A Brief History
A game based on the rich history of Japan in the late Tokugawa Period. It revolves around Chizuru Yukimura as she finds romance among the Shinsengumi despite the raging war against the Imperial Army. And as I enjoy a tale of romance and history on my bedside or on the go, I can’t forget the thought of my “Husbandos” piercing my neck open as they suck the blood out of me. Something that I would probably remember for quite some time.
During the game, you are in search for your long lost father along with the Shinsengumi and as time passes by you get attached to them and find romance with each of their unique storyline. And unlike the previous title Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds, the sequel has this very serious and gloomy mood radiating as I played through with the occasional deaths here and there. In fact, it would be rather weird not to suffer any casualties given the dire circumstances that they are in.
And while it is a sequel, the game provides you with a brief explanation as well as the ability to view highlighted words that give you some optional information while you play without having to stop and look it up on the encyclopedia provided within the game itself.
With this rather serious mood along with some romances, the target audience seems to be focused more on mature females and males alike such as myself that would appreciate some history behind Japan aside from some casual neck biting from time to time.
Suck Me, Baby!
As I mentioned above, they suck out the blood in you as they turned into a half-demon more commonly named as a Fury. But of course it’s completely up to you if you want to be a total sadist and watch them in pain as they endure it, give them medicine, or let them penetrate *cough* excuse the language, I mean suck your blood like a doting mother to her young’uns.
The Waifu is on the Prowl
As an otome game *slash* visual novel, it wouldn’t be complete with a handful of handsome boys to focus your eyes on and that’s something this game made sure to have plenty. All with their unique personalities and traits such as the leader stereotype, a lone-wolf, the young and hot-headed one, to the playful yet relentless to make them different from the rest of the bunch. But just because there are plenty to choose from it didn’t felt repetitive not like other visual novels as each storyline has their own path and unique story to go through. Each storyline is short but I find that a plus as you end up with a rather long reading session to go through if you wish to complete the full experience in a timely manner.
There is also a ton of replay value considering there are decisions that must be made and it’s possible to not get the best ending on your first playthrough just like I did when I played the Hijikata storyline.
In terms of the quality of sound, be it background music or voice overs, I find it spot on for each moment although I would’ve wanted more on parts that doesn’t. But if there’s something I could change, Sanan, Keisuke seems rather out of place with its Japanese voice actor, and I just can’t imagine Keisuke with that kind of voice considering his rather deceptive and silent nature within the game. Anyway, that’s just me… feel free to disagree as this is just my personal opinion from my history watching Anime in Japanese voice overs.
As far as the game mechanics go, it has every necessary tool mapped to your controller to make a visual novel play flawlessly on a handheld device such as the Playstation Vita.
The Verdict
Overall, the serious mood it had set in felt appropriate as humorous jokes would just feel out of place while some moments had me shedding tears. A very well written piece of work that has its twists and turns from time to time makes it really worth the purchase for people that would find interest within its setting.
And now that I’m a changed man that end up liking my first ever otome game and visual novel, I feel like I owe it to this game to get a copy of Kyoto Winds to see for myself the disparity among the two.
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