Toki no Kizuna Sekigahara Kitan - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate

Platform: PSP,switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/toki/switch/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v9885

Release date: 19-6-2025

 

I don't even know why I got this game  but I wanted something meaty to sink my time into

and this ended up the right type of game for it. Was it worth it? it depends.

Toki no Kizuna also hasn't received any ports since it came out on PSP, it was localized

as demon's bond on mobile but solmare has long pulled the plug on that. Anyway this game 

shares the same setting as Hakuouki but it is mostly stand alone outside of a few references.

 

 

Pro's

- Overall plot is pretty decent but not outstanding.

- The heroine kicked butt and spoke her mind. 

- Gorgeous CG and sprites.

- Most BGM's suit the setting.

- What romance there is present is pretty adorable to see.

 

Grey Area

- High amount of bad endings. Can't decide if good or bad so here it goes.

 

Con's

- Doing all routes can be repetitive and make it feel same-ish.

- Feels more like a non-romance VN for the majority of its runtime.

- Despite trying to create intrigue it made certain stuff easy to put 2+2 together.

- No heroine sprite in the corner, this game may've benefit from that. 

 

 

This switch port also includes the FD which I am glad it did as the base game

really needed it and without it i'd have no motivation to finish all routes. 

As it is just a port of both games there is nothing added other than touching up

the art, I liked that the font was big which is great when it has losts of kanji. 

 

Story: this is set in old japan around the time of the end of the sengoku period. 

The subtitle should be pretty obvious about that, they've given it a slight fantasy spin.

Yukina an oni and head of her clan is tasked with finding a cure for the yasehime who was put 

into a deep slumber. Yasehime also wanted her clan to not deal with humans as she

wished to sever ties between oni and humans or create some kind of non-interference.

Oni's were once referred to as gods but the clans have since lived reclusively away from

humans, some shady people are apparently against this and are generally a nuisance. 

 

Yukina was one of the more capable heroines, while headstrong she could be sort of bitchy too. 

Key point is Yukina doesn't see herself as a woman cuz they tend to be looked

down upon in this era. I think its also kind of sad but she does what she has to do.

Despite that she could still show signs of weakness or indecisiveness but that made her human.

Seeing her repress herself wasn't fun, a big part of Yukina's character is accepting herself for

who she is and that is not trying to pretend to be a man. Some routes do this better than others.

What was amusing was that she would frequently would go i'm a chieftain before i'm a woman

 or get real feisty if the guys would treat her as a woman which she did not want.

At times she would also interject when they were butting heads so she wasn't just

standing there, she really does try to act independently for better or worse.

I wish she had a sprite in the bottom left corner or something or her sprite would appear

next to the guys instead, with her playing such a key role it feels like missed opportunity. 

 

The art was by Miko which was pretty good, the sprites looked damn good

and the guys looked attractive. There's not much to complain about honestly

except maybe some of Senkimaru's CG's looking a bit off.

Music well it was okay, not the best OST i've heard but it served its purpose?

I liked how energetic the battle theme was which wasn't bad

but there one track could be rather sleep inducing.. 

 

 The game had a stellar seiyuu cast and I recognized a lot of names

as well as oh my god Okamoto you're everywhere?!

 

Toki no Kizuna is a pretty long game, it took me around 1- 2 hours to clear

the first chapter, its a very slow and detailed historical fantasy otome game.

Though the length may vary depending on your profiency of japanese language

and sadly Toki no Kizuna is definitely not for beginners. I was fairly slow.

 

Its plot oriented and there is not much time for romance

but the heroine Yukina does grow closer to the LI over time.

I liked that there's a decent amount of suspense like who are the villains?

what is their goal?  their were a lot of characters, they all had a role to play but at times

I was more interested in the shady hooded guy CV:Tachibana Shinnosuke than our heroes

but that changed over the course of the game and I am not looking forward to his route in the FD.💀

There's a bunch of Jiji's/granpas and they always livened up the scene. I found it funny

how all the oni's would be beautiful people but the humans would be normal looking... 

The character interactions were pretty good but comedy wasn't the focus of this game

and for the most part it was pretty dry with only a funny scene here or there

with some romance crumbs too. Due to this Toki no Kizuna can feel like its not

an otome game at all and more like a non-romance VN.

The story was also fairly slow and at times it was testing my patience especially on 

subsequent routes since there was a clear pattern of things that would happen.

Some later chapters did feel shorter so that was a blessing rather than a curse as

the game had eight chapters in total. I think a route was 8-10 hours in terms of length.

Depending on choices a lot of scenes in the common route would change because it would focus

on the LI related to those choices before settling into the character route which starts from ch5.

And that is why even on subsequent plays it can still be a bit long. 

 

It was still interesting to see what character was involved with but overall it was kinda boring

to pursue multiple characters since some things still felt the same just with slightly different flavor.

Its also kind of easy to guess certain characters identities due to who voices them

its unfortunate because this kind of kills whatever mystery the story had.

The masked villains felt like they were team rocket, I couldn't take them serious by route 2.

At times it could make it seem like they didn't really take their own story and setting seriously

and if you look at the official site you can already see their appearance but the game

was generally slow at unveiling it which makes no sense to me. 

Oh well I played my sengoku musous and basaras so I already know who won the war... whatever.

 

TL;DR 

I thought Chitose's route was pretty good but its just too repetitive, there's very little

that would set each route apart from eachother, I know the setting is limited so it can't be that

different but after two routes it all just felt the same in the end. They also focused too much

on the setting or war stuff and not enough on the otome part.  I remember playing stuff like utawarerumono which also had war stuff but it wasn't as dry or boring as this. Even Birushana

had more fun to it. I rememeber making tomohorny jokes but here all I did was complain what

a psycho Yachiyo is.💀 Anything that was fun in this game was far and between. I'd probably

not recommend this game unless you like story heavy otome games that're slowburn or

are a giant Hakuoki nerd who wants to experience every content related to it.

There's not much sweetness but what's there is adorable, there's also a big emphasis on bonds.

Seeing Yukina develop a bond with the LI and accepting herself is what was saved it.

6/10 

If you love historic fantasies as well then it might still be worth looking into but yea just

keep in mind the first game is not very otome-like and go in with low expecations.

 

My play order was: Kazuya > Chitose > Kazutake > Shin > Senkimaru.

Senkimaru's route is locked till you complete one route but his route has the real plot of the game

so its best to do him last. I recommend Kazuya's route first because there's

less reveals  and it following Sekigahara in the traditional sense.

 

Side note: This already came over once on mobile as demon's bond but Solmare

as I already mentioned pulled the plug.  I don't see a lot of people talk about it or

acknowledge it within the Hakuoki series so I think its popularity is up in the air.

It remains to be seen if it will ever get localized again but I think

it deserves better than being a mobile port. 

 

As per usual character babbles after the jump as well as some of my fav CG's. 

 

The town of Nie - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Zombilica, Hunex/Dramatic Create.

Platform: PC,switch.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 19-9-2024

 

Not sure what to play next I decided to give The Town of Nie a try! I don't really play much

BL games and this is actually my first. I read a few manga's but that was it.

 Since it has an english release that is what I am playing as I do want to support those releases.

I played the switch version which I knew was already toned down as most PC to console port

 tend to be, not sure what was supposed to be different but only a handful of scenes were IMO bad.

 

 Pro's

- Interesting setting and characters.

- Pretty decent art, Hisora has a sprite as well as VA. 

 

Grey area

- Music fit the setting and mood but some tracks are quite mid.

- The OP did not automatically play when booting up the game, only when lingering on title screen.

 

Con's

- Some translation errors; most could've been fixed if it had a QA sweep.

- Sound effects were annoying; first time in long while I had to put it on lowest setting.

- Copypasta; some scenes are the same in every route that you can't readskip. 

 

 

 This was a supernatural VN, it has suspense and some gore to go along with it

but moments that it got gorey were relatively minor.

I wasn't really sure what kind of story it was trying to tell but there were moments

when I was like is this really a BL game? the narrative was interesting

so I was easily hooked, I liked how everything was slowly introduced

and I got a better picture of what was going on. It also didn't feel like it tried

too hard to get that japanese supernatural ghost stories effect.

Hisora as a protagonist was pretty okay, he wasn't a total asshole unlike some other

protagonist from another supernatural VN I recently sat through.

Though I did feel that he kind of felt idk bland? in general he seemed like some normal dude

but there was not much that stood out to him other than being a workaholic. 

By the time of Naruomi's route I thought that Hisora was cute but a big idiot. 

Hisora is also voiced and has his own sprite while the LI and important characters are

also voiced, minor characters on the other hand without sprites aren't and they only have grunts. 

You can really see where the dev's cut their losses. 

 

The art was pretty good in terms of sprite and CG's but the backgrounds

really varied like there were some good pieces but some weren't as great as others. 

Some bgm's really added to the setting but much like backgrounds it varied.

There were some bgm tracks that were honestly really average to just plain out of place.

Like yea imma bang my head to that one rock bgm.............. 💀 The bgm for tense situations

also ended up being a pain on my ears I lowered the bgm volume to 1 so I think that says enough.

The Town of Nie is one of the few VN that has me really mixed on its OST. 

Also the sound effect for bringing up the backlog or menu was annoying

and quickly grew on my nerves so that too had to be put on the lowest setting.

There was one more sound effect which was supposed to be kids laughing but it was like

1-2 seconds on repeat. These minor slights really brought the experience down. 

Translation wise... there be errors, some of them can easily be corrected

but it seems this could have done with another Q&A sweep.

For the most part it read pretty well so I can let it slide. 

 

    System wise its standard VN stuff, the common route had map movement

and this is also what decides which route you land on. 

 

The common route could seem long atleast I thought it did when I checked a guide

but it wasn't at all, the game was paced quite well and it didn't drag on at all.

Said common route served its purpose of slowly setting up the route itself and I liked

how it really felt like Hisora stayed at some inn that wasn't exactly normal

while still trying to find out whatever this place was.

The early hours can seem like this is a non-romance VN, Hisora is pretty much a normal guy

who doesn't really think about romance so it can seem like its not a BL game. 

The most gay thing Hisora said early on was call Koko sexy.😂

It was of course a BL game and there were plenty of cute scenes with the guys.

Due to spending time with a LI he does develop feelings, in some routes it done better than others.

I liked the romance more in routes that weren't Mio

 

I have never played a BL game before so I have nothing to compare it to but this was pretty OK.

I generally had a good time despite there being some gore/horror elements. Maybe it was due

to the stellar cast and decent amount of suspense. Though the horror felt more like it was there

on the side, there weren't many jumpscares or anything only one that caught me

offguard in Naruomi's route. There's only one creepy looking CG in the beginning

but I was disappointed there wasn't more of that. Some descriptions were horrific

but it also was done in a comical way? atleast there was no pictures of eyeballs

or innards falling out but I do think this game would have been scarier if there

had been more cg's or sprites to give more details cuz text is just text. 

If I actually had to see some of that shit it I'd probably lose it like Hisora did...💀

Maybe some stuff was reserved for bad ends but I stayed away from those. 

Also there was atleast WTF is this shit moment in most route

but the rest was relatively normal tbh. It also ended up feeling

more like a comedy like how was Asuku's route not a comedy?!😂

still The Town of Nie didn't shy away from being dark. Most of it is reserved for

bad ends but that tone is still present and some routes like Koko hit hard. 

 7/10

In the end I stayed for the characters and wanted to do their routes simply

to understand them better. I didn't really like Mio's route due some scenes here and there

but by the time of his good end most was forgiven, he's not a bad character but I do think

some things could have been handled better.  It won't take four routes to figure out who

mister mourning clothes was but its a shame you can't read skip the scene at the end of the route.

I suppose this game was designed that no matter who you go for some things need to be

explained no matter what before it can end. It can be a bit repetitive as well making the only

 reasons to do more routes more or less for the LI themselves and whatever secrets they carried.

The game has a FD but I am not sure if I will get to it anytime soon... i'm also not sure

if its worth it because if it doesn't have cute after stories or fun SoL scenes

and more weird stuff it definitely isn't for me. 

 

TL;DR What I really liked from this game was the suspense,mystery and fun SoL scenes

everything else varied greatly, some cute romantic scenes were there but it was not enough. 

 Honestly when I think about BL that I like Sasaki and Miyano come to mind.

The Town of Nie wasn't exactly suited for my tastes but atleast I did like some of it

and its not that bad of a VN, I did like the story and it stayed true to what it tried to do.

Its just that this sort of setting is nothing new and I thought I'd seen it somewhere before. 

Ultimately while the characters and setting were great the game is dragged down

by annoying sound effects and copypasta. After the first play it essentially becomes

a character game but by route 4 I was getting tired of the repetitiveness.

The game was obviously censored but it was done in such a way you could still

understand what originally had transpired and that doesn't sit well with me

because why even bother to change it in the first place?! meh. 

 

I used a guide for the game and it is recommended that if you care about the story

to play in the order of: Mio > Asuku > Koko > Naruomi > True.

Personally I think Mio/Asuku/Koko can be done in any order as anything sorta goes

but Naruomi definitely last due to how easily he ties into the truth end. 

 

This game also has bad ends with content that may be a bit much for some and since I am here

only for the story and shipping I decided it would be better to use that guide

and avoid  andmines that could hinder enjoyment. 

Route babbles after the jump and there might be some spoilers below as well as my fav CG's

so if you still want to play this then stop reading here, kthnx bye.

Honkai Star Rail - Review

I love the PS5 splash art.

 Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Hoyoverse.

Platform: PS4,PC,mobile
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 11-10-2023

 

I decided to give star rail a try, because I keep hearing its pretty much structured

like any RPG (but still gacha) and inspired by trails, so here goes nothing.

 

Pro's

- Solid prologue & story on Jarilo VI.

- Great main cast of characters and fun interactions between MC,March & Dang Heng.

- Being able to replay old events.

- Automode for battles with material rewards, which removes tedium.

Grey area

- Xianzhou's story was a little messy.

 

Con's

- Combat can feel basic and a bit repetitive.

- Certain substories can be accessed too early creating inconsistencies.

(Like it acts like we've been to Peanutbutter but I actually haven't YET.

 

 Setting is a space fantasty/sci-fi, honestly it reminds me more of star ocean

rather than trails but in terms of combat its the latter that's similar.

I'll say it was off to a fantastic start and the story and characters easily hooked me.

There's an actual main party in star rail: March and Dang Heng whom I actually want

to have in my party but for Genshin impact which I also played I wanted to replace

the initials as fast as I could, Amber yea you're nice as a torch lighter.💀

I don't remember being very attached to Amber or Lisa except maybe Kaeya

but he was useful with his icebridges... untill Wriothesley put him out of a job.

The chemistry between MC,March and Dan Heng was just that great.

Other characters range from great to they're just kind of there doing their own thing like Asta.

Combat is like a turnbased RPG but its very basic and repetitive.

It bothered me you can't use items in battle unlike genshin?! and there's

no MP management, just normal attack, skill and a special move. It really seems

like a simplified version of trails. its servicable but I am not really here for it.

I only rank up my world level in star rail when I am really ready because

I am traumatized from genshin in which you could level up too fast and struggle.

Unfortunately there is a powercreep and newer characters will always be better

but that didn't really affect my early journey of progressing through the story.

The characters yo get from the game are perfectly viable.

There's an autobattle but that doesn't work on every fight, so for the story you still gotta work.

I think it is nice in that it can remove the tedium of having to grind for mats to level up

a character or light cone which is like their armor. There's traces too which is like a skill tree.

So when there's so many this or that it can get tiresome if you had to do it manually

so I can still appreciate the automode. However I do realize these type of games

make me miss regular rpg's since there's too much this or that here and in a regular rpg

there may just be skills gained by lvl up or something like a sphere grid like ffx/xiii

while you just buy gear in shops and in star rail there's no gear except lightcones

and without gacha they only come as rewards and they're quite rare.

I have rambled on too much about it but... its not the worst combat/gamplay system I have seen.

 Its also not open world like genshin so I wasn't able to get lost, it was still nice

to find random chests here or there but its rare to find lightcones from chests.

Its basically just a bit of credit, exp materials and the currency to roll on banners.

 

Music was pretty good I have no complaints and I thought the graphics were better than genshin?

the character models also have more shine to them. Just feels like it had more polish.

 

Storywise it varies; The prologue and space station were great.

The first world Jarilo VI was good but with the Xianzhou Luofu... despite having great

characters it had too much lore dumps and I wasn't able to remember it all, only the

important bits which was a shame. It was also here that I felt the need to already take a break.

Going from Jarilo VI to Xianzhou Luofu do be like this...

Overall its off to a great start but then sort of dips but never too low it loses momentum

and well if you think you need a break from the story then I suggest you do so.

Its also good to remember the story comes in parts so one will eventually catch up.

  ====================================================================

 

More like honorable fart...

The dialogue was a lot of fun as well and its not as bloatey as genshin was

which is notorious for having a lot of fluff, even I who can ramble a lot thinks its a lot.

At times when explaining lore it does get long but what can you do about that?

sometimes it is necessary. I actually don't really go back to read quest descriptions

but this one time as seen below I actually chuckled. It seemed the translator was like

someone has to read this right? may as well make it funny!

or they just had their funny pants on that day. Or always...

 

Despite this being a gacha game, much like genshin it doesn't throw you the banners in your face

and its easy to ignore any character you don't want to roll for and save up for someone you do want. Personally I plan to only roll on banners if I really like the character.

 

 When I started playing I could choose 1 standard character for free

and also choose between Ruan Mei or Luocha, I chose the latter.

For standard I chose Gepard but I am still using March 7th...😅

though eventually I think I will replace her with him.

I don't really feel too hot or cold towards Luocha, he's nice to have on your team

and even after the second world has an air of mystery around him.

On the other side I feel conflicted about Ruan Mei after her story quest, like

she's not that bad but she sure is something alright.

 

 

TL;DR overall I can recommend this gacha game if you like RPG's in general

even if genshin didn't work out for you, it mostly fixed most of my gripes I had with that

though I can't gaurantee one will like it as well, it never hurts to try.

More rambles after the jump but i've mostly said what there's to say.

There's no real plot spoilers but I do talk about some companion quest so light spoilers maybe?

 

Lunar Silver Star Story Remastered - Review

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Game Arts/GungHo ent.

Platform: PS4,PC,switch.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 18-4-2025

 

Since I always wanted to play Lunar 2 I decided to get the remaster which contains both games.

Things to note is that they're based on the original japanese PS1 version and not on the WD release.

You can either play the classic version or the remaster, I picked the latter.

Either way I am really grateful these games even got ported, especially its sequel which

unlike the first game which got a psp version, L2 hasn't seen a port since its ps1 release.

This post is however about the first game, I don't think reviewing two games at once is a good idea.

 

Pro's

- Mostly likeable cast of characters.

- An anime RPG that carries the spirit of the 90's.

- Not too short or too long so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

 

Grey area

- Without a guide this can be a pain to 100% due easy to miss collectables.

- The general UI can seem a bit clunky till you get used to it.

 

Con's

- Story can be a bit cliche.

- Limited inventory space.

- Some characters are underutilized. 

It pretty much feels like an FF game from the PS1 era but with anime cutscenes

instead of FMV's and really good character interactions so I got some ''tales of'' vibes as well.

The interactions and dialogue were also pretty fun, this is what pretty much sold the game for me.

The main heroine Luna was delightful and it was pretty obvious within two hours

of play time that romantic feelings were involved but of course there was no time to talk

about any of that because the hero Alex had a goal to reach of becoming a dragon master.

Sadly while I liked Luna she is absent for a majority of the game...

its then that the other main characters ended up catching my eyes.

 

I knew there was something up with Luna but I almost forgot about her. Alex is OK

as a protagonist but after certain events everyone else basically has more to say than him

but when Luna's involved then he starts speaking up more which is hilarious cuz for half

the game it felt like he was gritting his teeth and bearing it that he couldn't do more.

I suppose putting it like that then Alex is actually a pretty decent MC, he's not whiny

but perseverant. TBH he felt like a pretty standard shonen hero

that wasn't quite silent enough to be considered a silent protagonist.

 

More characters were slowly introduced as the story progressed some turned out

to be allies and others villains. Its done in such a way that the player

can get attached to the main characters, most other characters were also

more interesting than Alex who really was just a dragon boy. 

Honestly after finishing it, it felt I had not seen all the world of Lunar had to offer

or the how or why's of how the world works. A lot of things were left up in the air

but atleast it ended on a good enough note. I do plan to play the sequel

so I hope that it actually makes more sense of things. 

Overall this game was just a very 90ish anime RPG it carries the spirit of that era.

In terms of story Lunar SSS has a really long prologue/first half and it isn't

untill you meet Quark for the second time the story really starts to move.

Other than that it felt pretty standard but I liked the pace, it wasn't too slow or too fast.

It took me about 25 hours to beat the game.

It started out fairly light-hearted but it was the opposite at near the end.

I will admit that Lunar SSS can be a bit cliche and if you play a lot of RPG's

it may not do much  new but I don't think it did it in the wrong way, still if you were

to expect this game to do things to revolutionize the genre you're in the wrong place.

Unfortunately idk if it was the localization but I found out the main villain had much more

 depth to him but all that was erased just so he could call the hero dragon boy. 💀

 

The battle system wasn't too complicated its honestly really simply, boring even.

I liked how there were 5 party members at once on the field! usually it just 3 or 4. 

 While autobattle could remove tedium it isn't useful for boss fights or late game

once I found a strategy I could apply it to most other fights. As long as you're

prepared no boss should be too much of an issue. Its not that hard of a game.

There was no journal to tell you what happened or what you should go do next

so I either had to write it down on a notepad or consult a guide. Thankfully RPGsite

had made a guide for the remaster which also included collectables, if not for them I wouldn't

have been able to find all bromides or get 2 out of 3 secret accesories. Other than that

the story was fairly easy to follow and it was easy to remember the characters as they all

had distinct personalities. The pacing was good and you gradually got to understand what

was really going on even if some stuff is left up in the air, sadly the villains hided their

true goal for a long time so if you want to know what's going on you have to wait till the end.

The quick TL;DR Honestly it wasn't a bad game, it had all the right ingredients

and for the most part it was a fun ride but it fell a little flat to me.

I suppose I shouldn't fall into the trap of going like what if it was

a little bit more fleshed out cuz its better to appreciate things for what it is!

still that shouldn't be an excuse either... its okay to think that it felt like it missed something.

I know Lunar is overall very well received and I too like it but this was pretty standard rpg stuff.

The main charm of this game was the characters, not the combat or the plot.

So for what its worth Lunar Silver Star Story was still a solid RPG.

It may have come a little late for me and i've seen it done before but that doesn't make it bad.

I pretty much recommend this game to anyone that likes older FF games with a fun

cast of characters like tales of or just simply likes oldschool rpg's.

7/10

 

More rambles after the jump.

Over RequiemZ - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Kogado/Otomate.

Platform: switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/over_requiemz/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47013

Release date: 17-4-2025

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to get this game and it was literally a last minute decision

but I am glad I did because I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I ever would and it

had a pretty good story more so than a bunch of recent otomate games I played recently.

Also I could probably have finished this sooner rather than later however lately I don't

like it when I burst through games in a week but it lasted almost two weeks for me

so I slowed down my pace just a little bit, the game also is better with breaks

in between due to how intense the writing can be.

 

Pro's

- Interesting setting and complex characters.

- Mostly good pacing, atleast I thought fact side was.

- Gorgeous artwork, pretty consistent art.

- Beautiful music, I found it better than most of otomate's stuff.

- Replay value is high due to scenario split.

- You can completely ignore the dark side and get to enjoy the story with proper romance.

 

Grey area

- There's only one best ending, the other three are either bad ends, a tragic end or subjective good.

 

Con's

- Dorothy's route should've been locked.

- Most choices are meaningless except a handful that decided a branch or end.

 - Dark side can feel a bit drawn out, atleast one felt forced.

- The ending theme did not fit all the endings.

 

 

Over RequiemZ is loosely based on the wizard of oz.

The heroine Yuhiru gets isekai'd to a strange land and meets a bunch of guys

who are all convicted criminals alongside herself for reasons she doesn't get. The world

isn't quite like her own but she still recognizes elements here and there from it.

Due to her black hair and eyes, she is discriminated for it but she's not

the only one as one of the LI has suffered from it as well.

Yuhiru finds solace with a bunch of guys who like herself end up being charged for

crimes they didn't commit. The question remained of whether she can trust them or not. 

This honestly feels like a breath of fresh air. Yuhiru sets out on a journey with them

which really felt like a journey btw, the characters also had good chemistry

but this was mostly the first 5 chapters before it focused more on the LI.

I loved the character interactions, there was a good dose of humor at times as well.

 Even if they were criminals it didn't feel like they were bad atleast not at first

but you could tell there was another side to them so it was exciting to see how it'll play out.

I really loved how the writing could be rather intense, it was hard to get bored

and if I did zone out then the dialogue would snap me back into it.

 

Art looks gorgeous both sprite,CG and backgrounds are very well done.

Music Some BGM's were absolutely stellar I rarely praise this much but they deserve it!

It also set the tone of the scenes well and I like the OP a lot as well.

 

System; its a standard VN however  there's a route split for each character Fact and Dark

Depending on your choices you can tip the scales to either of those and get different endings

but other than that most of the choices were meaningless, it may change a dialogue line or two.

All the endings of which there were four per route were right at the end.

Yea the split sides basically are like this, yes.

Length; A single route would be 15 chapters in total, every guy had a sort of

common route/prelude which lasted for 5 chapters and then it splits into fact or dark

of which both are 5 chapters long.  Nothing seemed to drag on, I thought individually

chapters were short, it still delivered the scenario in a well-paced manner.

My first route was about 7-8 hours in length but depending on your reading

speed it may differ.  Its important to note that both sides are different in tone

from the other so you won't get the same experience twice.

 

I wasn't sure what was up with the choice system maybe that's to decide what ending you get

or if you can make it to the fact or dark. I used a guide so... i'm not sure if selecting a less

than good choice would result in a game over ending and I didn't have the energy to experiment.

Often there would be red choices, I thought that selecting the wrong one would give me

 a bad end but the guide listed none. This game also only has four endings per route.

They were at the end so the bad ones felt more like you reap what you sowed.

Still I think some bad ends may've worked in a type of game like this since

most choices are actually pretty meaningless and add nothing of value except

the ones that decide the route split or the endings at the end of it.

 

 

I liked the general feel of the game but I had so many questions...

like why was the heroine summoned? isn't this judicial system too harsh?!

The early parts of trying to survive outside of the city reminded me of the dark dragon and

the happy hungry bunch from yona of the dawn. The first half of the game felt rather calm

but there were moments of suspense like do you tell a LI the truth of where you came from?

Anyway for the most part the game was very enjoyable, I wanted to get to know the LI

and perhaps more about the world... which was my main motivation to keep playing.

The characters were honestly pretty great, I wanted to know more

about them all, in good and bad ways. Its been a long time

an otome game got that kind of reaction from me.

They all had some sort of underlying trauma and it could seem like the heroine

is a therapist but I thought she was just trying to be a good friend

and a good friend listens to someone elses troubles and doesn't judge.

The fact route tended to resolve issues while the dark route let them fester.

In most other otome games I am like eh a yandere but this game did

not present them the usual way, more like they could become one.

Most of my questions were answered by the time of the final fact route.

 

The fact side pretty much felt like a normal otome game to me...

It focused more on the character development,backstory and current problem

as well as delivering some proper romance as Yuhiru grows closer to the LI.

The dark side reminded me of stuff rejet would come up with

and that would probably be for folks who like yanderes or something.

The main plot in dark took a different turn which... opened up other problems.

So even if you don't like rejet type stuff I could still recommend this game.

I personally thought it was a hit or miss as I could stand Claude's dark route

but Molly's... was a very oh no wtf is this shit?! momento.

I kind of wanted to skip them especially since I came to love Noil a bit too much

still I wanted to see all of his character so I bit the bullet againu. 

 

Yuhiru was pretty okay? I did think she could have been fleshed out more

like she wants to go back home but... ends up finding a handsome man instead.😂

There's only one route where she is actually given a lot more backstory

so if you don't do it she can seem a little less interesting.

That aside I liked her interactions with the love interest and she was very positive and brave

 so I don't think there was much to dislike. She goes through some shit alright

but the worst of it was mostly reserved for the dark side. Which is optional.

If Ceres crawled it was so Yuhiru could fly.

 

Over RequiemZ reminded me a little of 9rip but with more horror/suspense. I wouldn't say

it was on tsukihime/virche level but it had a good dose of violence and blood.

I think without the fact side this game would've been unsatisfying for me

and it may have even steered me away had I tried to do the darkside first.

Other than that it was character focused but most routes would never go into

the same problem twice maybe this was a double edged sword.

Unfortunately, while I was lucky enough to play the most spoilerific route last

otomate may've been better off locking it but it seems they forget

and I am blaming the guy in charge of management.😩

Locking Dorothy's route should've been a thing.

In most routes there were more bad outcomes than good ones, like one best end

a sad end and then two endings that I thought were generally leaning to the bad side

but they could be good in a subjective way.  In the case of Noil I think he had three

good outcomes and one bad but two of them  were really subjective and it would be up

to the player to determine that.  Each guy had 4 endings so two for each side, I think

there's a lot of appeal to this otome game though and I was invested quickly in whatever

was happening. The dark side of the route is probably what most are going to come here for

but I'd probably recommend to do the fact side first just for a better understanding

of the LI more so if you care about plot+romance.

 

-- 

TL;DR: Over RequeimZ was more well-rounded, it was just the right length

which was a relief since I think Fuyuzono really rushed itself.  Its just that one route

should've been locked. There was just enough time for both romance, plot/character

development but it can be really intense and can not seem very otome.

Looking at it overall the actual story/character's were really good and given a lot of depth

that I can forgive it. Whatever scenes there were with the LI were very enjoyable but don't come

here expecting only fluff. When I look at Noil's route it spends more time building trust...

however trust is the foundation for everything and without that there can be no love. 

That is why I had no issues with romance. The fact side did feel to me like any other otome game

 Its just that some characters had stuff going on in their dark route that legit made me go nope

so it certainly is not for everyone. There was a moderate amount of violence

and blood, I don't think it was as extreme as Virche. I also see comparisons

and I just don't see it?  Virche made me depressed, Over RequiemZ had me hooked and

despite the dark side being less than good I was excited to go to the next character fact route.

It has intense and suspenseful moments but it also makes room for more calmer ones.

Dark side tended to... have more extreme ends as opposed to the fact side

which just had a tragic and good end.  I thought at times the split sides also complimented

eachother, this was most obvious to me in Noil's maybe because I enjoyed the route.

Noil Bestia was one of my favorite LI along with Kaize&Claude.

I can recommend this otome, more so if you miss rejet-like games and want a story full of suspense.

If I have to be really honest, if you're just here for the story&romance just do the fact side.

I feel the dark side is there for people that like darker stuff, once again its contents is not for everyone.

9/10

Should this get localized? absolutely! there's definitely an audience for this

but even if it doesn't the language difficulty is fairly low.

Lastly, I don't recommend binging or rushing through this game.

Take your time, the scenario is carefully written and going too fast

will likely not make you be able to take it in or enjoy its finer aspects.

 ---

 

There are no route restrictions so you can choose whoever you're interested in.

For my first play I ended up choosing Claude... as I played the routes

it all was so character driven, if I had to recommend anything then you can do

Claude,Molly,Noil and Kaize in any order but Dorothy is best saved for last.

I almost by a hair chose him first and was glad I didn't.

This game is best played without spoilers and its very hard to write about the

characters without spoiling  so if you don't want that then stop reading here.

Its mostly just me doing commentary and a poor digest of whatever happened

while sharing some of my favorite CG's, not all of them of course.

Atelier Yumia the Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land - Review

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Gust/Koei.

Platform: PS4,switch.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 21-3-2025

 

Honestly I was kinda excited for this one because it had a new heroine and world.

I tried the demo just to tip my toes in it while suffering through Tsukihime and I kinda liked it

however i'll say that this series is starting to feel more RPG-like with every new entry.

 

 

I like the OP but near the end of the game I started skipping it...

 

Pro's

- Interesting and decent story.

- Great cast of characters & fun interactions.

- Exploring is fun, its always nice finding chests.

- Character models are gorgeous, prettier than the environments even.

Grey area

- Due to the amount of content it is easy to get overwhelmed and  as an

atelier game this might've been the one where I spend synthesizing the least.

 

Con's

- Combat is too easy as long as you make good gear and items.

- Graphics are decent but... it can feel like it lacks a layer of polish.

- Ingame lightning either works in the games favor or against it.

- Shrines of prayers are too repetitive.

- Some bugs.

 

 I liked Yumia as a character, she definitely has her wits about her but is also a little timid

 and can come across as indecisive, the key theme is trying to do the right thing

but that isn't always easy. Describing her as a character isn't easy either.

Also seems she is well aware that alchemy isn't accepted so I couldn't help but noticed

she was anxious around folks but she'd be more open with people she knew. In terms of design

she kind of reminds me of Sophie or atleast in the artwork, sadly I didn't really like the design

since Yumia looks like a classy office lady with a jacket of someone

who's gonna do some outdoor camping or that's the impression I got. 😅

 

Other main characters were all GREAT and I LOVED their interactions with each other!

Story was pretty decent, I have no complaints, I absolutely loved how we slowly

got to learn more about everyone and whatever happened in the past.

I did think the ending fell a bit flat and it felt more like a beginning to something

Once I knew more about Yumia's past I liked her a lot more than right at the beginning.

Some villains are threatening, one of them is even like a dragon just not as fleshed out.

Garurumon was a weird character, was he friend or foe? he is shown to be a villain

from the get go, unfortunately like Vesper they lack depth but its done in such a way

like what else was there to tell? Lili was the more fleshed out of the bunch.

Final boss sure had build up but I thought he was just an asshole.

Due to the story being decent and the main characters having such great chemistry

I wanted to keep playing I could care less about the clunky combat

because it was fun to explore the lands of aladiss. Sadly there were still caveats.

He's like a dragon, unfortunately he wasn't as well developed.

In terms of graphics is erm... the models look great but while Ligneus region

looked fine to me, the Sivash region is where it started to look all washed up and soapy...

Graphics literally go from good to...

 

I see what you're trying to do but did you miss a layer of polish?

Sivash did look better at night, not sure if this was intended but it seems they forgot something.

The Auruma region looked okay I guess you get used to it.

It honestly baffles me how the models look great and are animated well

but the environments looks like they missed a layer of polish. 

Music was honestly fine, I don't really have any complaints, it had a good battle theme

and the atelier/synth music makes me forget the time so yea music's good. 

 

The character models look so good they look out of place with the rest.

 

In short; I liked atelier Yumia BUT I think this game needed a bit more time in the oven

because the straw that broke the camel's back for me was the Licht quest at the end of the game.

It literally tells you where to go next but for some reason the quest doesn't progress into the next

and at that point the only other things to do is the main story of which not much is left

or plain completionism which for some may not be their cup of tea. Its just poor design

and that wasn't the worst of it, I also had the bug where a side quest NPC will disappear

if you talk to it twice before killing the monsters making it unable to be completed.

This is also one of the few games that I ended up falling through the floor......

it usually ends up other people showing off their out of bound skills. This time it was me.💀

''...''

Like holy shit did they even QA this game?! Anyways I did like the characters and the story itself

was decent, for the first time ever I completely understood the alchemy system while

in dusk/mysterious I'd barely get it. Sadly I don't think this game was that cozy because

all the ''?'' marks and completion percentages did everything in its power to make it not cozy.

Its hard to recommend Yumia, maybe if you like easy games with lovable characters & lots to do?

7/10

''It was still enjoyable in terms of story/chara's but... its simply half-baked.

For all it did right, it did some wrongs. Its not perfect it just lacks polish.''

 

More rambles after the jump, I probably rambled on too much so you can stop reading here.