Prefacing this by saying I'm not marking it as completed because I didn't play two of the routes, even though I did see the game to its end. Charade Maniacs was one of my most anticipated otome games, as the concept of a whodunnit situation in an otome game sounded very promising. What I found instead was a mediocre game and a lot of wasted potential. The game evokes little to no sense of suspense or urgency in the player, which is really odd considering the premise. The unlocked routes felt like I was mostly reading through filler just to get to one not so impactful plot reveal towards the end of the route. The first two of the locked routes were pretty good and ended up being the only routes and love interests I can truly say I enjoyed, and then the game lost me again with the excessive info dumping in the final route. The romance being nearly nonexistent throughout the whole game doesn't help either. For being one of those otome games that expect you to read it to the end to uncover the overarching mystery it sure doesn't make it very interesting or rewarding for the player.