April 2013 Eroge Releases

The arrival of spring can only mean the blossoming of new love and the return of D.C.. CIRCUS’ much-anticipated D.C.III R X-rated will allow you to get to know your fellow Kazami/Kazamidori Gakuen classmates much better. Make a girlfriend in hibiki works’ LOVELY×CATION or ASa Project’s Hitotsu Tobashi Renai (although beware of love triangles!). SLG enthusiasts will have their hands full with Eushully’s Madou Koukaku, while those looking for a little magic may wish to check out Yonaki Uguisu’s Unmei Yohou o Oshirase Shimasu. There’s something here for everyone!

A busy month full of somewhat almost borderline decent titles and a few probably so bad they will need warning labels for the potential health risks. Likewise there are a few games that perhaps by some miracle granted by the eroge gods will be blessed enough to bring about a diamond in the rough. In the end it could have been a better month and could have been much worse, after a winter drought of decent titles even some of the average games are starting to look better by the month.

Tsuisou no Augment

Company: 地雷ソフト (Jirai Soft)
Game site: 終奏のオーグメント
Release date: April 19, 2013
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Jirai Soft’s Tsuisou no Augment (追奏のオーグメント). There are after stories for each of the 3 heroines, as well as routes for bracon onee-chan Youko and hentai siscon onee-chan Minami. Oh, you asked about Augment? Yes, the shinigami with the loli voice has a few scenes too. For better or for worse.

Seems they were rather quick to realize the only two interesting characters lacking routes was a problem. Too little too late to try to sell an expansion made up of content that should have been in the original game in the first place I’m afraid.

Sometimes it’s used as a marketing techniques. That’s probably why you always have one or two subchars who steal the show. Like imoutos that should’ve been heroines in the first place.

Marketing a sub character is one thing, blatantly trying to break up content to sell twice is another.

Da Capo III R X-rated

Company: CIRCUS
Game site: D.C.III R～ダ・カーポIII アール～ X-rated
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to May 31, 2013
Comments:
This is the 18+ version of D.C.III, adding new CGs, H scenes, and a new episode called “Ouka no Ultimate Battle!”, featuring Yoshiyuki as the protagonist with most of the D.C.II cast making an appearance. There’s also a 15+ PC version coming out at the same time, but obviously the interest is right here.

More Sara! More Himeno! More Aoi! More Ruru-nee! More Ricca! Sure, there’s probably not too much that’s added, but I’m really looking forward to a continuation of Sara’s ofuro scene in Kazamidori Gakuen. At least this should tide me over until D.C.III P2 next year. I wonder if they’ll introduce new characters and how would they fit them in. Anyways, it’s also nice to have the D.C.II charas return. More Nanaka and Yume! I love being a D.C. fan!!

And so it begins, with the release of a new flagship series for Circus we can expect many such spinoffs to come along over the years to come. No idea why people keep paying for what are essentially fandisks unlocking things that normally would have been part of the game from the start though.

We’re all mindless consumers. NOW GIVE ME MORE SARA.

Dang! Dang! Danchizuma -Watashi Dake no Danna-sama☆-

Company: ALcot ハニカム (ALcot HoneyComb)
Game site: Dang！ Dang！ 団地妻 -わたしだけの旦那さま☆-
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
Hayato is a normal student, except for the fact that he’s the owner of an apartment complex which he inherited from his parents. One day, while he was thinking of what to put on the tenant recruitment pamphlet, a memory from his childhood popped up in his head. His first love had told him her dream was to become an apartment wife. So he jokingly wrote down that he was looking for an apartment wife. After a while, he got a call from a prospective renter. She was relieved that there was still a room left for her, as this fulfilled her dream of becoming an apartment wife. When he met her, he couldn’t believe his own eyes: she was his first love who had moved away 10 years ago.

I’m not as intrigued about this game as I have for other ALcot Honey Comb games. Miyazou isn’t in this, as the only writer is Daisangen. Most of the story should be Itsuka and Kaede fighting over who will be Hayato’s apartment wife. Well, at least there’s still an imouto chara in Mana. Everyone knows you don’t need a wife, you only need an imouto (unfortunately no route T_T).

More of the “Pick random reason to surround protagonist with heroines” type of plot from Alcot Honeycomb. It seems with each new release they put less thought into their settings and stories, not that there was much to begin with other than a few exceptions. Although I guess taking advantage of a girl with a psychiatric condition by using foreknowledge to lure her into a feeling of fate as a theme wouldn’t look quite as appealing as their more politically correct variation of the same concept.

Guardian☆Place ~Do-S na Imouto to 3-nin no Yome~

Company: SkyFish
Game site: ガーディアン☆プレイス ～ドエスな妹と3人の嫁～
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
In another world, beings known as ‘guardians’ live in harmony with humans. Since those who have the best guardians have the brightest futures, everyone wishes to have the best guardian. Yuuki doesn’t have any relatives, working part-time day and night just to make enough money to attend school.

One day, a maid who called herself his imouto appeared before him and abducted him into a waiting private jet. There he was greeted by a stern-faced old man on the monitor, who revealed that Yuuki was actually the grandson of the head of the industry leader of the guardian industry, the Ootori Group. After the death of his son a few years ago, he wanted to pass on the Group to Yuuki, since he was the only remaining male relative.

Yuuki was excited at his sudden good luck, however he was told that incompetence would not be tolerated. He was enrolled into the extremely famous guardian school Suzakukou to become a ‘guardian master’, but… isn’t this a girl’s school? Three girls Ouka, Itsuki and Neon all claimed to be his future wife, and they all ended up living together with him at the dormitory. The sharp-tongued imouto maid Aoi was also there, and she told him that in order not to disappoint his grandfather, he should win the school’s upcoming guardian tournament.

Isn’t this Pokemon!? Well, not quite. Guardians are spirits which help humans, whether it be in love, fortune or work. They are ranked by their abilities and a license is required to have one. Aoi knows how to train her onii-sama: tough love is the best way*!

*Only for imoutos. Amaenbou is good too!

Almost feels like they ran through a mall picking one object that defined each individual shop and duct taped them all together into a giant abomination of “Awesome”. The plot elements are broken down into tiny pieces each stolen from a different place to make something hideously unique. Perhaps that is a little too harsh as maybe it could be enjoyable, but it still gives the impression they tried too hard to cram too many things into one game to focus on making what they did have be ya know, good. Everything comes down to the writer, if they can firmly bind it all together as a maestro of literary duct tape then everything will be fixed and made whole again. However if they turn out to be poor useless scotch tape this game shall collapse into a heap of garbage faster than a younger sister being properly denied.

LOVELY×CATION2

Company: hibiki works
Game site: LOVELY×CATION2
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
This is the sequel to LOVELY×CATION. Spring has come again and the protagonist has moved into a new home by himself after his parents transfered elsewhere for their jobs. Everyone went smoothly until he received a prediction at a shrine which he had come upon: “Go find the one who will become your partner for life. Otherwise, you will live a cruel life”. However, a non-assertive man like him didn’t know anything about love. At such an critical juncture in his life, will he be able to summon up the courage to find himself a girl?

I love the art by Iizuki Tasuku, who previously worked on Hatsukoi 1/1. Just like in the original, there’s the ‘lovely call system’ where the heroines will call you by any name you choose. I want Hinata-chan to call me Micchi-senpai~! (Although just senpai or oniichan is fine too!) She’s so adorable! Not only that, but she’s good at housework, energetic and has a size complex. Don’t worry, I love you the way you are! Don’t change! They’ve also added clothing and accessory presents and added the ‘walking talk’ and ‘lovely shot’ systems to add more realism to your icharabu. Mmm… icharabu…

Shiny objects over substance. I suppose its not too bad if you have more interest in the interface and options than actual story content and writing. While I like to have extra features that add to a game as much as anyone else, that is my problem here at the same time as it feels those extras become the focus instead of the icing on the cake. To me at least approaches like this always feel like they are putting the cart before the horse in an attempt to show off to draw in sales with as little effort as possible. I mean before anyone plays the game they only have a brief summary, some screenshots, an opening video maybe, and a short often misleading trial if they are lucky, so buyer beware right?

end sleep

Company: LilacSoft
Game site: end sleep
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to May 31, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from February. Itsuki has lived an unlucky life. His parents passed away when he was young and his relationship with his adoptive parents did not last long. Now an university student, he took up a high-paying live-in part-time job in a mansion deep in the mountains despite being suspicious about it.

When he got there, he met a beautiful girl who wondered if he would become her older brother. Not knowing what she meant by this, he chased after her into the mansion where many other people had gathered, all but one of whom were around his age. Their task was explained to them there: to live there while playing their assigned role. As foreseen by the girl from earlier, Sui, he was given the ‘older brother’ role, while she was the ‘imouto’.

This strange life began without any problems, until one rainy night when the sound of glass breaking echoed through the mansion. They hurried towards the sound and found one of their own, Miho, had been brutally murdered.

It’s one of those closed-door murder mysteries with a very convenient setting and a protagonist who willingly gets himself involved. I generally would play these only if there’s a character that is worth saving, but I don’t feel that way towards any of them. Pass.

How convenient his parents died and he has no one else around to oversee his actions. When even Micchi points out the glaring problems of a game rather than what to hope for you just know the game is going to be a complete and utter train wreck for the ages. Lets keep things as short and sweet as possible this time in tribute to the complete lack of effort and talent on display for this game. Setting is flawed from the start with closed circle and completely manipulated by the writer to cater to whatever whims they have. Characters just don’t feel right, while no one expects 2D characters to be realistic, these go a step beyond into the realm of 1D characters with no redeeming qualities only awkward issues. Finally the story itself is hardly anything spectacular, standard fare for this genre and even then it feels sub par. For this month if you crave something of a similar vein, go with Kara no Shoujo 2, chances are you will fare much better than with this waste of life.

Akabanzu ~Real na Sekai de Boku ga Kimi ni Dekiru Koto~

Company: ボンボンカンパニー (bonbon company)
Game site: あかばんず ～リアルな世界で僕が君にできること～
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to May 31, 2013
Comments:
Kenta was a normal guy until he was introduced to the popular MMO Alpha. Since then, he’s been totally addicted to it, glued to the game except when he is sleeping (at school). The game basically took over every minute of his life. All his friends and classmates, and even his childhood friend, didn’t talk to him any more. However, this didn’t concern him as all he needed were his friends on Alpha, the ‘god players’, who are just as addicted as him.

One day, the GM offered a special mission to the players and he pulled an all-nighter and cleared it. His satisfaction from completing the quest was quickly replaced with despair as a voice told him that he was too addicted to the game and his character was deleted. The fruits of 3000 game hours had been wiped out in an instant and he felt as if his soul had left him.

Suddenly, a beautiful girl appeared before him. She introduced herself as a civil servant and that he will be enrolled in a rehabilitation program for people addicted to MMOs. Of course, he was angry that his precious character had been deleted, so she told him that if he completed the program, he would be able to get his character back. Immediately, he agreed to join without fully understanding what lies in store for him.

I can’t help but think that they’re trying to sell the game off a SAO-like premise. Even the osananajimi made a chara on Alpha and joined the same guild as him just so she could be with him all the time. Sound familiar? I would be mad as hell if my character got wiped out like that, but in this case, it just means you get to live in a MMO-like eroge instead. Hmm, that actually sounds pretty good. I’d definitely party with Hotaru, if you know what I mean.

I wish they had an event like this in some of the MMOs I have played. Not saying I wasn’t pretty bad with MMO addiction at times myself, but seeing some of the no lifers suffer from something like this would be rather enjoyable. That said the premise is rather flimsy, the MMO aspect feels like more of a plot element to appeal to their target demographics. I find it unlikely to play a central role throughout the story beyond the whole upset over character loss and readjusting to life outside the game issues. Without the whole forced character deletion and program to rehabilitate him part of the plot I feel the story would have gone in a much better direction by allowing the continued interaction with the game itself and the tug of war when dealing with reality. At the very lease they could have Kenta’s account be hacked to jump start the story building off of the loss of his online life, at least then it would resonate more with anyone who played and fill in the story in a more reasonable manner. The inclusion of those two elements in such a way causes much of the theme to be too watered down to have any hope of covering over the standard eroge underneath.

No partying in an attempt to steal other peoples little sisters Micchi, if you know what I mean.

I’m just helping them out!

Konata Yori Kanata Made II

Company: F&C
Game site: こなかな2 Konatayori Kanatamade II
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
This is the 18+ PC port for the PSP title Yaneura no Kanojo. Towa is a second-year student at Tenjin Gakuen, who liked everything related to the occult. One day, he got involved in a fight with a vampire at night and ended up being cursed and left to die. He was saved by another vampire Francesca, but was turned into a vampire in return. He greatly hated being a vampire with eternal life, so he wished to return to being human. Will his wish come true?

The PSP title didn’t fare too well, as it failed to live up the hype built up from the first game. However, don’t let that deter you from trying it out – maybe the trial first when it comes out. Come to think of it, there haven’t been too many vampire games lately. Could they all be hibernating or something?

Okay who in their right mind would be sad over turning into a vampire, I mean really now the entire premise of vampires especially modern day versions is the assumption that everyone would rather be one. Whenever a protagonist wants to go against good fortune and return or achieve a boring life is something doomed to failure from the start in my book. At the very least such characters need some kind of past to build up a reason for something like that beyond “Oh my life has changed a little so I’m going to throw a tantrum”.

Sakura Sakura Festival!

Company: ハイクオソフト (Haikuo Soft)
Game site: さくらさくら FESTIVAL！
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. This is the fandisk for love triangle ADV Sakura Sakura. Tooru was still undecided between Nanako and Sakura, but it had gotten to the point not only for him, but for everyone else around too, that he make a decision. A girl who said she did not have long to live told him about a legend that eternal love would be blessed upon those who confess at the Rintoku Gakuen culture festival, and that she wished to confess to the one she loved too. He decided to help her out and at the same time vowed to choose his true love on that special day.

Let’s see if it’ll end up coming out this year. It isn’t required that you play the original game since there’ll be a summary of past events at the beginning of the fandisk… which is a good thing since even those who played the original might have forgotten the story after so long. Not particularly fond of either main heroine (I prefer Kurumi), so I’ll pass.

Maybe the incentive I need to finish this game, I never could get past the point where the protagonist switches. Though not really sure what the value is for a fandisk with this game.

Tsuyokiss 3-gakki Full Edition

Company: CandySoft
Game site: つよきす3学期 Full Edition
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
This is the final version of Tsuyokiss 3-gakki, adding the routes from the PSP game. Note that Inori, Mana and Tonfa routes are not included in this package. Well, that’s the end of this series, so CandySoft can go on to make other games. Considering that GunKnight Girl was pretty good, I think that the future is bright for this company.

Or maybe they will pull a Circus on us and release a Final final version that includes new random characters given routes and some extra h scenes complete with mahjong and poker minigames.

Come to think of it, there’s hasn’t been a D.C. mahjong game yet…

I could have sworn DC made a mahjong game, maybe I’m thinking of something else. Surprising they havent tried that route yet.

You’re probably thinking of either NekoNekoSoft or the AB2 companies.

Hitotsu Tobashi Renai

Company: ASa Project
Game site: ひとつ飛ばし恋愛
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
Kazuki returned to his hometown after three years away accompanying his father while he worked in another city. He was excited to reunite with his sisters, osananajimi and buddy, but moreover, he wanted to get a girlfriend! It is the goal of every young boy. Maybe his wish was heard by the heavens, but he met four bishoujos… all of whom were friends of his friends and family!?

The heroines are his imouto’s friend (kouhai Aori), older sister’s friend (senpai Natsume), osananajimi’s osananajimi (school idol Sakura) and itoko’s underling (kouhai Risa). I love all the charas, especially Aori and Risa! It really is a brilliant idea, especially an osananajimi’s osananajimi. Be in store for lots of gags, weird faces and love triangles minus the drama. And more gags. This is why ASa Project is one of my fav companies. I’m so glad I randomly played Achikoi a few years back.

Little changes from the standard eroge plot beyond some wording. Many of the heroines in games already come about via introduction from other characters, the only difference here is that they all follow this format instead of one or two. Beyond the introduction itself games like these suffer from a problem when the existing relatives and friends without routes are more interesting than the heroines themselves. Even when they are able to be as bland as whats her face with the red hair and sasumata from KoiSora thus avoiding any appeal they have little point save introduction and that makes the characters bland and the entire concept useless from the start. Potential love triangles only work when you have some say in the result otherwise you better hope the train takes you where you want to go.

It’s purple! And she’s not bland! And I don’t mind just going along for the ride if it’s ASaPro. You know it’s not about the story anyway.

Whatever, she is so bland I forgot what color her hair was, such a boring background character. Even when its not explicitly for story a good story will make everything else that much better. Whether a charage, SLG, or even a nukige the story and writing affect the quality of everything else, even when just for the sake of a few laughs.

Yumeiro Alouette!

Company: mana
Game site: ゆめいろアルエット！
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
A long time ago, Kaname had a pendant which could grant any wish, but he has since forgotten what he had wished for. Now he is enjoying a busy student life at Zuichou Gakuen. One day, his osananajimi Yuu ordered him to sneak into the student council room at night to falsify the news club’s budget. However, he was busted by the student council leader Yuzuki herself. Then she said something strange: “Ah I see, you’re the first one”. From that day on, his surroundings began to change. The new transfer student Suzume claimed to be his fiancée, his kouhai Mihane became his imouto, and a maid Kirara came to serve him.

If I could get an imouto just by getting caught red-handed, I’d do it all the time. The setting is typical of any moe-ge, but I do wonder what wish he had made as a child. It almost feels like this game is for do-M’s with the way Kaname is bullied by everyone else in the trial. The art and character design is nice, but I’m not sure if I would be able to continue reading (I’m not a do-M!).

This protagonist is an idiot, if he could have made a wish he should have wished for this game to never exist, he could have died a martyr saving us from yet another sub par eroge. What a hero.

Gangster Republica

Company: WHITESOFT
Game site: ギャングスタ・リパブリカ
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to June 28, 2013
Comments:
There once was a relatively unknown rumour that those who cannot cast aside the dirt from their hearts should visit that shop and they will meet friends one day. Most people did not pay attention to this vague rumour, but for those who hold a different disposition, this was how they found friends.

Kanae was in the ‘charity club’ room at Seitengi Gakuen, wondering if there was anything bad that was going to happen. The students and teachers did not view the noisy club as an official one, especially since he calls it the ‘gang club’ himself. The club’s slogan was to ‘change the world with evil’. For example, to play with kids and steal their valuable time as a child, or to help an old lady with her moving and to cheat her out of candy in return. That is their ‘evil’ and it is this ‘evil’ that makes the club members friends. Welcome to their gangster republica.

The protagonist’s mental age is that of a grade schooler (the character description says so!), which makes sense that he would conceive such an outrageous thing. It’s just another form of chuunibyou… or is it shounibyou? I just can’t not question such a setting, especially when you throw in a genius imouto who skipped a ton of grades, studied overseas, then came back to become her oniichan’s homeroom teacher and club advisor. Even that’s too far-fetched for me. The story is written by Motonaga Masaki, so if you liked Nekonade, I guess you might like this too. I’ll be passing though.

Scary that companies are actually starting to come up with games that can make Micchi balk at the sheer absurdity of it all, quite the accomplishment that. Sadly my impression is that one would require a mental age approaching that of the protagonist in order to be able to actually enjoy such a story. Not only is the setting poorly rendered but the characters and story feel like something out of a comedic children’s story aimed at five year olds. Whitesoft tries so hard to come up with settings more in line with a rail or liar soft game, but frankly they are just so bad at it they need to give up and just make the normal moe charage everyone else does. Thats all their games amount to anyway the horrible settings they think up only make it worse.

Nai Mono Nedari wa Mou Oshimai

Company: Aries
Game site: ナイものねだりはもうお姉妹
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
Musashi lives with his older sisters Nanami and Misaki, who often use him to their advantage. Lately he’s been getting closer to his cousins Kazuha and Honoka who live next door. It’s like they’re part of his family, or are they like lovers? Either way, every day is full of happiness. One day, all four girls confessed that they had loved him since they were born and asked him to marry them! Suddenly, the delicate balance has been broken and each girl aimed to claim him as their own.

The younger sisters win out here since tsuri-me onee-chans just don’t appeal to me. Honoka is a self-professed ‘oniichan meister’. That’s a worthy imouto in my books. Will likely check this out.

This is about as simple as an eroge can possibly be. The game more or less amounts to “Here are some characters set within the boundaries of a major fetish divided between older and younger for your perusal.” without much else added on setting or story wise. While that is what it is and nothing inherently wrong with that, the problem is these games live and die by the writing, whether they can make the characters and scenes enjoyable enough on their own that the game is entertaining to play. On that I am not too sure they have the ability to stand solely with writing, since other companies realize this as well they add in as many distractions as possible, without those..

Love La Bride

Company: チュアブルソフト (Chuable Soft)
Game site: ラブらブライド
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
Kenji accidentally kissed Misaki and that meant that he had to marry her according to her family’s customs. However, she had no intention of marrying someone who she did not love and moreover, is a commoner. She suggested to live together for 3 months, after which she’ll tell her parents that she tried to live with a commoner, but it was impossible. However, four other girls also ended up living with them: his imouto Nao, osananajimi Hitomi, senpai Haruka, and Misaki’s maid Sasha. Moreover, they’re all pretending to be his fiancée. What will happen in these upcoming 3 months?

Marriage games aren’t really my cup of tea, but since it’s just all pretending, I guess this could be fine. The art is nice and clean and I love the SDs by Shirasu Youichi. The bracon and meat-loving tiny imouto is voiced by Kiritani Hana, which is more than enough reason for me to be interested. The rest of the seiyuu aren’t shabby either, with Aoba Ringo, Arisugawa Miyabi, Isshiki Hikaru and Kitami Rikka. If I had to choose a bride among the five, I’d probably choose the osananajimi Hitomi. She’s like the perfect wife. Of course, I’ll still have my imouto with me though!

Making use of a tradition or  some kind of familial obligation to bind a heroine or heroins to a protagonist is hardly anything new. While the idea may work as an easy way to bring the heroine into close proximity with the protagonist with little effort for the sake of building up the stereotypical tsundere personality and little else there remains much to be desired from a quality standpoint. Introductory cop out games like this might as well drop the pretense of routes and story all together as it seems many of these games end up being dropped at the end of the common route.

Unmei Yohou o Oshirase Shimasu

Company: ヨナキウグイス (Yonaki Uguisu)
Game site: 運命予報をお知らせします
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
This is the debut title for Yonaki Uguisu. The ‘red string mail’ is quite a popular good luck charm among the girls at Shimei Gakuen. If one sends an e-mail to a certain address, it would be received by someone else in the school. It was said that the receiver is the fated partner of the sender, and if they ended up together thanks to the ‘red string mail’, then they would be happy together forever.

One day, a request was sent to the executive club to find out the truth behind this rumour. The girls happily obliged and sent out a ‘red string mail’. At the same time, Souichirou decided to run for the school’s general election, not for the school or the students, but to put an end to his boring school life. He then received the ‘red string mail’ from the girls. Not just one, but every single one which was sent by the girls in the executive club went to him. The girls played it off as just a joke and they all continued on with their own lives. It’s just a simple good luck charm after all, isn’t it? But having known who their fated partner is, they couldn’t help but start to have feelings for him.

I’m playing this. Love stories with a little magic is what I live for. The premise sounds similar to Daito. I have reservations about the writing since it’s a new writer, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here. After all, it touts ‘earnest love’ as a central theme, and what is more representative of earnest love than a blood-related imouto? Especially one that wants a world for the two of them only. Follow me, my brothers! I sense good things here!

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. *Ahem* That said I have to wonder if other people also think that when choosing one out of four girls who all shared the same result a success rate of 25% along with a 75% rate of getting dumped by your fated partner in favor of someone else because they were better and since you aren’t good enough you will lead a sad lonely life of second best, all thanks to one fateful encounter would be a little traumatic. So rather than a game about picking one fated partner it seems this might actually be a dark game about destroying the lives three girls after choosing one of them to help crush the tender young dreams of the other three.

I supposed you can’t tell a book by its cover, but that is…

If everyone is fated to be his partner, that just means the three who can’t be with him will be cast off by fate and abandoned to a cheerless life of neglect. Nothing quite like destroying the innocent lives of schoolgirls for your own amusement right?

Destiny is fleeting, but I’ll dwell on the romantic parts, thank you very much.

Hey it is romantic, you have to cast aside all the other rubbish to choose the girl you really like. Doesn’t matter you are condemning three other people to a life of likely prostitution, drugs, and abuse for the sake of that one girl.

Gensou no Idea ~Oratorio Phantasm Historia~

Company: 3rdEye
Game site: 幻創のイデア ～Oratorio Phantasm Historia～
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to June 28, 2013
Comments:
Seven years ago during the great disaster Naglfar Night, a shift in the Earth’s crust caused the land to be inundated by the sea, washing away the soil and drastically altering the world. A great tear in the crust known as the ‘parallel out’ emitted noxious gases which hardened the skin of humans, causing them to crumble into dust. This spelled the end of tens of thousands of people.

Those that were not affected moved away from the capital, which was ravaged by the disaster, to rebuild. After some time, they created a cure known as AS9 for those who were affected by the noxious gases. This allowed people to move back to the capital. Yuuma is one of those who now live within in the capital, while Akashi is a mysterious boy who lived in an area abandoned after the disaster. Their fated meeting would bring forth many unfortunate events.

Yup, another chuuni game by 3rdEye. This time there’s two protagonists. Not sure what’s going to happen, but you have the feeling something will with all those ‘destiny’ stuff. I’ll let you guys have this one.

Chunni NTR route?

Teaser

Shoujo Shiniki∽Shoujo Tengoku -The Garden of Fifth Zoa-

Company: Lass
Game site: 少女神域∽少女天獄 -The Garden of Fifth Zoa-
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
Shun has always wondered what was on the other side of the stone walls surrounding and beyond the tunnel out of Kaijou-shi ever since he was a child. However, he never ventured out since every time there was an opportunity to do so, he fell ill or there was some family business. After he graduated from Seihoukan Gakuen, he decided right then to leave his hometown.

The next spring, he received a call from his mother, asking him to come back for the Seikousai festival which he had always attended since he was small. His family kept the items for the festival, but this year’s event will be even bigger than normal. His imouto Sana and osananajimi Yuki both had been chosen as the miko for the kagura dance.

As he was returning back to Kaijou-shi on the train, he reflected on why he left his hometown. He had found nothing special on the other side, just the beginning of a new life. However, it felt like he had lost something along the way. Then he could hear his osananajimi’s gentle voice: “Shun-chan, it’s been a while since you’ve been back”. He felt like those words livened his spirits and comforted his heart.

It’s been a while since Lass’ previous game and 11eyes‘ scenario writer Shishi Bunroku makes a return. I like their slightly mysterious settings and world building without the excessive terminology. It’s true that as a kid you’re always curious about what you don’t know, but when you’re older, you yearn for things from your past. I wonder what will happen during the festival… Maybe you should check it out.

So a story about returning to ones hometown, with likely emphasis on how perspective and people change when separated even for a time as short as year. As an attempt at a setting that lays the groundwork for a down to earth style of game it is a decent attempt, not amazing but not bad either. Unfortunately to build off of that requires delicate crafting skills that are becoming more and more of a rarity in the eroge industry. Whether they manage it through a once in a lifetime fluke or genuine skill I would like to be pleasantly surprised by this game, although it is difficult to remain hopeful without something more special to it after so many disappointments.

Touhikou GAME

Company: イグジット (Ex-iT)
Game site: 逃避行GAME
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to May 24, 2013
Comments:
One day during class, Akito gazed outside the window and mumbled to himself: “… I want to run away somewhere”. “That sounds good, where shall we go?”. He was surprised by the response and looked over to see his classmate in the neighbouring seat smiling at him. He had never talked to her before, but those words made him want to attain his hidden wishes.

His life changed greatly from that day on. He met a strange girl Nia who seemed to be chased by someone in an alley, was approached by a foreigner Norm who took a liking to him, made friends with an ojou-sama Korone who was passing by on a trip, and was closely monitored by his imouto Mirika who thought he was acting suspicious lately. Thanks to this ‘running away game’ which his classmate Renna had proposed, there are no more boring days. However, he still had a wish to find someone who he loves and run away together to somewhere far away.

When I first saw the title, I thought it was going to be them running away from something evil, whether it be monsters, zombies, tentacles or those balding old men who would NTR your heroines if given the chance. Luckily, it’s more light hearted than that and feels more like an adventure to bring some excitement to the monotony that is school life. It sounds like a simple and interesting premise. I would skip school or work to play this (although I would say the same for most other games).

I would run far far away from classmate stalker girl intent on interjecting into my internal monologues too, Fight Akito! Don’t give up, you will escape her some day! Otherwise pretty standard fare sadly.

Hyakka Ryouran Elixir

Company: アクセル (AXL)
Game site: 百花繚乱エリクシル
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
The ‘patrolling messengers’ monitored the feudal lords in the kingdom for the emperor. They were orphans who were raised personally by the emperor himself, and only the best of the best were able to be named as one. However, the feudal lords knew that so long as they did not commit any grave crimes, the messengers would not take any action. Moreover, since they were not related to the royal family, they were easily coerced by others’ political strengths. 

Bloom had been a messenger for the past 3 years and he finally had been assigned to his own area, but it was in the middle of nowhere. This was because a great noble had bought the lands out of spite after he was reported for illegal gathering of wealth. Nevertheless, he still accepted his position and vowed to do the best for the kingdom.

The area he was to patrol was an idyllic village, with friendly people and a proud princess living in a crumbling castle. At first, he earnestly did his job, increasing the taxes and investigating any secret contact with neighbouring countries, but he gradually he felt like he wanted to live in this town with them. Moreover, he wanted to bring great wealth to the town and revitalize it.

A lot of story background and it still all boils down to being a guy and 5 girls who are heads over heels over him. AXL’s games all end up the same, so I’m not sure if I’m up for another (especially one sans pettanko). One interesting note is that all the characters have flower and herb-based names.

How evil this town is to corrupt such a pure soul, reducing him to a ball of greed. Seeking to improve a town only so he could make more from taxes, using people as livestock to make him money and earn him power. This just goes to show how much of a negative influence small towns can have on a person. A game that chronicles our sad protagonists fall from grace, and the witches who drove him to it by using their small town wiles to seduce his innocent heart in hopes of capturing him for themselves. Hopelessly ensnared we get to watch his steady downward spiral into a puppet tyrant all for the sake of pleasing whichever of the potential cruel owners he winds up with. What a sad sad tale this is.

Madou Koukaku ~Yami no Tsuki-Megami wa Doukoku de Utau~

Company: エウシュリー (Eushully)
Game site: 魔導巧殻 ～闇の月女神は導国で詠う～
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
On the eastern area of the Empire of Melchia, one of the five major countries in the center of Raulbhach continent, the Centax area was under seige by their arch-enemy Yun Gasol allied nations. Angered by the death of his eastern commander, the emperor sent reinforcements to the battlefield. A young general from the South, Weisheit, was among those dispatched. After fighting off the enemy’s fierce attacks, he was appointed as the new eastern commander and oversaw the revival of the eastern front. However, it was clear that they were much weaker than their surrounding enemies. Moreover, each of the four commanders had their own goals.

Following the Ikusa Megami series, this is a SLG with a world combining machinery and magic into ‘madou heiki’ (magic weapons) which are like living dolls that can beat your ass. The battle part is RTS, although it’s simple enough for people who aren’t great at real-time games. The world is pretty big and there’s lots to explore. You can build your town as you wish, assemble your army, and combine monsters to get even stronger ones. It’ll probably take you some time to figure everything out, like an Eushully game. Of course, the best way to see if this system is for you is to play the trial that’s out. The initial impression is that the system has some balancing issues and fixing in general. The dolls are only 70cm tall, which begs the question… are there any H scenes? I’ll be passing if only because I still haven’t finished Soukoku no Arterial. I can’t beat those damn angels. Arghhhhhhhhh.

RTS style eroge confuse me more than any other possible genre choices.  While I can understand turn based or even certain mixes, when carried over into real time I feel that much of the narrative is lost due to the excessive emphasis on gameplay such a choice necessitates. I’m not saying RTS cannot have stories, or stories cant be woven into an RTS system, its just that I feel even more than normal such games suffer from being lukewarm on both sides of their design. Till someone figures out how to make good gameplay that meshes with a good story I will continue to avoid the majority of these titles. Or at the very least learn to implement a gameplay skip feature for subsequent playthroughs of battles you have already won to get rid of the most time consuming and annoying repetition factor any game could have. Dealing with the same levels, maps, or missions every time you want to walk down a different route always drives me nuts.

Koi Shiyo?

Company: とりぷる・すれっと (Triplethreat)
Game site: 恋しよっ？
Release date: April 26, 2013 Delayed to May 24, 2013
Comments:
This is the first game by Triplethreat. The government took drastic measures to combat the falling birth rate and created Kukuri Gakuen, nicknamed ‘Renai Gakuen’, as a model case to promote love between students. Yuuki’s parents did not outwardly show their love towards each other, so he was never interested in love. However, he was suddenly chosen to attend ‘Renai Gakuen’ despite his wishes.

Accept it, Yuuki. It’s your fate. Go make some kouhai friends. They’re all waiting for you to look their way, senpai. First-timer Kazakura’s art seems a bit shallow, but it won’t bother me too much. I guess Triplethreat will be a chara-ge maker, but let’s see if they’ll be able to make their mark in a crowded market.

Flimsy plot with bland characters, if this is the best Triplethreat can do, I don’t see them lasting long. Good riddance to half assed game makers trying to make a quick buck.

I wonder how many aim to do just that. There sure a lot of similar companies nowadays.

Sadly it sure seems like most of them, even those who have been in the industry for awhile.

Impression movie

Koiseyo!! Imouto Banchou

Company: Latte
Game site: 恋せよ!! 妹番長
Release date: April 26, 2013
Comments:
After his father’s death, Jin was separated from his 365 imoutos and ended up living overseas. He told them to live ‘strongly’ until he comes back to them. Ten years later, he reunited with his imoutos in Japan… and they are all banchous!? Not only that, but it was said that the strongest imouto will become oniichan’s bride. Could it be that they misunderstood what he said?

For those who are not familiar with the term, a banchou is the person who leads a group of delinquents, like their boss. Of course, this goes against the typical ideal of purity and innocence which imoutos possess. Latte says this adds to their gap moe, but I’m not buying it. Once again, this uses the Live2D animation system. Ah what the hell, I’ll probably still play it.

So after his dad died, he managed to escape hell, but went back… What an idiot.

Micchi’s Top 5 for This Month

1. Hitotsu Tobashi Renai
2. Unmei Yohou o Oshirase Shimasu
3. Da Capo III R X-rated
4. Shoujo Shiniki∽Shoujo Tengoku -The Garden of Fifth Zoa-
5. LOVELY×CATION2

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Why are
   
2. There no games
   
3. Worth playing?
   

There’s also a few append discs coming out this month for Gesen18’s Sengokuhime4, and Debonosu’s Kurenai Kagura, Sora o Aogite Kumo Takaku and Toki o Kanaderu Waltz. 10mile’s Hitori no Qualia and Futari no Qualia features Fue and J-MENT formerly of RococoWorks, but there’s no info out on these games at the moment.

Where do I even start… So many imoutos this month…

Knowing you? Probably the smallest and flattest.