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| Usually I'll post the box art but... I liked this title screen and i've been doing it for rpg's too. |
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/hamehura-kaizoku/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v29251
Release date: 2022-02-10.
Long title aside hench forth it shall be known as Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~!
Otomate decided to make otome game for hamefura a lightnovel which had an anime adaptation.
Unfortunately they decided to not give the girls full routes and only the guys are romanceable
this is something I didn't mind but I could see some might do. As it kinda felt subtexty/comedic
and to turn it into full harem; basically who doesn't love Bakarina? 😅
I also tend to be kind of wary of games that are based on an anime because they tend to exist
solely for fans and the quality of said game tends to vary greatly but hamefura turned out alright.
The art quality was very high and the style stays true to the anime and in terms of plot it was decent.
OP movie; for some reason they have disabled the embedded version so here's the link.
Anyway this game/VN is like a side story in the hamefura universe it doesn't exist in the canon
if you ever wanted to spend more time with some of the guys now's your chance I guess?!
I'm not sure when this takes place but it acts as an extension of the first season... you could
probably play it without watching but this game doesn't go into who the chara's are
they briefly go over it in the prologue but that's it. The anime is pretty fun and s1 is only 12 eps
which isn't very long so why not give it a watch to get to know the series?
The characters unique to this game are locked though so if you don't know who to choose
i'd say Alan or Geordo first but honestly I really do recommend checking out the anime first
cuz this game really is more for fans, the general premise is even so
that the story in this game is a fandisc to fortune lover.
Pro's
- While not much to work with, each route was unique/self-contained.
- Characters are consistent and not OOC.
-Art is gorgeous.
Con's
- If you were hoping for fluff and only comedy/romance... this might be disappointing
as they actually tried to have a plot and characters to take part in it.
- Its better if you watch atleast S1 of the hamefura anime as the game does very little
to establish its cast,existing relationships or explain the world.
the art is pretty nice the style is like the anime and it doesn't seem to suffer from tracers.
Music is fitting nothing to complain about, the plot kinda felt like it was another
episode/OVA or something and depending on your choices you'll end up investigating an incident
that happens on the ship they're staying on with whoever you like.
The story isn't much but it can be interesting, all the side npc have sprites too
so its easy to tell them apart, voice acting was excellent as well.
System is just standard VN stuff, during the bakarina meetings where you have to select a choice
you can't save so you have to do it before it comes up. There is also a bug if you skip
too fast through the ideafactory/otomate/criware/OPmovie stuff when booting up the game
where the software just closes. So its better to just let all that play and if you do want
to skip the op movie just let it play 5-10 seconds.
Compared to recent otome I played it finally felt like I was playing a proper one again
uh what is a proper one is subjective of course but I think this one had some classic stuff.
I say that cuz Hamefura wasn't depressing, more fun and romance focused
its exactly what I wanted even though my expectations were low.
It was pretty enjoyable from start to finish and that's coming from someone that's not
that big of a fan as I liked the anime enough to check out this game.😅
It might be sad that the girls don't have full routes but personally I don't even want to think about
romancing Mary except as in a joke ending. Maybe there really are Mary fans out there
or Maria/Sophia so the fact there is 1 joke ending and the normal end is well... better than nothing.
That aside the game does feel kinda short but the pacing is okay and it doesn't seem
like it overstayed its welcome, any longer and I would have been bored tbh. Like I'd love it if games
took their time but you also don't want to get bored! Hamefura doesn't have that problem.
Its entertaining enough but it doesn't focus completely on the couple at all times
and I could see how some find that disappointing! they did try to have a plot that
made sense in the world of hamefura so I am not sure why this would be a bad thing
cuz if this game didn't have the plot it has then the routes would be super short and they average
at 6 hours or so which I think for what we got out of it was more than enough
either way I didn't have many complaints I was happy with Alan's route!
While this was an enjoyable side dish after the anime, if you don't like the novel/anime
or don't like any of the guys enough to want to romance them its probably better to pass
cuz this is nothing but fluff with a slighly entertaining story full of cute romance
so if you were here for some deep plot uhm look elsewhere cuz the hamefura game ain't it.
It does have bad/death ends but only one or two per route and they're not long.
Most of this game still keeps the charm I got to know this series with! depending on how much
you like the other guys beside your favourite it might be a bit of a chore to do multiple
playthroughs as the general plot does kind of remain the same however each time
you do a new playthrough you unlock new scenes to understand the overall plot better
though some of these scenes only seem to exist to make it more obvious.
Unfortunately despite this game not being canon one route in particular has so much lore
and world building it felt kind of like a waste if this was only one game
I applaud them for the effort but it did take away from anything else.
Most of the characters in this game don't get much personal focus except Rozy/Silva
that's because they got that in the anime so they're not gonna waste time, for some it means
their routes were less interesting, I thought the main guy of this game would be Geordo but eh
classic poster boy curse with that one, Silva would like a word with him.
All in all ~Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~ is mostly an enjoyable otome game
for fans of the series that want to actually romance the guy(s)! So if that's what you're looking for
or just another hamefura adventure in general it gets my recommendation.😄👍
But yea if you don't want bakarina to end up with anyone stay away from this game and pretend
it doesn't exist or something, as its jpn only at time of writing so it shouldn't be too hard.
8.5/10
My play order was Alan > Geordo > Keith > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.
Imo it doesn't really matter but I suggest to do your fav first which in my case was Alan!
Doing Alan first might not be the best, I do think Nicol flows well into Rozy's route.
If I had to recommend anything its probably Geordo/Keith > Alan > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.
Anyway the non-spoiler sections end here! some route comments along
with my fav cg's after the jump break.
