VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47740
Release date: 21-3-2024.
This is an adaptation of a villainess lightnovel, Akuyaku for short or in english as:
The Villiainess Is Adored by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Kingdom.
I never read it but it seemed like fun so I gave it a shot. I am well aware this is by the developer
who released charming empire and gakuen club, so I was still a little skeptic going into it.
I wasn't too sure what to expect but it suits the quality of their other releases.
I haven't really seen too many villainess works other than hamefura or taming the final boss.
Sorry if this sounds harsh but Akuyaku Reijou unfortunately wasn't able to do much new
other than just having cute romance... with not much substance to it.
I did think it is perfect to play if you don't have much else you'd rather be doing...
Pro's
- Voiced heroine.
- Sweet SWEET romance.
- Great art.
Con's
- Long text dumps/monologue's.
- Primitive system, this grandma's fingers hurt from holding button to skip.
- Music can be grating on loop.
System is just standard stuff but when I saw the UI... I was like is this a PC game?
it sure had that kinda layout, idk what to expect of systems in VN nowadays
but Akuyaku Reijou was so backwards compared to other visual novels.
Akuyaku Reijou is pretty much a straight-forward visual novel
that adapts part of the lightnovel and it doesn't have any routes so there's like
only one love interest. This is also one of the rare cases where it may be better
to go into it without knowing anything about it so the twists will still be interesting.
So if you never heard about Akuyaku Reijou then yes you can start here!
I didn't understand why there were even choices, other than to get CG's maybe?
but there weren't that many and so I started to wonder what the purpose of this game was
because they may as well have turned it into a kinetic novel like witch on the holy night.
It was a chore to collect the other CG's in the three different volumes especially
with how you have to hold the skip button... to even get through it but atleast
it made it seem like your choices affected things so that's not bad.
The art is really gorgeous and I have no complaints of it.
The music wasn't really anything special there weren't a lot of tracks
and to hear it on loop for too long is grating so yea meh.
Now that we have the bad out of the way, the heroine was voiced which was a plus!
only downside is that her thoughts aren't voiced, if it was I think it would be funnier but alas.
I liked the art and was intrigued by the setting/story but there wasn't much of a plot that was
memorable, this focused way too much on romance. Its nice there weren't any bad endings
and you can enjoy romance with the leading man Aquasteed. The heroine did have multiple
outfits which was another nice thing, I actually like it when the sprite suits the scene.
Anyway since Aquasteed was really nice I almost didn't want anyone else anyway buuut
while I get it he saved her from certain doom as a villainess things did seem a bit too good to be true.
Of course I was disappointed that there was only one love interest but by volume 2
I did realize that it just wouldn't have worked, they would have to change the scenario a lot.
Aquasteed aside... Keith interested me the most, Akari can have Heartnight tbh...
and just want to be swept off your feet without much plot/substance
which is probably the only thing the game was good at.
Some of the names are also kinda weird like what is a Heartnight Lapislazuli Lactomut?!
that sure is a mouthful of word vomit that seeing it in full makes me cringe to the point
Aquasteed Marinforest sounds normal in comparison. That aside the game
honestly feels like eating something very sweet and then feeling sick afterwards
like its not bad but you may not want too much of it? it also reminds me of the fact
that a visual novel can have gorgeous art and even a voiced heroine but if the rest
doesn't measure up then it is such a waste. Character interactions were barebones
and not that fun, it honestly makes me want to play something with more substance
cuz Akuyaku Reijou just didn't do much for me, I can't rate it higher than a 5/10.
I probably sound ungrateful but eh can't like everything and after sitting through
a bunch of otome's I liked i'm bound to find something that doesn't match up.
If there's anything memorable about this game it was cute romance, voice acting
and the insanely beautiful art, everything else was pretty meh to me.
I am more inclined to think that this game is some kind of marketing trick
because there's so many otome games on switch and then there's Akuyaku...
which could get you interested in the novels that are readily available in japanese.
Anyway keep on trucking operahouse! this may be the last time I buy a game from you guys...
More rambles after the jump, there are spoilers as well as a few of my fav cg's
so if you want to play don't read further.
