Developer/publisher: KOEI/ruby party.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/anmina/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v28833
Release date: 20/05/20.
I am not too fond of simulation genre of otome games but I still got this game
after I was impressed with the demo, as its base plot was a bit more captivating
than my entire experience with retour granted it was one route...
I remember trying Brian even but lost interest welp, time to try again?
Pro's
- Interesting characters, was motivated to do multiple character ends.
- Ange's personality, sometimes she can be sassy.
- Art, I like the art style.
Con's
- Starts off strong but falls flat in the end... (none if any conflict as well.)
- Gameplay is pretty much a reskin of retour albeit with QoL improvements.
- It is rather short, especially on 2nd+ play.
- Reusing CG's with slightly different background taking up slots in the gallery like its 2010.
 |
| The queen is MISSING and they're in need of a new one. |
Ange who after a hard day of work went for a drink and laments her life's choices
then gets offered with the choice of becoming a queen and randomly signs it cuz why not!
Little did she know some pretty boi on a pegasus showed up to take her to her new job.
I liked how this was all done in manga form... really added some humor to it
before it switced back to regular VN mode, was nice while it lasted.
Ange doesn't understand but the pretty boy who's name is Yue explained it all...
but did a poor job so Vergil had to jump in to explain it in a way Ange understood.
In short: Ange signed a contract and was isekai'd to a new world to become a candidate
to be queen of the cosmos, Ange thought that contract paper was a joke but here we are.
There is also another candidate to be the queen, Reina who like Ange also just got here
and is willing to answer any further questions Ange might have, Reina is also her rival
who has no intention to lose! In terms of other characters there's Cyrus who is Ange's butler.
Cyrus also interrogates Ange some of his questions will determine compatibility such as
birthday/bloodtype or likes/dislikes you could say he's simply one hell of a butler, also is it just me
or do I get sebastian vibes from him. >_> Unfortunately Cyrus is not romanceable
like the others which is such a shame because just from the prologue he really grew on me.
The chemistry amongst the guardians was also nice so events with them were nice most of the time.
The two candidates are given their own planet to raise with the help of the elements
that the guardians possess. This is a series staple and it wouldn't be Angelique if it wasn't.
Cyrus knows when to joke around as well some times it was good other times it was eh
and I was just like my dude what're you smoking?! Tyler the engineer was cute
as well too bad he's not romanceable, ah the terashima curse strikes again!
 | ||
| Reina might not be romanceable but atleast she and Ange can hang out. |
Gameplay like other entries includes simulation parts and there is a day/time limit to get things done
though i'm not sure how long we are allowed to take, probably best to not take too long.
Like with retour you have to manage your time of chasing bishies with being a candidate
for the queen. Most of the gameplay flow is similar to retour but they have tweaked some things.
There is still some RNG involved but it is much less of a hassle which made it easier to replay
and there are timed choices in which a character may quiz you during a date but most of these
are easy if you've been paying attention during your gameplay. Like for example
is your rival(or yours development higher or lower? Do you remember x and what was it? etc.
Thankfully the first dates no longer have you select lots random questions which is a blessing
there's still some randomness but not as bad as in retour, I was always stressed back then
cuz of RNG and higher potential of saying the wrong things that would ruin the mood of a date.
If you date a lot the guys and get perfect answer on the quiz they may give Ange a present
for me it only happened with Vergil, Yue &Noa, you can also give the guys presents
but you have to buy it on a holiday but figuring out what they like was another thing...
though affection was plenty so that was not a big deal!
Gameplay also feels less monotonous because some things can be automated
a blessing on multiple playthroughs. Whatever difficulty you select will affect
Reina's behavior making it either easier or harder to get through it.
I recommend easy because hard makes everything a pain............
Like retour you don't need a guide as long as you save a lot because there is a chance you
select a wrong choice during events that results in heartbreak so you cannot proceed events
for me Lorenzo's events were especially bad with this I couldn't find the right thing to say.😔
The only thing I really hated was the RNG involved with the confession or be confessed at events
and how there's 1 cg locked behind being lovers that for some had asinine requirements
but atleast the game is nice enough to tell you how to get it so its not that bad.
If you're curious about this entry and are still on the fence about the aforementioned gameplay flow
there's a demo/trial on the japanese eshop, wish more otome dev's would do this tbh.
Zeno's precious and Vergil totally not from the devil may cry series also seemed interesting.
The characters all had a personality to them outside of their events... but a lot of it was
random and I couldn't keep track of some of their stories so that was a bummer.
I liked a event were Vergil teased Yue during a game of words.😂 On another note
the heroine Ange is 25 years old! which certainly made things a bit more interesting?
As for the love interests the youngest ones are 18 and 19 with the others being in the mid/late 20's.
Seiyuu: With the exception of Satou Takuya and Shimazaki Nobunaga most of the seiyuu talent
are all relatively unknown which is nice sometimes even I am tired of hearing the same old va's
also glad they didn't use those ossan's because some of them like Zephel's VA really
had to try hard reprise their role the only exception was Koyasu but that's probably
because Koyasu is still very active as a seiyuu unlike some of the cast in retour.
Rest assured that this is not the case here which lead to a better listening experience.
Some guys have their own thing going on its more obvious with Kanata the youngest of the
guardians he's much like Ange and still getting used to his new life there if you don't know which
guy to go for I think Kanata might be a good pick? but still it might be better to pick the guy
which really interest you and make the most out of your first play because I ran out of steam quickly
cuz this game wasn't that fun to sit through multiple times, it isn't very interesting either in terms of plot. Not sure about the rivalry but as long as you're trying there shouldn't be a problem, only once
I fell behind & sorta sat on my ass in the beginning cuz I was thinking about Vergil.😜
They also gave Ange and Reina backgrounds that influenced who they are as a character and theirrelationship but that's sorta it too. If you want to complete all events, well uh good luck with that?
there are lots of different variations of events. I was pretty satisfied with just getting
the romantic ends as well as full gallery or almost cuz I couldn't be arsed to get
the last bar cg for 2 characters, which thankfully wasn't worth that much. Other than that
its probably disappointing there was no real plot outside of the guys events, it was mostly relaxing
and everyone was nice much like in retour maybe too nice, even if things don't work out
in terms of love there's no hard feelings they might even still want to spend the day.
Its great if you don't want much going on but yea don't expect a plot like in
the haruka games, I found this disappointing because it started off well enough but this might
as well be an angelique thing, you have the goal and choice to romance but not much else to it.
The character events and love ends really are the best thing the game has to offer!
IMO it was alright... just okay at best, Koei managed to sell it to me
from the trial but its mostly cuz of the characters so they definitely did something right?
But there is also something wrong, the lack of CG events and reusing
1 cg scene 3 times, only change is the background. Come on what year is this? I expect
something like that from back around 2010. There are many times I wonder why there
was a lack of them, even retour had a few cg's when you go out visiting that world's town
or a dance cg etc, luminarise does it too but really awkwardly, disconnected from the flow
and not fun to have to fetch it if you didn't visit said location thrice. Some have weird conditions
like visit the first time as lovers but if you visit before being lovers that you get a different version
of the event.😒 See what I mean by asinine? god forbid you visit misty canal with Kanata
before being lovers cuz there goes your chance of seeing one of the few CG events.
Atleast most mini event were enjoyable but i'm just disappointed there are hardly
any CG's spread out over the romance events, Further more there are no real routes
and the game is a giant common route filled with individual events which aren't very long, if you
try to go for one you will trigger a bunch of the others especially if you automate to much.
Sometimes there would be guy only events. I couldn't keep track or be interested in those cuz they happened in no particular order they weren't that interesting either so nothing of value was lost.
This game is very short not like retour was much better at that.... in that game despite enjoying Zephel's
events and vibing with some guys from time to time, that was all that there's to it! Luminarise is the same in that regard. So I realize maybe simulation games just aren't for me! cuz by the time
I got to the final route of the game I was just about done with it.
 |
| Vergil is my best boi! |
more than retour due to QoL improvements. But really my first play was the most fun
and most of the fun and interest disappeared on subsequent plays leading to me
running out of steam and then I also felt bad about betraying Vergil when going for others
cuz I liked him more than Kanata whom I just wanna cheer on not romance.😓
If there was any character I had trouble liking it was Milan his romance events were off-putting
but outside of that he was likeable. I much preferred to spend my time with Zeno he is too precious.
Both Shuri & Felix were a surprise for me cuz I was turned off at first but they both grew on me!
There might be some characters you just don't like which for me was Milan and Lorenzo.
Noa's likeable enough and I don't hate him but everything about his character
has me going, I have seen this somewhere before have I? Yue on the other hand is a cutiepie!
Whoever ends up being your fav will depend on personal taste really.
The stories in the character events varied heavily but there were some life lessons that could
seen or learned from it so I don't think it was all that bad, it just makes up for the main plot
being lacklustre which was just there to set things up. This can be a nice otome game if you let it!
by doing all routes you might notice how a lot of things are just kinda the same.
6.5/10
Well I think this is okay if you like romance simulators and never played an angelique
game and are new to this but other than that it kind of fell flat despite starting out strong
the lore and all is interesting but don't play it for the plot... do it for THEM bishies.
Once more I recommend trying out the demo on the JP eshop to get a feel of it
the japanese is pretty easy too so its a good game to test japanese on. I say that
because this game is quite expensive it might just be KOEI tax at this point
but i'm more inclined to blame this on the pandemic for it being the way it is
or maybe that's just me trying to be nice and cut them some slack?
End of non spoiler section, route spoilers after the jump.
