#otomes

[ackee]

please recommend some visual novels. theyre my guilty pleasure and i love playing that shit

ALL I PLAY ARE OTOMES (FEMALE PROTAG DATING SIM) REALLY. but ill share all my faves

games i like that i played 10+ yrs ago

date warp -- girl goes on a date and never returns home. rly interesting story imo thats kinda batshit insane (affectionate). also probably the first vn i've ever played w/ a darker skinned protag (she's indian american)!

magical diary: horse hall -- magical school premise with a zillion endings. also one of the first vns i could be black in (has a character creator)

lucky rabbit reflex -- highschool romance game w/ a lot of minigames. has a lot of replayability!!

games i like that i played within the last 5 yrs

aloners -- post apoc game w/ one (black) love interest.. the writings so good imo. made me emotional!!

demonheart -- dark fantasy otome w/ the craziest beginning i swear.. fun game i can be a bitch in!

arcade spirits -- arcade romance!!

mystic destinies: serendipity of aeons -- I DONT REMEMBER THE STORY MUCH BUT I REMEMBER IT BEING CRAZY AND LOVING IT BADDD...

akash: path of five -- game abt elemental people!

games im playing RN!!!!

tri city monsters -- HOT HOT MONSTER MEN GOD IS GOOD

i havent played otomes in like.. a few yrs... i used to be so obsessed so im gonna try to get back into them this year 🫡

[azzycomets]

Hi! I'm interested in making my own Visual Novel, but I'd like some feedback from fellow fans. Mind answering a questionnaire?

PLEASE REBLOG FOR MORE REACH

More Context:

Hello, I am Azzy. My love for dating sims was recently reignited and I had an idea for my own sort of dating sim with some of my OCS. I had been trying to create a story with them, and I realized this would be a perfect medium to share this story.

However, I am not that well verse in the dating sim genre. I am unsure of what makes a good/interesting dating sim. So i figured I ask here!

EVEN MORE CONTEXT:

To be exact, I want to use my robot oc's as the main characters. The plot would be you, the player, are a human who suddenly wakes up in a robot city. A strange scientist takes interest in you and offers you a place to stay and a job if you help him complete his newest experiment:

The RelationTracker App (Name Pending)!

With this app, you'll meet new romancables and will be able to befriend, and potentially date, some of them! However all of these romancables are actually this scientist's creations! And boy do all of them have trauma from this jerkwad. Through your talking sessions with them, you'll be able to uncover all of their darkest secrets and will be able to change their life for the better or for the worse.

That's it for now. I wanna get some feedback before I go any further. I'm thinking, a mix of Huniepop and Groom Of Gallagher Mansion in terms of mechanics.

[iadoreredroses]

Lance dragon but more "toony" "human eyes"

[otomedev]

Otome Jam starts in less than 8 hours!

Make a romance visual novel with a female lead and male love interest(s) in 2 months ✨ Solo games, team games, long games, short games and more are accepted!

Read over our FAQ and sign up for the jam on itchio~

New to making visual novels? We have a whole resource section on how to make them!

[olympianszine]

🌿 PREORDERS 🌿

The time for preorders are upon us and come February 25th, will open!

So, mark your calendars and stay tuned for the following days to come!

[the-otome-freak]

Introduction ☆(≧∀≦*)ﾉ

Hiihiiiii I'm Ellie! This account is dedicated solely to otome games, something I've spent over 5 years being obsessed with! I have a large collection of 30+ games on both the Nintendo Switch and my PC and I'm actively involved in a lot of non-localized otome fandoms as well, such as Diabolik Lovers, Kamigami no Asobi, Brother's Conflict, Uta no Prince-sama, etc!

I made this blog mostly because I want to write reviews and thoughts about the otomes I play, since I've discovered Twitter's text limit makes it a little hard to get my feelings across ( Ĭ ^ Ĭ )

I also just wanna talk about otome with more people on more platforms! This is something I'm super passionate about and I don't see my love for otome dying down anytime soon. I'm passionate about different otome artists, voice actors, writers, just everything! I also want to discover more indie otome games if I can, considering most of my collection only includes mainstream big-companies like Otomate.

Feel free to ask me anything or DM me if you wanna talk!! My twitter is @Impeys_Princess and I'm VERY active there! ♡〜٩(^▿^)۶〜♡

[technically-a-little-author]

You ever find yourself just waiting for someone to ask a question about something you really like or are passionate about? Just so you can, like, explain and rant about it?

[edtriestowrite]

I am obsessing with otomes again

[roxannarambles]

Ssum Guide #1: Home Screen Tour

======= ⭐Ssum Guide Series 🪐 =======

Ssum Guide #1: Home Screen Tour <- You Are Here :)

Ssum Guide #2: Incubator Overview + Q&A 

Ssum Guide #3: Forbidden Lab Tour

Ssum Guide #4: Infinite Universe Tour

Ssum Guide #5: Tips for Free-To-Players

===================================

Hey folks! So, if you feel confused or overwhelmed by Cheritz’s new otome game, know that you are not alone. In fact, that has been the experience of many people. That’s why I’m making a few guide posts to help break everything down. It’s not quite as chaotic at it first seems once you get the hang of things. 

This first post will give you a tour of the main homepage of the game, what you see when you first log in. I’ve created an image that numers each item you can interact with, starting from the top left and going roughly clockwise. Explanations for each item are under the cut.

#1 - PIU-PIU Flavor Text

Pressing the wing icon will give you a random flavor text from PIU-PIU

#2 - PIU-PIU Antenna

This icon will let you know what your current subscription services are. 

If you have not subscribed to any service it will list the basic features you can access for free. 

If you have subscribed to a service it will list the additional features you currently have access to. It also has a button that brings you to the subscription page.

#3 - Anti-Gravity Chamber

This button brings you to the anti-gravity chamber. This is where you can open your Creature Boxes. When you have Creature Boxes they will appear floating in your chamber, and you simply click on them to open. 

Creatures are basically little virtual pets that you collect from gacha pulls. They come in a variety of species and colors.

You cannot interact with Creatures in this chamber-- it’s only for opening! To interact with them, you will need to visit the Sunshine Shelter.

The fridge in the bottom right of the chamber is where you store Creatures. The button on the bottom left tells you the rates of the gacha pulls.

#4 - Energy Meter

Pressing on this rainbow-colored little meter will display how many Energy Orbs you currently have of each type. It also will list flavor text describing each type of energy orb. 

The purpose of these orbs will be explained in further detail in my next post! But very briefly, Energy Orbs are refined in the Incubator into Frequencies, Emotions and Gifts. Frequencies and Emotions are used to discover planets and then are used as currency in their corresponding planet. Gifts can be given to other players.

#5 - Aurora Batteries/Research Assets

The battery icon (right next to the Energy Meter) will display how many Aurora Batteries you currently have. Aurora Batteries are the game’s primary mode of in-game currency, used for various things such as speeding up chats, making phone calls, etc, similar to Mystic Messenger’s Hourglasses.

Pressing the battery icon will lead you to a page that lists all of your current Research Assests. 

Research Assets are just the various items you can get in the game for free or for purchase. 

-Bonus Aurora Batteries is a list of how many free Aurora Batteries you currently have.

-Aurora Battery tells you how many current batteries you have that you’ve purchased

-Creature Box lists how many free Creature Boxes you currently have

-Aurora Creature Box lists how many Creature Boxes you’ve purchased and currently have

-Daily Pattern Change lists the current number of Daily Pattern Tickets you have. These tickets allow you to change your daily schedule (when you go to sleep, when you wake up, when you eat meals) that you have input into the game. The game uses this information to time when chats are available.

-Time Machine Ticket lists  the current number of Time Machine Tickets you have. These tickets allow you to use the Time Machine, which lets you choose to begin your game during any of the days contained in the game’s storyline. 

#6 - Options

This is the game’s options menu.

Game Settings: Includes the ability to change Chat text size, Chat background, and a link to purchase something that will speed up Teo’s typing speed. You also can adjust push notifications and volume controls.

Account and Support Info: Lists your account name and Lab Code, allows you to connect your game to one of your social accounts to backup your data (highly reccomended), gives a link if you want to submit a bug report/customer support ticket, etc.

#7 - Mailbox

This contains all the game’s current announcements and offers. It also will contain free gifts that Cheritz occasionally passes out, or will contain items you purchase at the game’s shop.

#8 - Energy of the Day

Clicking the colored heart will give you a cute little message that refreshes every day, telling you the special Energy of the day. It’s kind of like a horoscope. Each day it will give you a bunch of orbs for that day’s Energy, too.

#9 - Time Machine

As I mentioned when describing Time Machine Tickets, this is the Time Machine. This machine lets you choose to begin your game during any of the days contained in the game’s storyline. There are 200 days in the game’s storyline (!!!) so you have a LOT of choices. As stated earlier, you need to buy a time Machine Ticket to use this power. You will need more than one ticket if you are moving very far into the past or future. (The number of needed tickets increases every 30 days)

Keep in mind that as of right now, you can only buy these tickets, and that using this feature will involve major game spoilers. Use with caution.

#10 - Phone Calls

This icon will display a countdown if Teo is scheduled to call you soon.

Pressing this icon brings you to a screen that lets you look at your call history for the current day and also lets you call Teo. Keep in mind that calling Teo costs 2 batteries and there is no guarantee he will pick up. 

Something else to keep in mind is that there are some call opportunities that you can only unlock with Special Reply Options during a text chat. You will need to spend 2 batteries on a special reply option that has the icon of a telephone. This unlocks the call opportunity. After the text chat you then can spend 2 batteries to call Teo and get a special conversation. (Yes, that’s 4 batteries total, it kind of sucks)

If you purchase a subscription, you can make unlimited phone calls and they do not cost any batteries.

#11 - Chat Room

The primary part of the game is the chat room. The icon will display a countdown for the next chat. Keep in mind you don’t need to start chats at the exact time they are scheduled, you can visit them up to an hour early.

Pressing this icon brings you to the Chat History page for the day. It starts with a summary of yesterday and then lists the chats you have participated in for the day so far and what % you completed in each chat. The bottom right button will bring you into the actual chat room.

#12 - Aurora Lab (Shop)

Brings you to the shop page. There are five tabs in the shop. 

PIU-PIU’s Evolution is for buying a paid subscription. There are two packages, the Aurora and the Rainbow Package. The Aurora one is the more deluxe package. Both of them operate as a monthly subscription. At the moment it is 24.99 USD per month for Aurora and 19.99 USD per month for Rainbow.

Item Lab is for buying batteries, Creature Boxes, Flasks, and Tickets for Daily Pattern Changes or the Time Machine. You can also purchase something that will speed up Teo’s texts, and some items that will automate your incubator

Emoticon Factory lets you swap between emoticon sets, affecting which emotes Teo uses in chat

Free Energy lets you watch 5 ads per day to earn free Energy Orbs

Research Assets is the last tab (the tab will have your MC name) and lists the current purchasable items that you have

#13 - Milky Way Calander

Keeps track of your progress in the game. Each date is marked with a large, colored star. Click on any of the stars to see a record of your chat and phone call history for that day. You can re-watch the chats and listen to the phone calls again. 

You also can Favorite a day by selecting the star icon in the upper right corner of a day. This creates the MOST SUBTLE indicator you could possibly imagine, three TEENY-TINY stars blinking around that day’s colored star.

The colors of each of the day’s stars seem to indicate the overall mood that you expressed for that day’s chat sessions. (That’s my guess, at least.)

#14 - Teo’s Private Account

This remains locked unless you purchase access to it. It is basically Teo’s private account on Twitter where he gossips about MC. During chat sessions, the game will indicate which comments that MC makes that Teo will post messages about in his private account.

#15 - Profile

Profiles for both you and Teo! You may set your birthday in your profile, but you can only do this once. It cannot be changed unless you start a new game.

You can change your name, profile picture, and Job Status an unlimited number of times.

You can also change Teo’s name and profile picture, but this will cost batteries. To change his profile picture, you make one payment of 100 Batteries and then can change his profile pic anytime. To change his name you must spend 50 Batteries each time you want to change it.

You cannot alter Teo’s birthday or job, though, as these are tied to the game’s plot.

In the profile you also can change your Daily Pattern, but it will cost one ticket each time. This lets you change your daily schedule (when you go to sleep, when you wake up, when you eat meals). Teo’s chats are all organized around your sleep and eating schedule, so this is very important. 

#16 - Gallery

Very straightforward, photo galley of pictures Teo sends you in chat. Seems to be organized by planet. This will only make sense until later in the game, when we learn more about Vanas, I assume.

#17 - Trivial Features

This is the game’s version of Achievements. It’s actually pretty cool, it gives you Energy Orbs as rewards and sometimes other goodies (pfps and ‘titles’ you can use on different planets). Click around and poke at everything you can find in the game, because there are a lot of achievements hidden all over.

#18 - Other Screens

Lastly, the arrows on the left and right side of the home screen indicate you can slide over to other screens on the left and right. I will discuss those in the next guide posts I write! 

======= ⭐Ssum Guide Series 🪐 =======

Ssum Guide #1: Home Screen Tour <- You Are Here :)

Ssum Guide #2: Incubator Overview + Q&A

Ssum Guide #3: Forbidden Lab Tour

Ssum Guide #4: Infinite Universe Tour

Ssum Guide #5: Tips for Free-To-Players

===================================

[panickedpansexualprincess]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! I got a switch for Christmas, as well as THIS

FINALLY, I can play the sequel to Amnesia: Memories, Amnesia: Later and Amnesia: Crowd!!!! I'm so excited, seriously! 🤩

[kittygrimm88]

Here is again some more of Ikemen Sengoku Sasuke funny randomness.

[reynaharmonia]

Vi la publicación y tenia que hacerlo fue lo primero que pensé

[iadoreredroses]

🥴🫣 Jason 

[46snowfox]

❄MASTERPOST DE TRADUCCIONES❄

Sagas de CD Dramas💿

Diabolk Lovers Chaos Lineage♙♟

Carnelian Blood/EROSION XXXXX💉

Black Wolves Saga Last Hope🐺

Support me on Ko-fi nwn/Apóyame en ko-fi☕

[arimiadev]

Otome Jam 2023

Ever wanted to make an otome game?

Otome Jam is an annual game jam that runs from May to June where you make an otome game! (not necessarily isekai-themed)

It's not a competition- there's no judging, no rankings. You can make a dating sim with multiple love interests or make a linear game where you romance a guy. We also allow otome games where the player gender is chooseable and dating sims with non-male love interests (as long as there is still an option to play as a woman and romance a man, to keep with the definition of "otome").

This year we have a new option for people who want to make an otome-esque game without the female lead and male LI requirement- Josei Jam, a game jam for making games for adult women!

The jam doubled in size last year and we're super excited to see it grow even further this year! If you want to join a team or want to create a team of your own, please use our community section or join our Discord server.

♥ more info about the jam ♥

[the-otome-freak]

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly Review!!

This is my first ever official, extensive otome review!! I hope y'all enjoy, I went through so many ups and downs with this game. I hope this review inspires more people to get the game, or maybe even helps people realize it might not be for them! I also attempted to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but there are parts that might dive into spoiler territory. I made sure to mention it, if so! Enjoy~ . . . .

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a visual novel developed by Otomate and published by Idea Factory in 2015, available on the PS Vita and Steam. It’s an extremely dark, gothic story with very heavy themes and romance akin to Shakespearian tragedy. When I first picked up this game, I had been previously warned about the angst it contained but nothing prepared me for what I was about to experience. This game contains themes of death, guilt, regret, grief, trauma, isolation, and more. The last time I cried so much consuming a piece of media was when I watched Les Misérables for the first time when I was 15, so that says a lot. POTBB has an iffy system, but this is easily overshadowed by the incredible storyline, jaw dropping art, compelling cast, and beautiful soundtrack.  

Before we get into plot points and character routes, I’d like to talk about POTBB’s system. It’s a typical visual novel at first glance, which means mostly just clicking in order to read the text and watching the events unfold. The features that set it apart however were quite interesting- and frankly quite frustrating as well. This includes its combat system and its flowchart.

POTBB has a combat system that pops up a couple times throughout the story while you’re fighting monsters. The instructions for the combat system were very vague and confusing, especially since I played on PC where the button configurations aren’t clarified in the “Options” menu, so it was a lot of trial and error. It instructs you to shoot your gun, but not how (on PC). I had to figure out on my own that I had to use the left and right click of my mouse to shoot/lock onto targets, so the first couple of plays I was very confused and frustrated. The object of the game is to shoot as many butterflies as possible in the allotted time while also getting a good score, which is achieved by getting combos. Playing the game earns you points. Another problem is that it’s quite glitchy and hard to lock onto the butterflies properly to shoot them, but with practice you can improve (with the sacrifice of a couple of hand cramps). 

The other unique thing about POTBB’s system is its flowchart, which is useful because it allows you to jump to any point in the story you’ve already unlocked, but it can be very frustrating sometimes. You’re required to use the flowchart in order to access the “Side Stories,” aka extra content you slowly unlock as you play. To access the flowchart, you have to go to the menu. The game doesn’t notify you when you’ve unlocked a Side Story, so you just have to remember to check the flowchart every once in a while to see if any have unlocked. And even if a Side Story is “unlocked”, you still have to spend your points you earned in the minigame to actually view the content. Certain character routes, endings, and choices can’t be unlocked unless you’ve viewed these Side Stories. I actually got stuck a few times during my playthrough because I didn’t realize some of the Side Stories were unlocked, and you need to read them to progress. I found that the process of scrolling through the flowchart in the middle of the story often took away from the immersion, but it wasn’t awful. 

On a positive note, I have to talk about POTBB’s art, which was created by Satoru Yuiga. Yuiga has an expressive, sort of water-color art style that adds to the spiritual and mystic elements of the game. I actually didn’t like the style at first; I thought some of the character sprites looked strange, but I quickly got used to it and was soon blown away. The CGs were gorgeous and added so much life to the characters. The facial expressions were so vivid, they displayed perfect depictions of terror, shock, love… I felt every emotion through the art. I’m looking forward to playing more of Yuiga’s games just because of her art. (Images below are promotional CGs)

Now, let's talk plot! (I summarize the Common Route in this section, so feel free to skip if you consider that spoilers!) The story and characters are the best thing about this game, in my opinion. You play as a girl named Beniyuri who has just woken up in a strange mansion with no memory of her past or even herself. You see the world through Beni’s eyes as she traverses the mansion and tries to figure out what’s going on and why she’s there. The mansion is dark, gothic, and scary. Its halls seem endless, every window and door is locked, and mysterious butterflies can be seen practically everywhere. And just when things seem their darkest, Beni hears the loud roar of a beast. Two large lion-like creatures appear and attempt to attack her. Imagine if a Minotaur had a lion’s head; that’s what they look like. She thinks she’s a goner, but suddenly she’s saved by a mysterious man with dark hair and purple eyes. They hide from the monsters together, and Beni learns that this man also doesn’t have any memories. They team up and explore, eventually coming across 3 other men in the mansion who also have amnesia. The four of them find a large hall within the mansion to make their ‘base’ where they’ll be safe from the monsters. They realize that they all have phones on them, and though there isn’t any service, each of them has received one message. “Collect the shards. Complete the kaleidoscope.” They’re in this mansion for a reason, and clearly someone is pulling the strings.

I can’t go into too much detail about the individual routes because the amount of plot twists and spoilers in this game are insane. I will describe each guy and a summary of what their route meant for me and how it made me feel. Some of the routes were phenomenal in their story writing and character development, others not so much. 

The first route recommended is a man named Kagiha, the 2nd person that Beni meets in the mansion, and I have complex feelings about his route. He’s a tall, soft spoken, polite man with light brown hair and green eyes. He’s very kindhearted and treats Beni with a lot of care, cheering her up when she’s depressed about their situation. Kagiha was my favorite in the beginning simply due to how kind he was. All of them were in a very depressing situation with no memories and barely any hope, so his kindness was a sort of light in that darkness. I was very excited for his route and to learn his backstory. It turns out, his route is a branch of the “Best Ending” of the game, so you get to learn the truth about almost everything as you play through his route. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I had been warned in the past about POTBB’s bittersweet endings, but I really wasn’t prepared like I thought I was. Due to Kagiha’s circumstances (that I can’t go into detail about), his route has two endings, and neither of them are “happy” in regard to his relationship with Beni. The “Best Ending” of the game does indeed end on a happy note, but they don’t end up happy together (again due to circumstances I can’t talk about without spoiling). The “Kagiha Ending” of the game does have them end up together romantically, but with very bittersweet conditions that’s more depressing than the alternative, in my opinion. I was very upset and I cried at both endings, regretting that I loved Kagiha so much because neither ending let him and Beni be truly happy together. But even though I was upset, I have to admit that the “Best Ending” was written phenomenally and deals with the concept of death, grieving, acceptance, and change in a beautiful way. The themes in this game are very heavy but discuss them in a beautiful, important way that really gets your brain going. I sat in silence for a while after the “Best Ending” just… thinking. 

After that emotional wreck, I was ready for a happy ending or at least some more closure. Hikage’s route is recommended after Kagiha, which surprised me a bit. Based off of the cover art and his introduction, he seemed to be the “poster boy.” Hikage is the first man Beni meets in the mansion, the man who saved her from the monsters. I can barely describe his route without getting into spoilers, but it was intense. I didn’t like Hikage at first because he had this misogynistic mindset and constantly scolded Beni for being “weak, just like all women” and yelled at her for “slowing them down.” I wasn’t excited for his route because obviously it meant Beni would get more of this treatment, but I was honestly surprised at what his route had in store. There’s a major plot twist within the route and you come to understand why Hikage has this mindset, and that it doesn’t come from a place of misogyny, but rather trauma. The ending to his route shocked me so much and I bawled my eyes out. It definitely ends on a bittersweet note as well, but the very last scene offers some sort of closure (though not enough, in my opinion.) I overall liked his route plot-wise and thought it was also very thought provoking, tackling themes of abuse, death, mental instability, and despair. Romantically it was okay, but I felt like it took a side-seat to the plot which can either be good or bad, depending on how much you value romance and/or get attached to the characters. Without spoiling, I can tell you that Hikage is written in a way where it makes sense that romance isn’t the focus. Thankfully I wasn’t attached to Hikage as much as Kagiha, but I still cried a river anyway…

You’d think after two routes with horrifically bittersweet endings that the whole game will probably be this way, but surprisingly, the third route in POTBB filled my heart with joy. This route centered around Yamato, who’s a short-tempered, sporty guy with ice-blue hair. He has a bit of a foul mouth, often yelling or getting angry at their situation, but never in an irrational way. Yamato actually ended up being my favorite character overall. He has an unexpected soft side and his romance with Beni was the most realistic among the cast. I also felt his route was quite tragic, despite having the happiest romantic ending in the game. Yamato and Beni’s relationship is really complex, and they actually bond over grief and guilt. Both of them harbor so much guilt in their hearts and it shackles the both of them to their pasts, but by grieving together and finding strength in one another, they’re able to push each other to move on and grow. I really enjoyed this route in a moral sense. It teaches you that it’s okay to grieve and that people grieve at different paces, and sometimes it’s okay to bond over said grief. Healing and forgiveness take time, and having someone else there to heal with you can make you both stronger. The themes in his route were so beautiful and even watching his bonds with other members of the cast grow were incredible too. He has the happiest romantic ending in the game as well, which just added to how good it was. Interestingly enough, Yamato’s route also helped me come to terms with the bittersweetness of the previous routes. I was finally able to accept the circumstances and reasonings behind the depressing endings, allowing me to appreciate the game more as a whole.  

After Yamato’s romantic end, I was excited to finish the rest of the game. I prayed that this next route had a happy ending as well, and that Yamato wasn’t just an exception. I began to pursue Monshiro, who’s a mysterious man who wears a fox mask that Beni has spotted wandering the mansion sometimes. I didn’t know what to expect from him during the first bit of the game because he’s sort of absent until the end of the common route. I was pleasantly surprised, though! I learned more and more about him as I played, even in the other routes, and he’s wonderful. He’s adorable, loving, and incredibly sweet. His route tackles themes of isolation and loneliness, with Monshiro being severely traumatized due to being alone in the mansion for several years. He’s very clingy with Beni and values their relationship more than anything, his main fear being him getting left alone again. His ending was quite happy as well, but their romantic development and deep connection never really got the ending it deserved. Their bond was almost as strong as her bond with Yamato, but I feel like in the end they didn’t get to express that to each other properly. It also felt quite short to me, I wish I could have gotten more content with them that wasn’t plot-related and just focused on their bond and how much they care for each other. Overall, I enjoyed it because Monshiro is so loveable, but the ending just left me unsatisfied and begging for more.  

Now, the last route was a doozy. I’d like to clarify before I begin that this is all, of course, my opinion and perspective, so don’t let this discourage you from trying the game or loving this character! I will get into minor spoilers as well here, just because it’s hard to explain my feelings without talking about what happened. The last route I played was Karasuba, who is… not the best. I can confidently say I hate him, and his route didn’t really change that for me. He has bright yellow hair and yellow eyes, so his design was already creepy to me from the start, but his personality is much worse. At first glance he seems like a funny, happy-go-lucky class clown type, but his real personality is much more twisted. He flirts with Beni so intensely to the point of sexual harassment, but then backs off and laughs, pretending it was “just a joke.” Now this is already bad enough, but he’s just incredibly rude to everyone around him as well. He demeans Beni constantly for being “naive” and “cowardly,” all with a smile on his face as he pretends he’s saying it “for her own good.” He also constantly insults the other characters, starting fights with them whenever he can and giggling about it when it’s over. The whole “reason” behind why he acts like this is because he was bullied when he was a child. He projects his insecurities onto others and thus becomes the bully he hated so much when he was younger. He does later apologize for this at the end of his route, but I felt like one sorry just wasn’t enough to atone for the way he treated everyone? He sexually harasses Beni until she starts crying at one point, then backs away and claims it was “just a joke to teach her a lesson at how dangerous men can be.” He’s just awful and I don’t think he develops very much, even in his good ending despite his apology. His bad ending was even worse, which involved him brainwashing and manipulating Beni to be with him. I know some people who enjoyed his route and while I do respect that, it’s just hard for me to understand how someone would enjoy a character like him. I do think he’s interesting because he has deep flaws and trauma and instead of growing from it, he let them taint him and he ended up becoming the very thing he hated. So, he is interesting, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good love interest for Beni or even a good character in general. If I’d have to state one major flaw about this game, it’s Karasuba’s existence and his lack of character development or redemption.

After the 5 character routes are over, you’d assume that’s the end. The game actually continues after this, though, with the “Summer Camp” ending that unlocks last. This was my favorite part of the game. It’s a “What-If” scenario where every single character gets their happy ending, and offers a lot of closure after the despair you experience in the character routes. It healed me and freshened my mind after the tragedy. It’s a wonderful inclusion and I actually cried tears of joy while playing it, due to how emotional it made me. 

Overall, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly was an emotional rollercoaster that I will never forget. While yes it has its flaws, I don’t regret playing it. The topics covered, such as isolation, death, and guilt, were so heavy and intense; but they were also so meaningful and I feel like everyone should experience them. I feel my favorite theme was the deep dive into Survivor’s Guilt and how people process and deal with it differently. The mystery surrounding the mansion and their circumstances was also very interesting and the plot twists were well executed. The whole cast is so full of life and each of their bonds are extremely complex. Beniyuri is a wonderful main character and I found myself rooting for her and her happiness the entire time. I definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves tragedy and complex plots, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this game to someone who’d be uncomfortable with really dark themes like graphic death. This game definitely took a toll on my mental health for a few days, but also offered life lessons that I’ll no doubt remember and value for a very long time. 

Rating: 7/10!