#heyheyotome reviews

[heyheyotome]

Winter’s Wish

Spirits of Edo

1716. Kyoho Era. Japan.

A secret organization recruits a young woman. Her ability to sense incoming disasters could save the country from demonic forces. Or destroy it…

Suzuno is no ordinary girl - she can see threads that reveal a person’s emotions encircling their necks. This ability has led her village to call her “the mind reading yokai” and to ostracize her. But it’s just this power that the shogun needs to predict where the demonic blightfalls will appear. Aided by the mysterious Oniwaban, noble men serving the shogun who have the ability to destroy the blightfall, Suzuno must protect the people of Edo from themselves.

But can emotions be kept in check enough to prevent a demonic uprising? And can a simple girl from the mountains really help bring peace to a dangerous world full of political upheaval and danger at every turn?

Quick stats:

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Intrigue: 5/5

Love Interests: 5/5

Plot: 4.5/5

Romance: 4/5

Dark material: 3.5/5

Art style: 4/5, similar to Amnesia: Memories.

MC: 4/5. Suzume has moments of air-headedness and complacency, but still manages to feel like a well rounded character. As usual, this varies with route.

Fully voiced with character mouth animations.

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Recommendation: if you’ve previously enjoyed titles like Olympia Soiree or especially Hakuouki, this game will feel like it was made for you. There are many twists in the first chapter alone that provide enough intrigue to make you break out theories, and the love interests are all varied enough that there is bound to be someone you’ll enjoy.

It is on the darker side, and if you do not handle memory loss or amnesia well, you may not enjoy it. It can also feel bogged down by the historical setting that may have western audiences reaching for the dictionary (provided in game) more than once, but that is a fairly minor gripe.

Overall, I haven’t had a game suck me in so quickly since BUSTAFELLOWS or Olympia Soiree in 2021. While we haven’t been exactly dry for otome content since those games, this one still feels special to me and has me thoroughly hooked.

Disclaimer: as of writing, I have not finished all routes. A follow up, spoiler heavy review will be posted once I have completed the remaining endings. As of writing I have only reached “happy endings”.