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.

Fuyuzono Sacrifice - review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/fuyuzono/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v49601

Release date: 26-2-2025.

 

I honestly wasn't sure whether or not I was going to get this but two weeks before

release I thought on it, the regular edition cover art was nice and I kinda

liked the setting of it? sadly I noticed the price was steep and it really

seems otome games or new games in general have become luxury products.

I sure was nervous buying it at such a steep price, still I liked the setting

and heroines outlook of wanting to decide her own destiny, so I bought it.

 

Pro's

- Great cast of characters.

- Each route has unique ways to solve the key problem in good or tragic ways.

- Lot's of sweet/cute scenes with the LI.

-  Beautiful artwork.

Con's

- Short and doesn't have much substance.

-  Can be a bit cliche or cheesy.

- The final LI has barely any presence outside his own route.

 

 

Art was gorgeous, I loved the fantasy look and soft colours.

Seiyuu seems to be a mix of ones I know and then some I am not familiar with.

Music was pretty fitting but nothing wowed me, I liked the theme that played on the main menu

and the OP song was good too, definitely stuff i'd let play when I boot the game up.

 

Story well I am just gonna say I had 0 expectations, my first impression was that its

rather basic, the heroine had only a short amount of time before it would be her

doomsday aka the day she was going to be wed to the god of winter.

The story itself was easy to follow, there was not a lot of infodumping and it flowed well.

The worldbuilding itself was solid and have no complaints on it.

The LI were interesting so it was still fun to see what was gonna happen or learn more about them.

The prologue and common route are short and to the point...

Fuyuzono definitely won't take you eight common chapters to get to a route!

Oscar's route started out comfy but I couldn't help but feel a little sense of dread

over the heroine's upcoming fate as the bride of the god of winter. 

 

Something I absolutely loved was at times there was a  change in POV enabling you

to see things from the perspective of the love interest. The heroine had no sprite in

the bottom left but she did appear on screen if there was a perspective change which was nice.

The pacing was okay, it wasn't that slow I was getting bored, still this was also not

a long game either. I'd say its perfect if you're tired of longer games.

 

The game seems to encourage multiple playthrough's since I keep getting extensions

of the very first scene in the game the more routes I completed which was a nice touch.

 

Characters

Oscar... I liked him a lot but I think that's pretty much because of his personality.

His route was pretty much focused on his character but didn't touch upon all plot threads

because that was sacrificed for the romance. I thought Oscar was pretty great

despite that and this man is willing to go very far if need be...

Elias route felt like it was good for introduction due to him explaining a lot

about the legends surrounding the gods. It wasn't too focused on romance

but it did take babysteps towards that so it wasn't bad. While it was also focused

on his character, I think they over did it with the angst in some part near the end.😓 

Still I think Elias needs an honorable mention because he also was a stellar supportive character!

Dylan was an amusing character, if I had to recommend one route from the game

to anyone it would probably be him. That's mostly because the relationship

started from zero instead of already being friends.😄

Besides there's definitely an audience for guys like Dylan...

Regis was quite likable, but his situation was more complicated than I'd thought

and this game has some really dark undertones that tend to get glossed over.

Like we can see some of it in Dylan's route but in his own that isn't part of the main issue.

For a poster boy he wasn't too bad but romance wise it felt kind of similar to Elias

where they went from acquantance to friends to lovers but with Regis... it was

very obvious he liked Laeticia from the start. I guess its okay not everyone

has to be so curt like Dylan or the friendly guy everybody knows like Oscar.

Regis route also felt like it was the main one and the rest didn't quite compare.

Hiver probably stood for hibernation because he just doesn't exist outside of his own route.

Regis hinted at him but did so in a way that made me full of dread... and I almost 

skipped out on doing his route, but I persisted for the sake of the conclusion. I liked his story

but yea I couldn't fully get into the route of a character that crawled from under a rock.

 

I guess Fuyuzono Sacrifice was solid, depending on what you come here for.😅 The name

of the game suggest tragedy but the synopsis hinted at seize your own destiny kind of thing.

So it could be a miss if you come here for the former, for me the best ends were satisfying

however there are tragic ends and they can be kind of sad, atleast I thought Oscar's was.

I don't recommend this game if you hate cliche's and cheesy stuff or you have high standards

and want to be blown away by stellar writing cuz while its solid I wouldn't say it was stellar.

I think this game is best for those who have very little experience with the otome genre

and/or don't mind any of the above and just want a short&sweet otome game.

---

Personally I didn't have much in the way of expectations nor did it absolutely blow me away

but it was a pleasant experience. I loved the medieval-ish fantasy setting, I didn't think it

was ever that deep in terms of plot, it had the basics down to a T

but due to the short length isn't able to explore its own setting fully.

I liked all love interests a normal amount, they didn't do much to upset me

but Oscar was definitely my favourite, my apologies your highness.(Regis)

Its not as lengthy like trouble magia or an ero novel in disguise like honey vibes and while

there are bad ends they are not great in numbers. Romance wise there's not going to be

a lot of time to begin with due to plot elements but there's enough to build

a connection between characters... though its easy to say it could seem rushed.

At the very least it didn't overstay its welcome which was a good thing.

Still I want to say otomate should've done better because it seems like they're in a hurry

and not taking their time. You know if this game had like one more chapter for every route

there probably would have been enough but instead we're left with

a snowflake that falls unto your hand and just melts away quickly.

7/10

My playorder: Oscar > Elias > Dylan > Regis > Hiver.

Only the last route is locked till you do all others, I might recommend Elias first due

to being good with introduction and it doesn't throw you into a whirlwind romance like Oscar.

Though if you care about the plot i'd save Regis for before the final route.

Play order I recommend:

Oscar / Elias / Dylan > Regis > Hiver. 

I don't think it matters too much who you pick with the first three so its pick your poison.

 

There's still some spoilers after the jump cuz I blabbed too much on hiver's part

and rambled some more about the characters while sharing some fav cg's.

So if you want to play this game best stop reading here!

 

Mistonia no Kibou the lost delight - Review

Eh... Edward's smile seems creepy on the cover but he ain't.

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/mistonia/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47010

Release date: 18-7-2024.

 

This VN was delayed by like a month and is also slated for an english release by aksys.

At first I wasn't sure if I should bother getting it in JP but still went with it.

The heroine did seem cool & its been a long time since I played a VN with a maid as the protagonist

the last one was like crimson empire, I had a rather laidback/slow approach toward Mystonia

and so it took me longer to get through! i'm sure if I had pushed it then I could have been done

in a week or so but why the rush?  Otomate's september lineup may be stacked

but unfortunately half of their games don't interest me right now.

 

Pro's

- There's enough intrigue to get hooked.

- Length is comfy, not overly long or drags on.

- Gorgeous Art and fitting BGM.

 

Con's

- Boring common route, probably the least exciting part of the game.

- Overall story elements can feel repetitive the more routes you do.

- The content in the other ends needs an acquired taste, also it has NTR.

 

Storywise this game has revenge themes so if you're not comfortable with those it could

be a skip, for me I think it depends on how it is handled but am disappointed with how

Mistonia implented it, its like they chose to push petty revenge which did not sit well with me.

**Thankfully it is still an otome game and taking revenge isn't always the best outcome.

This game's characters are also intertwined with each other. Each set is between the heroine

and two guys such as Ascot/John, Edward/Linus and Lukas/Alfred which works

with one particular ending each route called Maze. This maze end was by far

the worst possible outcome in the game and more often than not I just regret doing it.

 

I'll say the cast of the game sure was a vibrant bunch! there's a mix of well known

and lesser known seiyuu's as well. If you've been playing otome's or watching anime

for a while you will definitely hear some old favorites.

Due to the huge cast of characters I did worry this game would be on the long side

but it wasn't that long at all the common route was roughly 3 hours. Its only long if you do all.

Perhaps this game had too many characters because it was hard trying to keep

track of them all and even then some barely had any screen time so if you

did not pay much attention something could have easily pass you by

which may or may not have happened to me. More on that later.

The art looked very distinct and unique, some charactter designs looked like

this was a serious game but then I looked at the CG's on the official site

and it seemed much lighter? needless to say the art looked gorgeous.

I think there was only one CG that looked derpy to me.

The music was pretty good at setting the mood and tone of the scenes.

I thought the beginning was pretty good & got me hooked, the story beats there were well executed

as you get a look at the heroine's life and hints about there being more to it all. Rose/Applause

doesn't work alone and there are other maids including a shy/clumsy one as well as butlers etc.

Its just chapters 1 through 3 can feel a bit repetitive which is likely my only complaint about it.

System is standard stuff but you'll be having to select where to go on a map quite a bit.

Most scenes after selecting where to go are relatively short, so with a guide it may seem

like a lot but its really not that long. You really do work as a maid at a mansion!

Eh as long as you watch every event with characters or go to a room with a gem u're good.

Those scenes can range from boring to mildly interesting and/or funny. There's three main endings

for each route as well but honestly the only endings I cared about were the happy ends.

 

The common route was pretty boring, Rose/Applause works as a maid

and will see other characters interact as she works, at the end of the day

the gem fragments you collect will form better information of what happened.

Due that I think the investigation part of the common route is the worst part of this game.

I did not fully understand the gemstone stuff but they're like memory fragments

and so Rose can get a better view of what transpired between characters which may or may not

help her own search for the truth. Its not like Rose was an onlooker, she was doing

her job the whole time! and quite well but honestly I don't think she could ever

be a favourite of mine mostly due to how she treats the guys in the maze ends, it completely

ruins the mood. Lucas nor Linus among others did not deserve any of that and in the case

of Linus his maze end was by far the worst written in every possible way.

Other maze ends ranged from mildly entertaining to wtf is this BS, looking at you Ascot.

I mean I am all for different outcomes but the heroine could be really manipulative

which can either work in her favor or against her. It never felt good to me.

 

Hmmm..........

Do you ever just play an otome game that you think had a pretty decent plot and characters

but you just couldn't enjoy certain aspects of it? to me Mistonia falls into that category.

I know full well that it is impossible to like everything but it seems this was done

by multiple writers as the shift in tone between endings and/or routes was just too much.

Next the characters; you got some like Lucas who're really interesting

but are just sleepers in other routes or there as support like Alfred tends to be

so when I got to the truth route it felt like what if all the tiny threads combined

and then throws a bunch of new stuff at you that's suddenly totally relevant, its so bad

that suddenly side characters have a much bigger role so sudden that my only reaction

to it was like oh okay!  Some of the overall plot across the 6 routes was also too repetitive

and there's another villain but... you never see much of them at all during said routes, only truth.

I can't remember this tiny foreshadowing and then barely any reference till 6+ route later.

Had this be one of my first otome games I think I would be much more forgiving but it is not.

Alright... Alright... ALRIGHT!

Mistonia definitely had a decent mystery and intrigue but just fell flat in the end

and I think its because too many different writers or one took care of the truth end

or this or that route and didn't touch jack else and worked with what they had.

**The length of the game may also be a problem because it can seem quite short

compared to other games and it can seem that a lot is crammed into a chapter

so while its not boring it can certainly seem like its rushed itself.

I do wonder who worked on Lucas route though because I really liked that one.

 

Doesn't help I had trouble to get into it because the heroine had a constant poker face, it wasn't

through halfway a route I could see any romance. Its basically full of serious tones but early on

it doesn't seem that serious yet and plays most of them out in a fairly light manner

so despite being revenge themed I myself am not even thinking of revenge half of the time.

It did get better when you get onto a route but the common route didn't do it any favors.

Simply put I was a bit mixed on the vibes and it could change depending on routes.

I did however really like the character interactions between main and sub

it kept it engaging when the plot wasn't really there yet. It took untill

midway of Lucas's route before I started to get invested in literally anything.

In said route the plot/romance was actually pretty good, idk if it was because

I did Lucas first but I had a good time which is what matters anyway.

Alfred's route was a bit of a sleeper, its honestly best to do him first or second.

Linus actually grabbed my attention and was interesting from his 1st chapter.

ASScot's route was an entertaining dumpster fire but I started losing interest at Edward

and thought most of his route was boring and wondered what he even add to the plot

because Ascot's route brought so many revelations I was like what else is there? 

Edward's route wasn't very exciting in comparison which isn't good tbh.

John's route was pretty great from the start and I was relieved since it was worth sitting

through 5 routes to get to him. Maybe your opinion could differ but I enjoyed John's route.

Fair warning this game does have NTR ending(s) needless to say if you hate that trope

don't do the ending related to it, its always the maze end so just stick with best end.

To be safe maybe don't do both of Asscot's Clown&Maze endings.

I know Rose is in it for revenge but I just don't like the idea or appeal of some guy even slightly 

disappointing you in some way to make everything worse for them or to switch to guy B

because A isn't useful. I know that this plays very well into a certain character but damn not for me.

I guess I am just not that petty of a person which may be why the best end was enough for me.

Atleast the choices make you have a say in the matter so that is good.

I definitely did love Lucas, there's actually a very good reason he is like that.

 Mistonia can be slow at first and it could seem not as interesting but it may pay off

to keep paying attention as you go through the common and individual.

NGL the common route investigation part reminds me of VN's from 10 years ago.

So is it good? well if you're looking for an otome with an active protagonist and a fun

cast of characters with some fluff despite serious tones it still gets my recommendation

especially if you're tired of longer otome games, you'll still get a solid package here but if

you hate NTR or the MC manipulating situations for her own ends this game is not for you.

Granted most of that stuff is reserved for the clown/maze ends but its still something to be wary of.

Even after everything I am still not sure how I feel about the MC, I only really liked her in the best

ends, mostly everything else just made me feel umcomfortable that I want to pretend I didn't do them.

I just am not able to vibe with this heroine when she pulled some of the stunts that she did.

6/10

I initially gave it an 8 but man those other ends just... NO.

**Even a day after beating it I am like is my score too high? oonly route I thought was

really good was Lucas, others don't compare so I dropped it by 1 point.

I will say Mistonia has some very high production values from sprites,CG's to the

background art and also the music. None of that was bad at all, neither was some of the story.

Also I can see why this was picked up for localization, being undercover as a maid

is a cool idea and could hook folks even if they're not into otome games.

However if you do end up playing this and the heroine doesn't vibe with you then that is okay

and then this game may not be for you! Rose is just written to appeal to certain angles.

As for playorder  I was mostly interested in Linus and Lucas as well as John

but unfortunately there are restrictions for Edward,Ascot and John.............

Edward needs Linus,Lucas and Alfred. Ascot can be done after Two/three good ends

of those initially availabe. John basically needs all so no choice with that one.

Recommended order: Lucas / Alfred /  Linus >  Asscot > Edward > John.

I recommed this because the initial three have no restrictions

but if you care about the story then its best to do Linus before Ascot

and with this you can have some free choice based on personal preference.

As per usual spoiler and route babbles after the jump, if you don't want those then stop reading here. Like always I will share some of my favorite CG's as well but not all of them.

Side note writing Applause is weird all the time so I refer to the heroine by her alias Rose.

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.

 

Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because

I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting

and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they

got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!

I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good

to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind

I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!

 

Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...

The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter

in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...

Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests

are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better

if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.

 

Pro's

- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.

- Art, cg's are very well done.

- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.

- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.

- Great heroine, she takes initiative.

 

Con's

 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀

- High amount of bad ends.

The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.

There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who

you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.

Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.

 

First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can

go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't

the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!

so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast

and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions

and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.

On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense

to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route

they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.

I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.

 

The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying

and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.

 

This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood

a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if

they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse

showed another side of a character. 

 

System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters

name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD

Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?

The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...

this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.

 

Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it

than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.

The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations

so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.

9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think

that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be

the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!

Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change

depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side

but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery

that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.

This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game

the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time

I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long

as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.

9/10

I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts

and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:

Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.

 

Recommended play order:

It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:

[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.

You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that

Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can

either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best

done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements

same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could

change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.

There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all

anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.

I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind

as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.

So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!

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