english-otomegames-reviews-blog

[english-otomegames-reviews-blog]

Golden Hour - Game's Demo Review

Name: Golden Hour

Made by: Matchaa Studio (follow them on @matchaastudio)

Release date: Only the demo is out for now

Console: Phone

Price: Free

This time I have decided to talk about a game that isn't finished yet but whose team needs you to support their project. And what a project indeed!

I will be honest, I'm not a big fan of otome games on cell phones. This is not because they are bad though. In fact, most of the time, the story and characters are amazing, but I don't really like not being able to progress quickly into the story and most phone games only allow you to see a really small part of the story each day for free,  you have to pay quite a lot if you want to finish it more quickly.

But you can forget this problem with this game! In Golden Hour, you are able to progress at your own rhythm through the story. The story seems to progress according to the heroine's school's schedule though (as seen in the image below), so it makes me wonder whether or not we will have to wait for the right time to unlock each part in the future (like in mystic messenger), though it will still allow you to enjoy a lot of content in one day!

While I don't usually like not being able to progress as I want in a game, I don't really dislike system like that as it allows you to feel more like you are really the heroine of the story.

But all this is pure conjecture as I don't think the creators said anything about it (unless I missed that information which is quite possible).

Now, with that said,  let's really start to talk about this game!

In Golden Hour, you play a heroine who is transferring to a new school in the middle of the term because of her mother's new job. As soon as you arrive at the school for the first term, you will meet four really different men: the son of the city’s wealthiest family, a genius delinquent who seems to have a dark past with the previous character, a joyful football star, and a musician who seems to have a lot of secrets.

Despite simply wanting to carry on on her life while searching for the perfect subject for a photography competition she is participating in, the heroine finds herself caught up in the lives of these out-of-the-ordinary men.

Moreover, not only the characters but even the city itself seems to have some secrets...

As I mentioned earlier, the story progresses according to the heroine's schedule. For now only two days of the story are out, but it already allows you to play for quite some time and to really get a feel of the game!

With only a few moments of playable content, the creators of the game are already able to make you feel invested in the story and the characters. You feel that something is wrong with this city and each character and you just want to know what it is so badly!

Another strong point of the game is the fact that you are not just simply reading a story on your phone, but that your phone is also functioning as the heroine's phone, which means that from the "menu" of your phone in the game, you are able to access a lot of options.

On top of being able to receive calls and send messages, you are also able to access the school's social network and see what everyone is talking about:

Isn't that really cool?

The "Gallery" allows you to view the different CGs that you discovered while reading the story and let me tell you that the art is really good so it's always a pleasure to be able to see them again!

While I'm talking about the art, the sprites are also amazing, so congrats to the artist! The same goes for the music as it's really pleasing to the ears!

I'm going to backtrack to the characters  because I want to talk about the cast of this game a bit more. The multitude of choices available to you during the game allows you to shape the heroine to have more or less the same personality as yourself,  which is good but I'm curious as to how she will be portrayed in the rest of the game. Each romanceable character seems quite interesting but I have to admit that my heart goes to Nagi (the rich son) and Kouya (the delinquent) first. At least for now though, as everything might change once the finished game is released!

As for the rest of the characters well... You are able to meet a group of girls who seem really nice and cool (even if I'm already wary of one). From what I understood, depending on which character you choose to pursue, one of them will become your rival so I'm quite curious as to how it will go…

Another character that I love is the "cool" (*cough cough*) teacher! My 22 years old's heart wants to be able to date him but that won't be possible which is understandable lol! But I mean, look at that idiot, how are you supposed to take him seriously?:

Once again, here are the main positive and negative points of this game (for me):

Positive:

+Interesting story and characters

+Really cool gameplay and settings

+Nice art and music

+Free

+On phone so available for everyone

Negative:

-Really not a negative point but I just wanted to say that I found one typo where it was written "my" instead of "me" but since it's just a demo it's really nothing important.

-The fact that in the category "Contacts" of your phone you are able to read the background of all the characters. For me, it would have been better to only unlock those parts after you read about them in the story.

Anyway, I think that's all for now! I can't wait to play this game and I really advise you to try the demo while waiting for the full release. Also, if you like Golden Hour, please send your love to the creators and cheer for them so they keep feeling motivated! Also, it would be amazing if you can help them financially even just a little!  (They are on Kickstarter, here)

That's all for now, the next article should be about the spoiler version of Collar x Malice! @haitori here you go, it's not much but I hope you like the review!

-Lili

[english-otomegames-reviews-blog]

Hi there! Hope you are well :D Just recently noticed your blog and I was wondering if you would be willing to review our game demo? I'm Tori from Matchaa Studio and I would be very grateful if you provide us any feedback at all for our game Golden Hour :D Thank you so much for your time and keep up the good work!

Hi! Yes of course! I was already planning on doing it because your game seems amazing!

Good luck on your work, I’m sure you will make something great, I will play the game as soon as possible so I can make a review about it!

Thank you for asking me, I’m still a new blog but I will do my best! :) 

[english-otomegames-reviews-blog]

Collar x Malice (No spoiler review)

Name : Collar x Malice

Made by : Otomate and localized by Askiss

Realeas date : Localized in June 2017.

Console : Psvita

Price : $39.99

Okay, let’s start my very first review with a bang!

Not only because this game is amazing, but also because in this game you have a gun and you will use it. So yeah, you better not mess with this heroine lol!

Don’t let that first image fool you into thinking that this game is a happy go lucky game with a innocent and fluffy story… Because it very much is not.

The genre of this game  is thriller and mystery.

A city named Shinjuku has been attacked by a group of terrorists calling themselves “Adonis” and has therefore been placed under quarantine by Japan’s government in order to try to stop them from spreading word of their movement to the rest of the country. As you can guess, sadly that didn’t stop Adonis who continue to  commit a new kind of murder each month, always claiming to be doing this in the name of Justice.

After each new murder, a roman number is left at the crime scene, starting from IX on April first and counting down until December which is when our story starts. This countdown is used by the terrorists as a countdown to what they call the X-DAY.

You play as Ichika, a twenty one year old rookie police-woman with a strong idea of justice but she spends her time simply answering calls from people who are worried about the X-DAY. Despite everything, Ichika is still trying to keep being positive and live her life normally, always working hard on her job in order to protect everyone. That is until she becomes a victim herself and is attacked while  she is on a patrol. When she wakes up she learns that a collar built in with poison has been placed around her neck by someone claiming to be Adonis.

That’s when she meets with a group of people who are working on the X-Day cases.

 Each person has their own deeper reasons for pursuing these cases and soon Ichika finds herself forced to join them, as the only way for her to survive the final countdown is to discover the truth about Adonis and their work.

According to which case you choose to investigate, you will be partnered with one of the guy (most of the time against their will) and you will both work together to discover the truth about not only about the X-Day’s events, but also about the past of your Partner.

And yes, you will investigate in this game which means solving mysteries, so get ready to wrack your brain trying to find the solution because your partner will test you.

The romance is definitely there, but the story takes up a large section of this game as your character is running out of time trying to solve something far bigger than herself. So if you want something light and don’t really enjoy heavy storyline content, this game might not be for you.

You will need to play each route if you want to understand everything which helps to keep the game really interesting until the very end! Moreover, one of the interesting points of the game is that, for once, your character isn’t just waiting around but is openly pursuing the guy she wants!

The characters are all interesting and deep and they go through a lot of development during the course of the game which make them relatable. Even you as a player are pushed to ponder on the question of what true justice is, on who you would consider as guilty according to different circumstances and on whether or not you think society is too rotten for this world or if there is still a chance for it to become better.

The story is really well written and while it will make you feel frustrated, angry or even really sad, it will also make you smile like an idiot or laugh far too loudly.

Another really good point of this game is the supporting cast! Just because they aren’t romanceable doesn’t mean that they aren’t important . You will form strong friendships with a lot of characters and for once, the other girls aren’t presented as the enemies you need to fight in order to get your guy. These women are strong, dependable women that will drag you to bars so you can rant about your job over beers lol.

The CGs are also really really good, congrats to the artists who made them! The voice actors also did an amazing job, I could listen to them talk for hours and they were totally able to perfectly portray the different emotions their character was feeling! The music is also quite good, with one song really reminding me of Persona 5!

It’s actually hard for me to find flaws to this game because I really found it amazing but I guess there are a few typos in the game . Though, considering the amount of text in the game, it’s really not something worth complaining about in my opinion!

Positive:

+Really good and deep story that will make you think

+It’s a long game and is definitely worth the money

+Good main and side characters+Interesting and strong heroine (who is an adult for once!)

+Good development of the characters (they aren’t perfect but they work to become better and it’s done really well)

+Good CG and music

Negative:

-A few typos and the use of the wrong name once

-No real “After story” (when after the main story you get another little story about your life with your lover) => Actually that’s not true because there are quite a few things you unlock after playing the routes but it’s not the usual “After story” you get with other games. But it’s still really cute and interesting!!

-Only on Ps Vita for now (but I wouldn’t be surprised if a steam version comes out later)

If you play this game, I strongly recommend you to play the routes in this order :

Mineo => Kei => Takeru => Kageyuki => Aiji

That’s all for my no spoiler review! I will make another one in which I will talk about my opinion of the characters, which means that it will be full of spoilers so don’t read it until you have finished the game! It will be tagged accordingly and even if you don’t blacklist the tag, I will write “Spoilers” in the title so you will still be able to avoid it!

Also I will try to pick a free game for my next review! And one for which you don't need to own a psvita!

-Lili

[english-otomegames-reviews-blog]

Welcome

Welcome on this blog, as you probably guessed when you saw its name, on this blog, I will write reviews about many otome games, all those games will be games that exist in English! You don't know what is an otome game exactly? You can read about it here!

I do it for fun so I can't promise that I will post regularly but I still hope I will be able to help you in your search of the next otome game's gem!

So if you are interested in otome games, if you only discovered this genre thanks to the success of Mystic Messenger and want to play more game like this one but don't know where to start, here is the right place!

I will write reviews on the story and on the characters therefore for each game, I will write a "no spoiler" post and a "spoilers" post. Each will be tagged accordingly !

I will also keep track of new games so you will know when a new game is out even if I haven't played it yet!

If you want more informations about the blog and what I will do or not, check out the FAQ and if you still have questions, feel free to send me an ask, even if it's just to talk about a game!!

That's all for now, thanks for reading me!

-Lili