Developer/publisher: Otomat/RED.
Platform: Nintendo Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/birushana/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22987
Release date: 2020-09-17
Bilshana or Birushana senki is an otome game set in the heian period's genpei war, since
I got nostalgic and remember a little of the time period thanks to harutoki 3 I decided to get it.
Also this game has a character voiced by Fukuyama Jun whom I don't hear a lot in
these days (I say as I just found out he apparently voiced a main char in Bustafellows).
That aside most of the main characters looked attractive one, of the love interest here
was a npc I disliked in harutoki 3 so there is a little bit of bias going in.
Also since this is another historic otome game its probably not for everyone.
Pro's
- Decent story, long but pacing alright.
- Heroine is capable and also head-strong.
- Fun cast of characters.
- Art is beautiful, even side characters got sprites.
- Music is fitting, OP and ED theme is nice.
Con's
- Lot's of common scenes throughout.
- Decent amount of bad ends, confusing system.
- screen dimming / switch going standby on automode.
- Random crash after returning to the main menu and opening flowchart.
The heroine of this game is Shana-ou, otherwise known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune
for the majority of the game she has to pretend to be a guy.
Knowing otomate this can go both ways but I had hope she would be both awesome and cute
wasn't disappointed she was pretty badass, also very stubborn!
Shana also has some weird power which makes her become a demon on the battlefield....
The pacing was alright, its not too slow and not too fast either and it being
a historic fantasy it did get a bit boring, I was instantly reminded
by jyuza engi 1 with the amount of old dudes speaking, most of the other
characters were fun though tomomori became like a joke for me.😅
Unlike Dairoku side characters do have sprites here, look at all those handsome monks and ossans!
i'm not kidding I do think one of the ossan's looked handsome oh otomate what have you done.😱
I ended up on Benkei's route on my first play, I wasn't aiming for him at all but i'm kinda
glad I did get on his route because he was likeable and supportive.
Just doing one route will not answer all of your plot related questions so that's good!
I mean give me that incentive to do the other routes! they didn't make them too irrelevant.In terms of plot revelations I think the route system was a lot like Hyakka hyakurou/Nightshade...
Most characters are not that interesting outside of their route their problems
are relatively self-contained within the routes especially Noritsune.
In terms of plot relevance I would recommend something like this:
Noritsune > Yoritomo / Shungen > Benkei > Tomomori.
I do think it can be done in no particular order except Tomomori as last
since his route ties up the loose ends most other routes hint at.
I think my own play order worked out pretty well so here it is for comparison!
Benkei > Yoritomo > Shungen > Noritsune > Tomomori.
Also I tried to play this without a guide but I just hit some bad end which wasn't near the beginning.
Can't say I recommend to play this without a guide😅 there's a chance you hit an
abrupt bad end, the system is strangely complicated there's the usual affection and then
there's three other gauges as well i'm not even gonna go into that. Its better to look up a guide
if you don't understand it, but other than that it was pretty standard stuff.
Other than that, the story was interesting enough but its a bit on the long side?
Most of the characters were likable, like Hana Oboro certain side characters
got a special what if episodes as well which actually made characters like Takatsuna
and Shigehira more likable so that was nice.
I could make jokes about the characters which at the end of the day
might have helped getting me to like them more cough tomomori cough.
Romance interests are varied, some routes could be a hit or miss but you can't like everything.
Benkei was surprisingly likeable but he's not really my type as he ends up being
more of a dad than anything else his route was also weak in terms of plot so that didn't help.
Yoritomo was harder to like because I couldn't read him but the story really delivered for him
I think the only route I had trouble to enjoy was Shungen........I do not know if it
is because I did Yoritomo first since it made things more confusing that it had to be.
I think my only complaints are how... the skip was kinda slow
but there is a skip to the next choice I assume was via the flowchart
though I didn't mind iddling for a few minutes so its not that bad.
Really I don't have many complaints... war bits might be boring and/or repettive I guess?
I had a lot of fun playing through Bilshana the war parts did make me sleepy
atleast the characters were all attractive and there was drive to do all of them, this alsowasn't a game of trying to make everyone happy at the same time which was a good thing
because I dislike it when they sugar coat things too much in these type of games.
The story was generally the same in most of the routes, there was enough
going on with the characters (drama etc) that give different view points nothing was
exactly the same in all the routes even if its limited by the scenario which can be repettive.
There was also a bit of comedy to things sometimes but it doesn't
overstay its welcome as it knows when to be serious and when not.
Another good thing because it would be too dry with all the war stuff. 😅
For its genre I thought it was an alright otome game and I can recommend
if a fan of historic fantasy and enjoy to explore such a setting with a mostly likable cast!
and don't mind deaths, since its long its also a good way to pass the time but if you're not
into history and war stuff then it could be an easy pass.
8/10
End of non-spoiler section.
