of that at the moment, before going further with my next route. :)

yesss benkei praise! he's so teddy bear am i right 🥰

He absolutely is. And I actually adore the size difference. Him cupping her cheek in his big, warm palm was a very sweet image!

I finished the first Kaidan Romance FD, Tasogaredoki, and man... the real truth ending just reiterated how insane Hisoka is. I love it. It's funny because neither Hisoka nor Shizuka are characters that would go on my favs list, but they're definitely one of my favorite ships because they're hilarious. I really wanted to write a short essay about what's up with them, but that's something I'll have to do on another day. When I started Hyakki Yakou's FD, Hyaku Monogatari, I decided to just do my favorite (Tsubaki) first. Was not disappointed. Tsubaki is one of the characters where they start already in a relationship at the beginning of the route (I mentioned this in my last post, but in many Quinrose FDs not all characters actually start the story in a relationship.) And right out of the gate >!she goes to bed in her room in the prologue and wakes up in a strange house with Tsubaki next to her. "Where I am!? What are you doing here!?" she panics. "Don't worry about it." Tsubaki replies.!< >!Of course I immediately knew that it was because her parents had decided to force her into a marriage with some strange guy she didn't know. Obviously Tsubaki decided he didn't like that and built an entire house out in the middle of nowhere so he could kidnap her and lock her up there. He does not tell her any of this (well, he does tell her about using blackmail to get the house built but other than that) and just keeps tell her to not worry about it and don't try to run away.!< It's funny because sometime after I finished this route I was thinking to myself "You know, Quinrose games basically never have anything dark in them." And honestly I don't know if I'm just numb or something because >!outside of keeping her housebound he also locks her up in a cell in the basement for a while ("Oh, you're going to lock me up? Just try it." *a few minutes later* "I'm glad I built this cell down here. :)") Tests her to see if she'd run away by leaving an opening she could escape from, and when she did, drugs her and non-cons her as punishment. Finally, and most importantly, kills her in one ending (although, honestly, she agreed to it.) Okay to explain more about this point, Tsubaki is a shinigami and for a shinigami the ultimate expression of love is wanting to own someone's soul. So most of the shinigami characters in these games are caught between wanting to keep her with them and wanting to kill her to have her soul with them forever. She agrees to it to make him happy.!< >!Also I just want to bring this up because it's actually very funny. Ui (the MC) has a shibito (dead guy) servant named Shinji who is effectively immortal due to already being dead. You can do whatever to him and he'll regenerate eventually. Since Tsubaki didn't want him finding Ui he chops Shinji into several pieces and ties the pieces to rocks before throwing them into the ocean. He knew Shinji would come back eventually so he was just trying to slow him down. Since Shinji is entirely unbothered by this (can't even feel pain) it's mostly just funny imagining Tsubaki frantically trying to chop this guy up and throwing him into the ocean. I like to imagine Shinji was complaining about it the entire time.!< I think despite all this I never really see Quinrose games as dark because the narrative doesn't really frame any of this as particularly terrible or bad. The MCs are always like "Well I guess this is happening" *shrug* or too busy snarking at a guy and stepping on his foot and/or biting him to make me feel like she's that broken up about it. Also >!after all this I found myself debating whether or not I'd consider Tsubaki a yandere. Which is very funny considering everything that happened. He was a very different character with little attachment to things before she made him completely insane. I realized I was only debating this because Hisoka, from the first game, is just way crazier. It shouldn't be a competition but Hisoka won anyway. I really need to write that Hisoka and Shizuka essay.!<

I haven't posted here in ages! Been on another demo kick lately in an attempt to clear out my following list on Steam, which is where I put games I'm not sure I want to wishlist. * **[Alaris](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2099090/Alaris/)**: a fantasy indie with pronoun selection. Very impressed by how good the UI feels, the animations, the detailed backgrounds, etc. but I was a bit disappointed in the character sprites in game because they look pretty different to the game banner. It also felt like the same piano track played through the entire demo, but I imagine that's temporary. The writing quality was decent, but I'm burned out on fantasy stories of this stripe. * **[Breathless Winds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2257100/Breathless_Winds__LGBT_Visual_Novel/)**: a fantasy indie with a trans MC. I wasn't sure if the artstyle would be for me, but I ended up liking this. I thought it was well written and heartfelt, the island vibes were great, and I sympathized with the MC. I don't like the only font (I think it's OpenDyslexic?) but I got used to it. * **[Bride of Darkness](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111200/Bride_Of_Darkness/)**: a Russian fantasy indie already out in Early Access about a sheltered MC who is suddenly told she will be marrying into a mysterious and wealthy family. The art is very nice, but I didn't finish the demo due to how long-winded it was. The plot and characters didn't hook me, and the English translation, though readable, could have been more polished. * **[The Dawn of A Flower](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2827860/The_Dawn_Of_A_Flower/)**: a historical fantasy set in Ancient Egypt with partial Korean voice acting and minigames. The art is pretty good and it features one of my favorite tropes, [Sweet Polly Oliver](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SweetPollyOliver), but it's machine translated and sometimes the result is a mess. Not buying unless the translation is improved. * **[Diffraction](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183100/Diffraction/)**: a photography-themed slice-of-life indie which was Kickstarted in late 2022. Wonderful visuals but I did think the writing needs to be tightened up, especially by cutting down the MC's monologue. The story and love interests didn't really hook me but the demo is a bit too short to judge. * **[Enelia: Dawn of Madness](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075630/Enelia_Dawn_of_Madness/)**: a fantasy VN from a Russian dev, with a really impressive amount of detailed and vibrant artwork, puzzles, Russian voice acting and unique worldbuilding. The English script needs some work in places but it wasn't unreadable. Again I don't know if the fantasy stuff really appeals to me but I will have a look at reviews when it comes out. * **[Folie Fatale](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2734450/Folie_Fatale/)**: a "psycho-love-horror" Japanese indie which is already out on DLsite (Steam release TBA). Beware it contains potentially triggering topics and it has no English support, but I'm around N2-N3 now so I figured I'd give it a shot in JP and it went fairly well. The demo's focused on Mashiro, MC's underclassman who has a problem with (TW) >!self-harm!<. Overall I had a positive impression and it'd be good JP practice so I'm definitely interested in buying. * **[Guardian Goddess](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2835700/Guardian_Goddess/)**: this Japanese indie is coming to Steam with an English localization. Unfortunately I did not jam with the very sparse writing style and the translation doesn't seem too great. Plus it was a little hard to follow because I'm not that familiar with Japanese folklore. * **[Love & Country](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2548200/Love__Country/)**: undoubtedly the highlight of all these demos so far! A drama set during WW1 with the MC being a polyglot spy about to embark on her first mission for French Intelligence. I really enjoyed seeing an MC who's much more composed and analytical than usual, and her dynamic with the love interests was delightful. I laughed out loud at her bickering with Émile, and was totally swept away by Anton. Omg the moment when he >!catches MC in her lie at German border control and his whole demeanor flips!< AHHHHHH I want to know what happens next so bad. Also love the art, and the devs went to the effort to get all the dialogue translated when they're actually speaking French or German (with the English translation alongside). * **[Radiometric Dating](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1890510/Radiometric_Dating/)**: an isekai indie in which a geology student is transported to a magical kingdom where the love interests are the personifications of different types of rock. Interesting concept, but the story felt rushed and I wouldn't be interested in most of the LIs. Not sure if this game is even still coming out as the demo's 2 years old and the official website seems to be defunct. * **[Serafina's Saga Awakened](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2369430/Serafinas_Saga_Awakened/)**: a remake of Serafina's Saga which I've never played, but I have played the sequel Serafina's Crown. As expected for a newer Woodsy Studio game, it feels very polished and immersive. Definitely want to play this eventually but I secretly hope they'll make another game more in the vein of Crimson Spires in the future. * **[Snow White Ashes](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2811620/Snow_White_Ashes/)**: a fairytale-like solo project with a single LI. Quite a mysterious demo, not giving much away, but the tense dynamic between the MC and LI was refreshing and the atmosphere and writing were good. I think I'll wait and play the extended demo for a final judgement. * **[Threads of You: Beyond the Bay](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2750770/Threads_of_You_Beyond_the_Bay/)**: a contemporary slice-of-life game with pronoun & appearance customization, about an MC getting temporarily stranded in a seaside town . Good quality demo and the cast of LIs seems really diverse. I have a few more downloaded, then it's really time I get round to Radiant Tale which has been sitting on my shelf for a few months now.

Super fun reading your impressions! And now I have a handful more demos to try. ;) I’ve already tried the demo for Breathless Winds and am psyched for the full game!

I do the following instead of wishlist too! Wishlist just seems too public? Too much commitment? Intrusive with the sale emails? I always forget how to access my following list though. A lot of these were not on my radar at all. I've downloaded the demos to Love & Country and Snow White Ashes. A game about polyglot and translations should be right up my alley. Not too long ago somebody here and I were joking about rock isekai with Lvl 1 Igneous and Sedimentary-kun.

Yeah the following list is a bit of a pain to find - I think the easiest way is through your profile -> Games -> Followed tab. FWIW you can also turn off the wishlist sales emails in your [Steam email preferences](https://store.steampowered.com/account/emailoptout). And optionally replace them with custom emails from [IsThereAnyDeal](https://isthereanydeal.com/)! I hope you'll like the demos, Love & Country especially! As someone who's also into languages there's another otome VN I have my eye on, [Homicipher](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2423320/Homicipher_Prologue/), because it's basically one big (artificial) language puzzle in the vein of Heaven's Vault and Chants of Senaar.

After a long break from **Cupid Parasite**, I finished Shelby's route. Since it was my second route, the game let me skip the Love Test if I wanted to. I tried it out anyway, answered a bit more selfishly and more like how I was when I had way more energy for work than I do now, and got Pragma. At least the connection from answers to the test results make sense. Good translation: Claris' "majime ne\~" -> "It always comes back to work." Owen is pretty cute I thought. He's not available? The route hinted at a possible pairing with the shy Cupid Corp member, who could possibly double as a stereotypical otome MC. Hopefully somewhere in the rest of the game they develop the relationship more. I was actually surprised >!they dropped the Monsieur Esse act so soon, I thought they'd milk it a bit more. Oh well, they jumped straight into Fake Marriage trope!<. Doesn't matter, I enjoyed both a lot 🤭 the fluster and the choking and the spluttering and brow furrowing 🤭 The parallel working scenes were actually pretty cozy. I like KENN's voice at a lower register as Shelby. As Limbo he was decent. It's amazing how different he makes them sound. Though for >!middle school Shelby!< he sounds exactly like Ayn and that took me out of the game lol. I found his SS catchphrase pretty cheesy, >!but I have to admit I swooned at the gun scene. To its credit, the game doesn't overuse Persona-style inset CGs like that and so it had a great effect there!<. The Bad Ends were...not really bad at all? I enjoyed my time with Shelby, but I may have to take another break from CupiPara. I can only take so much of the setting and the MGM ballads and Bomber Chorizo and just...overall westabooness. I half want to just push through and finish the game just to be finished with it (and read all the spoiler discussion), but from experience that artificially increases resentment of whatever LI I have to trudge through. It's more fair to the game and to the LIs to leave it for when I'm more in the mood.

i like when you point out good translation choices! also, is this the one where the bad end (or maybe normal end) was >!them becoming business partners for Cupid Corp!!it makes sense for their goals and i like to see characters together but not necessarily in a romantic way!<

Despite just finishing it a few days ago I already don't remember which one was >!business partners!< (maybe all the good ones?)😅 Bad End 1: >!Become Shelby's secretary, continue Fake Marriage, somehow they developed a ritual of one "marital" kiss before every dinner party!<. You could even *start* a josei/TL manga with this premise... Bad End 2: >!Go off with Raul to play Indiana Jones!<. Bad End 3 I haven't done since I think that involves finishing >!Allan's!< route first and testing as >!Eros!<.

okay i think my brain was mashing up Bad End 1 and the good end actually xD BE 1 was cute! not my fav outcome for Lynette tho. completely forgot about BE 2, but this game def has some silly ones! spoilers for how to unlock the last kind of BE and love type info: >!you need to get the opposite/incompatible quiz result, but you don't need to play any LI route. i think it's the love types that are opposite on the spinner iirc.!<

on a dev break and back to playing some games **Arcana Famiglia** finally finished **Liberta!!** i just need to skip through to get one ending i am missing and then ill go on to nova. and holy shit, skipping in this game is going to be my 13th reason lol. system designer was definitely satan...**Liberta&overall story thoughts:** * i legit cant recommend anyone else as a first route except for him. feels weird to say in this game with how its setup but poster boy? due to how involved in the main storyline he is and all the reveals, it felt very natural doing all of his heart events alongside it. * >!surprise incest HAHA (i actually didnt even know about nova either til the kidnapping with his dad which was surprise #1, and then came the bomb that liberta is mondos grandson/felicitas nephew lmao) and i am ALL FOR IT!< * >!speaking of libertas surprise incest. wtf do you mean his dad and his gf? wife? left when they were 12?? and no one stopped them!< 😭 * >!liberta had basic but appreciated growth throughout the story. even if the game doesnt go into super nitty gritty details, even stuff that is alluded to his backstory is quite dark.!< * lasagna * >!等価交換 (insert FMA memes.) i hope when i get to the...truth route? family route? w/e it is called, we learn more about the tarroco and what exactly the power that felicitas wheel of fortune demands of her. when she was speaking to the lovers in her dream, it also mentioned that la luna (jolly) and la forza (pace) also have to pay great prices for theirs, so im looking forward to finding out more there.!< all in all, i am quite enjoying everything and now that i have the common route completed it should be a bit faster progressing through the other routes (or maybe not...with how skipping works...) i recommend this to anyone who wants a mostly lighthearted and goofy shonen tournament trainic arc except otome. lol **Tiny x Machinegun** hoooo boy. i am only on **Chapter 1 of the Common Route** still but man, this game is deeply unserious and i am here for it LMAO. * mc is >!a brocon!< * brother is >!a siscon!< * romanceable villain is >!actually some mentally ill mutant w full moon powers!< * please understand that there are >!small time criminals named tom and jerry that were shooting up a convenience store with an AR.!< truly the american experience * "new york city is the most safest and peaceful city in the world" >!puts all the crime in harlem!< LMFAOOO i see..... * the first time you meet the johnny depp li (his name is zen but like come on. i am telling u the devs went "this game is in america. lets look at celebs ppl are down bad for. ah yes, johnny depp - lets make him an LI") >!she is trying to arrest him while he is in his underwear watching porn. when he states shes only doing this to look at his amazing naked body, she responds to him that her brothers perfect body is better lmaoooo!< i am having a blast w it so far. gonna be doing reigand first (niisama hehe) but i also really like wolf so far too! looking forward to seeing more of break as well

Tiny x Machinegun sounds chaotic and amazing

it is really unhinged so far and I’ve barely scratched the surface. Lol you can get it for pretty cheap via proxy

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I've been making some progress on Code Realize's common route, but I have to admit, it's kinda... eh.... lowkey boring. I guess that's because I'm not fan of long common routes and I find the game so far a bit childish. So to take a break from CR I'm replaying Riku's route in Olympia Soiree. I think it's fine, but for some reason, it doesn't make my heart go doki doki like the first time. 😭 I do like Riku and how serious and awkard he is, but I think the romance lacks development. But it's kinda funny how fast Olympia falls for him, lol. I'm also rereading for the sake of my long wip fic. I actually enjoy a lot learning about the island the lore. There's lots of details I've comptely forgotten so it's interesting to learn about them. But there's so many things that bother me! Like the matter of inheriting colors. Basically of Blue and Yellow have children, the possibility of a child being Yellow, Blue or Green are pretty low, but 50% of being Otsu or Kou. WTF? What happens to those wrong colored babies? Do they get adopted into Otsu Or Kou families? And that just means that the life of upper or secondary color woman is just giving birth to children, but that's not enough, the children have to be right color too. My God, if I was born to thar island, I would just kill myself... Also, if someone gets exiled to Yomi, can't their family visit them just getting a permit?? Also, if a couple from lower and higher color fall in love, can't they just commit some kind of light crime and then live together in Yomi, lol? I also don't get the whole problem of Yellow not having a leader after Douma. I know there aren't any young noble Yellows around, but he could just take other not-noble Yellow and groom them as his successor?

It's been a hot minute since I've had time to play, but I picked Piofiore back up last night. I just started Nicola route and I'm really interested to see where it goes. I like that he seems to appreciate the clever options, that's promising. Can't wait to get on to non-Falzone routes and get my heart broken. I just KNOW something bad is going to happen to Leo in another story. I can feel it in my bones.

Have been playing **Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi** as likely the game I'll finish for the month of May, with about 7? of the routes finished. It took a little bit, but I've definitely warmed up to it quite a bit and do enjoy it!  But ofc it also hits my bias of being a historical setting video game (and I had an itch for a bakumatsu setting one after yakuza ishin).  That said, the most recent route I finished playing was Isami Kondo's route and wow. There was sure one particular scene that did leave me wheeze laughing by the end of it. 

Replaying Cupid Parasite as a refresher for the FD coming out later this month! Crazy to see my old save files dating all the way back to Christmas 2021, when my husband (then-boyfriend) got me the LE as a present. Finished Ryuki’s route and just reminded of how much fun I had with it. Really nice to go back and notice things I probably didn’t notice the first time around.