Reviews from

in the past


I really enjoyed the art style (and aesthetic in general) of this one - it had a very specific, unique sort of vibe right down to the way the date looks in the top left corner. The characters being themed around both colours and card suits is interesting and hits on some tropes I love, and the visuals and art in general were pretty gorgeous; some of the proportions on the hands in certain CGs were questionable (and Kent's sprite makes his left arm look 50 metres long for some reason), but other than that they were great.

In the order that I did the routes:

KENT: I enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would. My general pattern with dating sims is to go for the one that least interests me first to a) get it out of the way, b) balance that out with the interest of seeing the story unfold for the first time, and c) save the best ones for last, but I think Kent might actually be my favourite of the options looking back on the game as a whole. He's endearing and very unintentionally funny in that sort of deadpan, dry way I love in my characters, and he's also very definitely a fellow autistic. This route was pretty sweet and low-drama from what I can recall, with the issues mostly centering around figuring out your communication with Kent, your amnesia, and how you'll approach him moving away at the end of the month.

IKKI: As a counterpoint to Kent's, I thought I'd like his route more than I did. The latter half of it somewhat made up for it, but the first half was pretty uncomfortable and wasn't particularly making me root for the relationship at all. I'm not a huge fan of Ikki's whole superpowered eyes thing he has going on - it might sound strange to say it considering there are other fantastical elements in the game, but it felt a little out-of-step with the tone of the rest of the story. His fan club is also cartoonishly evil and malicious, not just in his own route but in others too.

TOMA: Unfortunately I kind of knew the spoilers around this one before going into it thanks to recognising his name. Part of me wishes I hadn't so I could've experienced it blind, but there were still elements of it that surprised me, so I'm not too bothered by it. I'm pretty open to dark and toxic elements to fictional relationships - in fact, it'll probably pique my interest more than the alternative - but I will admit there were moments in this route that pushed a little too far into discomfort than I was anticipating. I'm not sure I buy his good ending and having him be forgiven so easily, but that's otome protagonists for you, I suppose.

SHIN: This one was genuinely pretty interesting. Each route has a slightly different genre focus - I'd say Kent's is more slice-of-life, Ikki's is romantic drama with some horror elements in the back half, and Toma's turns psychological thriller - and Shin's kicks off a heavier 'murder' mystery/detective angle that I thought was neat. I'm not entirely sure why he's so focused on in marketing and on the cover because there was nothing that made his route feel more 'canon' than the others, especially in comparison to Ukyo, but there were some good twists in here and I love Shin's design. He really was an asshole, though - there were a few things he said to the protagonist that were too far IMO and frankly crossed the line into verbal abuse for me.

UKYO: There's a lot I could say about the harmful and incredibly inaccurate depiction of DID here, but it's a game from 2013, so I'll try not to fixate on it (plus that would devolve into an entire generalised rant about its portrayal in media and I'm trying to keep this review more focused than that). This was a very different take than the other routes, which was to be expected, and I can see why he's a popular favourite, though he didn't quite take that spot for me. The ending ran into the same "forgiven far too easily" issue I had with Toma, but the good ending did actually make me pretty emotional (it was seeing Nhil and Orion in the human world that got me), so it was a pretty good beat to end on. It does leave some questions unanswered, though - to my knowledge, it's never specified whether 'the other Ukyo' is gone or not; there's no reason he would be, but he's never brought up again and it's treated as an uncomplicatedly happy ending with no more relationship issues, so is he no longer around? Is it not an obstacle anymore?

The only other criticism I have of this game is the frequency of the... I guess I have to call them loading screens? They're not there to actually load anything in, because they're instantly skippable, but for some reason the game has these fade-in fade-out screens pop up whenever a location changes or a new day begins, which sometimes results in you getting past a screen, reading 5-10 lines of dialogue, and immediately dealing with another screen, which gets especially irritating once the art on them starts to repeat as well. That's a minor nitpick, though, and once I figured out they responded to the skip function it was much less of an issue.

The minigames are pretty much nothing modes - it's a pretty tedious rock-paper-scissors game (that does admittedly get slightly more engaging once it speeds up, I believe once you've beaten 3 characters) and a clunky but minimally more fun air hockey contest. I'd only really advise doing them if you're going for the 100% like I was.

The soundtrack is also pretty ignorable - had some nice tracks, most notably the softer piano that played during more emotional moments and the more eerie chords that played during some scenes with Ukyo, Rika, or Toma, but it was mostly just inoffensive background tunes.

Favourite Male Character: Kent, but also shoutout to Waka who was hilarious. Almost regretted him not having a route, but I think I like him better as your mysterious manager
Favourite Female Character: Sawa and Mine, though I was pleasantly surprised by friendly Rika on Ukyo's route
First Character I Liked: Toma
Favourite Character Design: Shin
Favourite Moment: Seeing Nhil and Orion at the very end of Ukyo's good ending
Least Favourite Character: The random Ikki fan club girls, I suppose? It feels like cheating to say them, but there are no major characters I particularly disliked

ahhhhh classic otome save me. save me classic otome

(i always stop reading at the end of toma's route bc he makes me SICK)
good osts, good art and great voice acting but some of the guys are creeps

Edit : I ended up loving this game on my 2nd playthrough. Believe it or not it's one of my fave games now and I can't even begin to explain why, it's just so silly and I appreciate the characters so much more now (except Toma, he should be in JAIL.).

one of the guys killd me becos i was nice to him

not really anything i'd change about this gem. i love you Kent forever and ever


not the BEST visual novel i've played over the years, but there are a lot of elements that are genuinely enjoyable! the first route is the most basic but also the best, at least imo. benefits from completing all routes as there's a True Route after everything else. worth noting that each route Completely changes the characters' relationships and the story itself, it isn't just "pick a boy and see the story through the lense of romancing him and being close to him". each route's story is tailor specifically to the boy you choose.

it also is surprisingly unsettling, especially the further into the routes you go as things get less grounded. PLAY THE YELLOW DIAMOND ROUTE LAST. there's triggering content in that route as well, so if thats something that worries you i suggest spoiling yourself a little bit.

unfortunately a #1 guilty pleasure

I'm ashamed for the amount of time I put into this game.

First otome and still holds up very well upon replay. Ukyo best boy.

A great visual novel that made me feel so many different emotions that I cant even start to count them. There were good routes and bad ones...but it's totally worth getting! The mini games were fun as well.

If you haven't seen it yet, there is also an Anime made of this visual novel, so I recommend that as well.

It took me a minute to get into this one but I’m glad I didn’t give up on it! Best boi Kent stole my heart and it was worth it sticking to the end for the whole story to come together with Ukyo’s route. At first I found the story boring and kind of silly, but the more you play the more it makes sense. At least it did for me! Not my most favorite Otome game ever but worth a play through! Also the artwork is lovely, same artist as CxM so that was enough to hook me!
Final thoughts: Toma can go to hell 🖕🏻

This review contains spoilers

PHEW... i got this game 223 days ago, started with ikki's route, got super fucking bored and dropped it until like a month ago when i picked up again because i made it my mission to play all otome that's available on pc ... anyway here's my review of each route following the route i played, so its: clover world -> spades world -> diamond world -> heart world -> joker world

Clover World - Kent
i did initially start with ikki's route but the first route i actually finished was kent's, and i started him because he looked like a knockoff version of axel from ozmafia (ignoring the fact that amnesia was released earlier). i'm autistic and i'm 100% sure kent is also autistic, although not made put clearly in the text, a lot of autistic coded characters in anime are written to be "weirdo geniuses who are too literal with everything", and that's exactly what kent is like. kent's route is the most normal one out of the other routes, he doesn't have a special power like ikki or ukyo, or has a bad past or bad morals like shin or toma, he is just very autistic, very normal, and very in love. he's the least popular character in the japanese fandom and the most popular character in the western fandom for this exact reason

Spades World - Ikki
continuing ikki's route from where i left off, it's understandable and actually expected of the player to be turned off from ikki, he has his own fucking fan club and he would rather spend time with them than the heroine. he has this special power where if he looks at a woman's eyes she falls in love with him instantly, but they fall out of love once he is out of their sight, which he uses to play around with other women. to give a summary of his route: his fan club is fucking insane, he refuses to acknowledge it until the last moment because they almost kill you because he's too nice and he feels bad about rejecting all those women and he hates his life because he's DROWNING IN PUSSY!!!!!!!! i do like him tho i think he is funny. if ikki has 10 fans in the real world one of them is me

Diamond World - Toma
so toma's the most popular character in the japanese fanbase because he is a yandere and abusive, and also because he is the heroine's step brother in ikki's route (though he is not in the other routes???) so there's also an incest/inseki element to it that you can just ignore because he's not her brother in his own world. toma's popularity also deems him a walking spoiler because if you have heard ANYTHING about the amnesia games before playing them it's The Cage which he brings around day 22 so that's nice.

although i think toma's route is INCREDIBLY badly written, save from the danger and thriller elements from his own route (especially the way you get the good ending, honestly what the fuck, im not even gonna bother spoiling it because it was so stupid), the ost from his specific route is GREAT, toma unintentionally makes himself the most suspicious guy ever, he has his own specific parameter exclusive to his own route (the "doubt" parameter which replaces "suspicion"), and he makes out to be a great fucking villain especially in shin's route. HOWEVER, even though i am neutral on the topic of yanderes, i believe toma's route to be horribly badly written, and not because of its abusive elements, but because of the story's flow, the plotholes, and the way the story itself tries to justify toma's actions. his route takes the safe option by eliminating other characters from the story after bringing The Cage, so its just the heroine, toma and orion that stays relevant in his route (and ukyo but he appears like once and he says some cryptic shit i love him). you literally dont see the other characters again after his route. shin sends some messages to the heroine on day 17 but then he fucks off and never returns to the story hes just gone. did toma kill him?? did he give up?? who knows! knowing the stuff toma pulls in shin's route he might as well be dead! anyways i didnt like it, but toma is funny so he's like a 5/10 for me

Heart World - Shin
so i literally did his route yesterday and i started off NOT liking shin solely because of his sprites and i would like to apologize to him for that. his sprites might be ugly but his heart is pure.
the mystery elements of shin's route are really well written, almost like a detective novel (since you and shin play detectives) and i did NOT see the plot twist coming. i honestly dont have any complains about shin's route other than toma's role in it, i understand that shin and toma are meant to parallel each other the way that ikki and kent does, but i did not like that he was allowed to be free of his consequences, and even shin feels bad for him. he bashed someone's face in and pushed someone else off the stairs, wtf?? BUT this route also makes toma out to be a really good villain, aside from his motive which is stupid as fuck but hes a yandere so its expected, the way that toma's role in the attempted murder and his reaction + the foreshadowing (such as toma being able to keep a perfect poker face during gambling, or him being one step ahead of shin to confuse him) are so good. honestly it was really great, and i would RECOMMEND that you play toma's route because shin's, because shin's route reveals toma's yandere nature and basically spoils toma's entire route, and despite having played toma's route before shin's, i did not see the plot twist coming, so you wouldn't be missing anything.

Joker World - Ukyo
this route was the one i was most excited for and it DID deliver, albeit towards the ending it started to fall off a little bit. ukyo has visual novel DID so he has an evil alter that comes and goes, and its not only an ableist depiction of DID (which is. ok its 2013. i cant say anything about that. proper research on DID is still not properly available to the general public.), but the way that his evil alter portrayed at the ending was straight up CRINGE. in a funny way. im not gonna say any more on that. play ukyo's route its so good i love him. if ukyo has one fan its me if ukyo has no fans im dead

GENERAL RATINGS
UI design: confusing but you can get the hang of it quickly, plus you can change key settings
OST: fucking banger
Art: really good!!! some CGs are in awkward poses but i really like the atmosphere they give
Character Design: i will warn you they are garbage but listen. everything about amnesia is supposed to be weird. just go along with it. ignore kent's coat
Heroine: im the heroine's no.1 defender, aside from being so stupid in toma's route the heroine actually gets her personality back bit by bit (especially in ukyo's route) so i will not accept any heroine slander!!!


anyway um. if you like visual novels or otome games OR you want to start them amnesia is a good choice. its legendary in the english otome community. its so funny not because of comedic elements but because the story just slaps you in the face sometimes. give amnesia a try :3

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/755536334336295022/1083109209605951600/u.png

I love (hate) it when I want to know all the secrets behind a VN's story but the characters are also walking red flags

This review contains spoilers

I think Amnesia is really different than other otome I played in some ways (such as already being in a relationship in the start of the game), that can be hit or miss for some people, but personally I love the way it was written even as someone who likes slowburn. I love mystery and I love multiverse. I don't have a single important character I dislike. Not counting fangirls lol. If I had to criticise, maybe I'd enjoy some more CGs for bad ends beside Toma's, but it's not bad enough to not give it 5 stars!!

Amnesia was my first proper otome game a few years ago and still remains my favourite. It's such a product of its time yet so timeless. The game makes great use of somewhat common tropes like memory loss and parallel universes to create a distinct sense of unease and mystery that even the more "serious" and mystery heavy titles in the genre haven't been able to replicate for me. At the same time it has plenty of lighthearted moments to balance out those aspects so the game never feels too serious in tone. I love the use of playing cards as a motif for the love interests and the ridiculousness and colour coding of the character designs. The sprites blinking and moving their mouths is also a really nice touch, and even though the mouths obviously don't match the spoken words I think it still looks very well done—especially compared to the few other otome games that were doing animated sprites at the time (looking at you, PS3 Hakuoki). Personally I don't have a problem with the nameless silent protagonist. It's a nice bonus when otome games have good MCs but it's not something I look for or expect. In this case I felt that the abundance of choice prompts and Orion serving as your internal monologue do a pretty good job at making you forget about the heroine being a blank slate (and to be fair, she does have a pretty good excuse for it). I think Amnesia is a must play for everyone who likes or is looking to get into otome games. Half a star off only because Kent's route is a bit anticlimactic compared to the rest of the routes, and because I don't like Ikki as a love interest. My recommended play order is Shin > Ikki / Kent > Toma > Ukyo.

Beautiful aesthetic (seriously, I am a huge slut for colour-coded characters), great music, decent plot... bad love interests. What the fuck was with these guys? And no, I'm not talking about one particular character who will not be named, I'm talking about all of them. They all had glaring flaws and not in the way that a character should. Even best boy Kent makes you do maths.

staple otome game i fear...ikki is my love forever...all lesbians have that one chara theyre obsessed wif !!! !

This review contains spoilers

Never thought I'll end up in a dog cage

there are more brutal murders in this game than most things i have read


✔️ Tested on Steam Deck, it works perfectly (25/02/2023). 'A' button for advancing text, 'B' for opening menu and 'X' for skipping text.

So... in this game you play as a plain and souless MC and your options to date are guys that treat you like a dog or psychos. The drawing is pretty and the VA is good but I don't think this is an otome I would recommend, I hated every single of the characters and the plot sometimes is so chaotic it doesn't really make much sense.

For me, an example of a game that aged poorly.

My favorite part was the cage

Its not rlly good but Ukyo is my beautiful girlfriend

this game has made me mad for so many years it's unreal