June 2012 Eroge Releases

A lot of titles this month, but they are mostly from new or middle-level companies. propeller’s all-ages chuuni title TOKYO BABEL highlights the bunch, although if you’re wishing for something a bit more mellow, ALcot Honey Comb’s 1/2 summer and tone work’s’ Hatsukoi 1/1 will offer you plenty of icharabu. Also highly anticipated is Escu:de’s supernatural Gurenka and Chuable Soft’s Astraythem for those that prefer oneechans over imoutos. I don’t know why anyone would though.

Plenty of games to pick form this month but at the same time they feel rather bland, while there are a few that can stand out as being marginally better, most have taken the middle road, not standing out as especially good or bad. Hopefully next month there will be more companies willing to take some risk for the greater reward it can bring with their game designs.

TOKYO BABEL

Company: propeller
Game site: 東京バベル
Release date: June 22, 2012 Delayed to August 31, 2012
Comments:
propeller’s latest title is an all-ages stylish battle ADV. With heaven locked, hell submerged in water and the infinite parallel worlds thinning out, the surviving angels and demons gathered with one final hope: to ascend all seven levels of the floating purgatory known as Tokyo Babel and unlock the gates to heaven via Jacob’s ladder. This would be their atonement to the heavens.

However, their plan was foiled by a group of mad individuals who took over the levels of Tokyo Babel with the intention of destroying it all. In the midst of the see-saw battle, a lone young man Setsuna was saved from a perishing world. Together with the “Witch of the Night” Lilith who had rescued him, he took aim at traversing Tokyo Babel, while searching for the reason of why he keeps on living.

Since this is an all-ages title, they managed to secure a very impressive line of seiyuus, including Sawashiro Miyuki, Hanazawa Kana, Itou Kanae and Kamiya Hiroshi. The opening to the trial is definitely very well done, but once it got to the chuuni side with huge weapons, even bigger beasts, actions scenes between characters with superhuman powers and religious references galore, I quickly lost interest. It may appeal to some of you that are into this kinda thing, but I’ll pass.

I mostly agree with Micchi on this game, the childish silliness ruins any chance of this game being worthwhile. Games with more story than simple romance are something I always find preferable, however games of this type too often mistake the means for the end. Trying too hard to integrate mythologies and blend world ending significance into high school aged kids always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when they ruin the immersion. Still I know plenty of people go for these things and I’ll be the first to admit it is leagues above reading the same high school romance comedy for the hundredth time.

I’d still go for the romance comedy, but that’s probably just me.

Well I can only take the same joke so many times before it stops being funny.

Hakuisei Renai Shoukougun RE:Therapy

Company: 工画堂スタジオ (Kogado Studio)
Game site: 白衣性恋愛症候群 RE:Therapy
Release date: June 28, 2012
Comments:
This is the all-ages sequel to the 2011 PSP original, this time coming out simultaneously on the PSP and PC. This powered-up version adds the hikikomori middle schooler Mayuki and routes for Yasuko and Ami, in addition to new CGs and after stories for Hatsumi, Nagisa and Sayuri.

Unless you had a PSP, it’s unlikely that you would’ve played the original. Basically it’s light yuri with a hospital setting since the protagonist Kaori wants to be a nurse after recovering from a traffic accident when she was a child. Cute game and never can go wrong with yuri.

Not a fan of yuri, but if you are its probably worth reading as there is not exactly a large selection to choose from.

1/2 summer

Company: ALcot ハニカム (ALcot Honey Comb)
Game site: 1/2 summer（ワンサイドサマー）
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
During the summer vacation, Kaname was asked to help out at a ryokan in Tohoku. He had expected it to be a refreshing change from the sweltering heat in Tokyo, but when he arrived at the train station with his imouto Kazuha, he was surprised to find that the town he once lived in had now become a large school town. Boarding a crowded bus and travelling out of the city to Kusanagi Ryokan, he was relieved to see the familiar country scenery once again. But why are the schoolgirls also getting off at the inn?

The owner told him that they were students from Jinza Gakuen in the city, but due to an incident they couldn’t stay in their dormitory, so she let them stay at the inn for the summer. That’s why he was needed there: to look after the girls. Furthermore, he had one more thing on his mind. It seemed that there is a mischievous Zashiki-warashi living at the ryokan. Will he be able to properly help out and last the summer?

Note that unlike ALcot Honey Comb’s previous titles, this is a full priced game. The art is by Sesena Yau (Diamic Days, Prism Rhythm) and the story is written by Mo-ri- (SuGirly Wish), Wakase Ryou (Akizora ni Mau Confetti) and Himenogi Aku (DRACU-RIOT!). This is definitely right up my alley with cute chars and a relaxing setting. Just as expected from ALcot. Interesting that the imouto Kazuha is a subchara… are they planning a FD already? Sora (CV: Anzu Mitsu, HGB‘s Koharu) is really cute, but Kanami is definitely my first pick. Voiced by Kiritani Hana, she’s just as direct as Harupoco’s Ai, doing everything in her power to have Kaname all to herself. Bring it on – I’m ready!!

Such lazy writing. I know Alcot Honey Comb likes to stick to central themes most of which are worth the cheaper price tag, sticking to such a poor standard for a full priced game is rather arrogant in my eyes. By condensing the heroines into students living in the inn our protagonist just happens to be called to work at in order to help take care of them is nothing but lazy writing. Without exploring the setting and giving characters unique backgrounds chances are the story will be weak to say the least and the characters will do little more than fill in the standard archetypes. While not the worst writing Alcot Honey Comb surely lacks the skill to turn a game like this into something special. If you want to pay full price for a game that is a watered down copy paste of standard eroge with a cg set then this is definitely the game for you.

Dolphin Divers

Company: アクセル (AXL)
Game site: Dolphin Divers
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
In the near future, countries focused on marine development to accommodate the growing population, need for increased food supply and environmental control, creating many floating cities. With the industrialization of methane hydrate and a vast amount of ocean as part of its territory, Japan was viewed as a leading country and attracted many overseas students.

The small island of Naginoshima was once popular with tourists, but now it has been mostly forgotten. To bring the island back to its past glory, a marine training school was built using a government subsidy. With the financial support of the national and local government, the tuition was kept low in the hopes of attracting many trainees. However, only 15 people joined the school and they had problems not only with the training, but with the outdated equipment as well.

Their goal was to achieve the highest ranking in the national exam for marine rescue. If they succeed, it would bring much prestige to their new school. At first it seemed like they could not be relied upon, but surrounded by the kind islanders and with the great efforts of the protagonist Takeru, they gradually overcome the numerous challenges in their way.

All you need to know is that all the heroines are tsurupeta. I am glad that the Clochette curse has not affected everyone. All this talk about methane hydrate reminds me of Koisora. I’d much rather have a quaint tourist island instead. Wonder why it’s titled Dolphin Divers. I hope there’s dolphins.

While the methane hydrates may look appealing to use in eroge as its a convenient means of focusing on Japan it would be nice if they put more effort into using something more practical and useful instead for these stories. In fact I don’t see why they had to bother with such a setting in the first place given this is basically a coast guard search and rescue based game, it would be easier and make more sense to just use that.. Oh well obvious setting issues aside the story itself is not going to be worthwhile given it is just another overcoming the odds with everyone’s help along the standard romance routes for lackluster heroines. I suppose there should be plenty of swimsuit fanservice given the theme, though unless you find the characters especially appealing there isn’t much here that stands out among the crowd of other games.

JOKER – Shisen no Hate no Doukeshi

Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: JOKER -死線の果ての道化師-
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut title for newly formed brand AkabeiSoft3. In a fenced-in school, an unthinkable game has begun under the watch of a man known as the Joker. Each person is given a card and the one with the Curse card will be killed by the Joker. The only way to avoid this fate is to pass the card on to someone else without them knowing it. With no hope of being saved, their desire for survival leads to lies and deceit among the students. Girls are raped and their minds broken. Is the culprit in their midst? What is the purpose to this terrible game and will they find out the truth within the sea of lies? Will they be able to escape from the cursed school?

Reminds me of a cross between Secret Game and Battle Royale, especially since there’s only one ‘victor’ and it all starts from a train wreck which seemed to have been planned. Even though I’m not well-versed in these type of games, it almost feels like the setting was done just so that they can stick in lots of murders and rape. It’s written by first time scenario writer Oyamada Nobu, and I really didn’t like the writing style at all from the trial. You don’t need to write countless short sentences or sound effects in order to get the point across or set the mood. Obviously pass.

When I look at this game I think how fun it would be if you as the protagonist were the Joker, maybe forced into it or something trying to manipulate the setting while hiding his identity. Aside from that I feel the setting is too isolate and controlled to take this game seriously, especially without an attachment build for the characters before things start happening you cannot feel too attached to them. Such a lack of development can only make me avoid this game as though it were the joker card.

Princess Evangile W Happiness

Company: MOONSTONE
Game site: Princess Evangile W Happiness
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Princess Evangile, with after stories for the 4 main heroines and another stories for the 5 subheroines. I heard that the original wasn’t bad, so this ought to please some, especially those that powered Ruriko to a third place finish in the chara poll.

Thank you fandisk.

fortissimo EXS//Akkord:nächsten Phase

Company: ラクリマ (La’cryma)
Game site: fortissimo EXS//Akkord：nächsten Phase（フォルテシモ エグゼス アコルト：ネクステン ファーゼ）
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from February. The 18+ version of fortissimo, adding three new routes for Sakura, Momiji and Sarasa. Kuri from the novel will also make an appearance, along with two new characters, Roki and Kurokishi. If there was one chara that deserved more story about her, it would be Momiji. Fans will surely be happy about this.

I think I will wait to hear if this is as bad a minefield as the original before I try it, at least with the new routes this is finally a game worth considering. Still, all it amounts to is more or less original + fandisk with HCG.

××× na Kanojo ga Inaka Seikatsu o Mankitsu Suru Himitsu no Houhou

Company: Lime vert
Game site: ×××な彼女が田舎生活を満喫するヒミツの方法
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Lime vert. In the rural town of Tsukumi-chou, Kousuke started up an ‘otaku club’ for those who love anime and light novels. Since there’s not many channels on TV and it takes a few extra days for magazines to arrive from the city after they’re released, the club spends most of its time helping out the townspeople and chatting with them about anime and light novels, earning them the nickname ‘cat’s hand club’ (neko no te bu).

Suddenly one day, a bishoujo transferred in from the city, bringing her butler along with her and arriving in a helicopter. It’s like a scene straight out of an anime, causing a great ruckus among the club members and other students at the school. He had a feeling that this summer will be quite different from past years.

My osananajimi’s mom can’t be this cute! So cute, yet refined! Of course Hotaru-chan is cute too! With such a mom and daughter combo, why would you care about some ojousama? Pink hair is the best! Pink hair is the best! Hau omochikaeri~!

Typical uninspired story and setting, with a somewhat classic rich girl transfer student combined with enough of a reference to the animated goods industry to add in some gimmicky appeal to their target audience. Definitely a charage don’t go into this one for the story.

It’s not even good as a well-written chara-ge. Pacing is pretty awful.

That makes it terrible, especially when that comes from you.

Erect!

Company: アストロノーツ・スピカ (Astronauts Spica)
Game site: えれくと！
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Astronauts Spica. Lilythtia International School is located in Mitsuoka-chou where Kento lives, attracting many students from overseas. He helped out every day at his father’s flower shop Florist Ogiwara in the shopping area with the intention of carrying on the family business in the future. One day while he was on an errand, he was assaulted by a beautiful girl who he had seen at the school before. When he woke up in the hospital afterwards, her servant Riel told him that she was Runastia, a succubus ‘princess’ who has a weak body. She asked him for help since his life force was special and it may be able to cure Runa. After giving it some thought, he decided to transfer to Liliythtia, which was actually a school for succubi. Surrounded by ero classmates, will he be able to graduate from the school without being sucked dry?

For a nukige, there’s at least some resemblance of a plot since at first, it’s about his desire to help Runa. But of course afterwards, everyone wants a piece of him. My fav chars are the sisters Riel and Noel, but why’s there no flat chested loli succubi like in Astarotte no Omocha? 

So, the entire point of the game as the protagonist is to get your “Life force” sucked out by succubi who apparently have a school for themselves down the street from him since he is of course special in some way. And people wonder why I seem to be so negative about games, ha. Well this is one of two games dealing with demon girls this month but personally I would recommend the other game instead, at least they put a bare minimum of effort into developing more than some sound effects to go with their CG set.

I think they’re about the same, but there’s more comedy and monster sex in the other.

Comedy goes a long way when there is no plot to speak of either way.

Love Lab ~Choukyou Nante Kyoumi no Nakatta Ore to Kanojo no Houkago SM Laboratory~

Company: bolero
Game site: らぶらぼ～調教なんて興味のなかった俺と彼女の放課後SMラボラトリー～
Release date: June 22, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut title by bolero. Souichirou is a sheltered boy from a rich family, living in a quiet town outside of the city. Then one day, he discovered that his father had gone missing after a failed venture in an African diamond mine and left him penniless. Since his father had aided the acting school chairwoman Saki many times, she let Souichirou stay in the janitor’s room if he worked as the school custodian. With no other relatives to depend upon, he had no choice but to accept these humiliating conditions.

Ordered around daily by his former classmates, he wished to run away but was bound by his financial situation. That’s when Saki revealed to him that she likes SM and would like him to help her out. So begins his new school life of humble caretaker by day and new master by night.

Now this isn’t the usual type of game I’d include, but I don’t normally see SM titles which aren’t dark. Love Lab is basically an SLG where you can do whatever you want to the girls at night. Don’t worry, they’re ready and willing. I didn’t know high school girls had this fetish too. But don’t expect too much in terms of playability since it’s just about selecting the actions in the proper order in order to unlock other actions. Maybe it’d be better just to use a save file…

Ok so the basis here is fulfilling an SM fetish route, fine, but one would think when choosing a central topic as such that they would have put more work into the basis of it and not just create an excuse for themed H scenes. I’m sure or I at least hope the various heroines are brought in through different means and do not simply land in the protagonists lap thus defeating the point. As such I cannot see this being aimed at an audience who actually has such a fetish but rather people who have a passing attraction to the basic themes and some of the outfits making a shallow game even by nukige standards that is worth little more than the artists CG. I do give them credit for at least knowing enough to not completely miss the point of these themes by turning it into a dark game at least. Still it seems they have erred too far in opposite direction of the norm, and of course as with most such games don’t expect anything from the writing here.

Aorio

Company: ad:lib
Game site: アオリオ
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
Daisuke entered Shikisaka Gakuen one month late since he was hospitalized with a stomach ulcer just prior to the school entrance ceremony. He had dreamt of a wonderful school life, but found himself unable to fit in with the class due to his late arrival. Finding himself isolated, he was discouraged by his expectations having fallen quite short.

Unexpectedly after school, one of the bishoujos in his class, Rio, invited him to join a club. He wasn’t really interested in clubs, but since it was the first time that a classmate had talked to him (and a pretty girl at that), he signed the club application form without checking it. It wasn’t until afterwards that he found out it was for the unpopular drama club, which no boy in the school wouldn’t have joined.

Meat. Yuka looks so much like Haganai‘s Sena. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of similarities to Haganai with the outcasted protagonist and a club that’s basically his harem. Then again, ad:lib’s previous title looked awfully like K-ON!, so it’s not a surprise they’d use a recent popular anime as a basis. The mouth movements in the trial sometimes were a bit off from the speech, but the trial was decent I guess. Anyways, I wouldn’t turn down an invitation from an angel like Rio even if I knew it was for the drama club. Besides, I’m good at playing. Ahem, I mean, plays. But Rio’s actually… Well, not that that changes anything.

Pretty self explanatory, an ero Haganai for those of you who wished the original series was actually a hentai or something.

Astraythem

Company: チュアブルソフト (Chuable Soft)
Game site: アステリズム -Astraythem-
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
Tsukumo is in love with his non-blood-related older sister Natsuki who he had lived with since they were small. He watched as she grew into a beautiful woman and kept a lid on his growing feelings for her. Will the day come when he confesses his love for her? Is it possible for siblings to become lovers? Even if the time changes, his feelings will not waver.

This is a love story between the siscon Tsukumo and bracon Natsuki. Now I’ve seen plenty of these with the older brother and younger sister, but this time it’s switched. However, there’s one more thing… you get to be with her in three different time periods (due to parallel world stuff)! So you can choose the kind and beautiful adult Natsuki, or the outgoing high school student Natsuki or… the pure and amaenbou imouto-like oneechan Natsuki! There’s a little Natsuki for everyone! The subcharas, Mimi and Akeno, are also really cute. More kouhais are always welcome, especially those that are pining for your love. But it makes me wonder about just how devoted he is to Natsuki if there’s the option of routes for some of the subheroines like Mimi… Also one interesting note is that the story is set in Senseki, the same setting as FLAT’s -atled-.

Normally I would comment how games with such a one track theme tend to lose out in terms of story and character development but given how instead they are going with a focus on how some things change with time and yet others stay the same for one central character which is a nice direction. There have been some similar ideas floating around in various shapes, and yes focusing on one character or even one character type tends to limit things I think such a game that focuses on evolving characters reasonably requires one primary heroine with at most one or two sub heroines for each point in the timeline. When a game tries to focus on too many branches set in different times with characters changing it becomes too muddled to keep everything together without bending over backwards to accommodate the evolving characters and setting. If you find Natsuki appealing as a heroine this may be quite a good game to read for this month as one good heroine is what most games are about anyway, all that really changes is which one suits your taste, this time there is extra attention paid to a single heroine which is great news if she is your type.

Why oh why is Akeno already taken by the guy friend? I think I’m starting to understand why people like NTR stories…

Because no one needs sloppy seconds.

Colorful☆Cure

Company: エトワルズ (Etoiles)
Game site: カラフル☆きゅあ～
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
Demons pose a threat to mankind and it is up to mahou shoujo to defeat them. However, they gain impurities as they use magic, destined to become demons themselves one day. Kureha is a student at Mizukikou Gakuen who awakened as a saint who can cleanse the impurities of mahou shoujo by touching them. After that, demons and other beings attacked him constantly with four mahou shoujos protecting him. They were the school idol Aoi who he had saved earlier, his osananajimi Hanatsu who made a contract to become a mahou shoujo in order to protect him, the robot Ars who travelled from the past to meet him, and the blonde vampire Vermillion who came to be purified by him.

First Haganai and now Madoka. I’m surprised there’s no salesman squirrel, but I guess a talking egg will have to do. I wonder if the more you touch them, the more pure they get… Hey Check, this is the perfect excuse for you to play this game!

I hope they all get their heads eaten.

Pajama-san Konnichiwa

Company: EMU
Game site: パジャマさんこんにちは
Release date: June 29, 2012 Delayed to July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is EMU’s first game since 2005, inspired by their previous work Kimi ni Tomoru Hi. As a result of a request from a distant relative, Masato became the manager of the orphanage Yuriorien. He didn’t know that it was located in a remote part in the mountains and began to regret his decision, but he was soon taken in by the warm hospitality of the people in the orphanage. Thinking that it wouldn’t be bad to work in a job where you were needed by others, he began to live with the girls who all had their own peculiarities. At that time, the girls still had not realized the dark side which lied within their hearts.

Don’t be fooled by the cute old-school art: all the heroines in this game are mentally ill and one wrong move could spell a bad end for you. It’s probably closer to a nukige than a story-based title, and with the past shoddy record for this small doujin-like company, I’d suggest skipping this.

Somewhat interesting idea with the heroines and their issues that lead to potential bad ends makes me wish a better company had put together a similar idea.

Fault!! S ~Aratanaru Rival~

Company: Ciel
Game site: フォルト!!S（サービス）～新たなる恋敵（ライバル）～
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the sequel to Fault!!, incorporating animated scenes from Fault!! A. After a tumultuous summer vacation, Shuuichi begins the second school term while under the constant love assault from Ai and Mio. One day the tennis club leader Reiko announced that they will participate in the school festival at the end of the month, which they decided to run a cosplay cafe after much wrangling. Afterwards, she decided that she wanted to run as a candidate for next term’s student council. That wasn’t the end of his tumultuous days as a transfer student suddenly appeared in his class…

The only reason any of you would’ve played this was for Tony’s art, so it really doesn’t matter what the story is. I get more Ai+Mio, so that’s good enough for me. Nekomimi banzai!

All they would need to do is release the CG under the same price tag and people would still buy it.

FUTSUNO FANTASY

Company: EX-ONE
Game site: FUTSUNO FANTASY
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from May. “The maou who brought darkness and chaos to the world will be defeated by the hero who is chosen by the goddess.” That’s what the legendary grimoire Libra told the maou Jade. Not wanting to meet his demise so soon, he sought out the chosen hero, Hisui, and her party and joined them under a false name, Jay. But with Libra’s omens always being correct, is it possible for him to change his fate?

This is just an ordinary story about a typical hero defeating a standard maou and achieving a normal happy end. That’s why it’s called Futsuno Fantasy. Of course, even with a standard story (more because it’s a parody of your typical RPGs – any similarities to other RPGs abbreviated as ‘FF’ are unintentional), this game could turn out well. However, they really need to work on their body proportions. I do like the 8 bit sprites and the system though.

I admittedly chuckled at the Final Fantasy parody in the title, though the game itself amounts to little more than an eroge version of the Manga Superior with reversed gender roles. What will make or break this game is the parody humor, we know the story itself will not be anything spectacular and I am sure everyone reading this already has at least a rough idea of how the game will play out. So whether or not the game can entertain us along the way to our preordained destination is the real question. This also provides a problem for this commentary as there is no good way to get a solid read on the meat of the game without playing the actual game, trials only give so much and are often misleading in terms of quality. On this game my stance will remain cautiously optimistic, hoping for the best but prepared for a train wreck.

Note that the 1-month delay was due to a change in the logo to be less FF-like. They also removed the chocobo bird-thing in the OP. Guess they don’t want to be sued.

Natsuiro Asagao Residence

Company: 空中カリカチュア (Kuuchuu Caricature)
Game site: 夏色あさがおレジデンス
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut title for Kuuchuu Caricature, a new brand under Visual Arts. Kei was asked by his osananajimi Akuru to help her with something. The Fuminoe Academy’s executive council had decided that the dormitory where she was living, Asagao-ryou, would be closed down starting that day. He thought that she was going to ask for his help in moving, but actually she wanted him to join her opposition towards the plan, the ‘ATM (Asagao-ryou o Tokoton Mamorinuku) resistance’, and occupy the dormitory.

I guess the occupy movement has moved into eroge now. Note that there’s an bracon imouto subchar, but they totally miscast the seiyuu for her. How can you screw up a bracon imouto!? Don’t really care for the art (which is bad) and the story is too ridiculous for me to take seriously (and it’s bad and made no sense in the trial). I do kinda want to try cutting cabbage with a chainsaw though…

Saving dormitories are right up there with student councils and clubs as some of the most cliche setups for plots in eroge, if you truly do read it for the stories then probably best to move along.

Gurenka

Company: エスクード (Escu:de)
Game site: 紅蓮華－ぐれんか－
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
Ryouji lives in the secluded mountain town of Sakai-chou. One day, he received a message on his answering machine not to let anyone into the house no matter who it was. In addition, there was something about the letter on the table, but he couldn’t understand all of it due to the static. He opened the letter anyway and inside was a old sepai-coloured letter, with a strange mark that he recalled seeing at the local abandoned shrine. There was a large stone in the middle and when he approached it, he heard a female voice and he felt a pain in his chest. Returning later due to curiosity, he noticed that the emblem on the stone was glowing. All of a sudden, he was dragged into a dark world and a naked girl Kuon was standing in front of him. She was a spirit that was sealed within the stone hundreds of years ago and she decided to thank him by tearing him to pieces and eating him. Just as suddenly, they were back in the real world and all his injuries were healed. It appeared that he had gained her powers which were within the keystone and so he was thrust into battle to retrieve all the broken shards. What is the other world and the village legend which has been passed down? He set out with Kuon and three other girls to seek the truth.

Artist and writer are Nekonyan from GIGA and Kizuki (Sinsemilla, Concerto Note), respectively, so expectations are high for this one. It uses the same flow chart system (story explorer system) as the Applique titles. I’m not really sure what to think about the story – seems like there’ll be lots of action with all this other world stuff. Kuon isn’t the man-eating demon that she’s said to be (at least in the real world), but more like a curious child in a world new to her (sometimes). No imoutos here, but I do like the osananajimi Fumika and the mysterious Elsrise.

This game is one of those that is hard to judge well before it comes out, though personally I remain cautiously optimistic towards it. The base makes you want to know more so as long as the writing holds up, which chances are decent that it will given one of the better writers in the industry is involved. However who is writing and whether the plot is good or the characters are great is all meaningless till they are brought together in the actual product, and for such a game the background of the setting will be important for tying it all together. Definitely my top pick this month despite the potential minefield the story wades through.

Sangokuhime 2 ~Tenchi Tairan Ransei ni Kirameku Arata na Haryuu~

Company: unicorn-a / げーせん18 (unicorn-a / Ge-sen18)
Game site: 三極姫2 ～天地大乱・乱世に煌く新たな覇龍～
Release date: June 29, 2012 Delayed to July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the sequel to Gesen18’s 2010 SLG title Sangokuhime. After playing Koihime, it is the only Romance of the Three Kingdoms VN adaptation I will ever think of. This game has more characters (over 350), but they didn’t turn all the generals into female counterparts (only 53). The system seems to be better than Koihime‘s jankenpon one, but I’m not really in the mood for conquering the country.

Sequels like fandisks make me happy, those who want to play know already and thus let me get back to TERA faster.

Hatsukoi 1/1

Company: tone work’s
Game site: 初恋1/1（いちぶんのいち）
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by tone work’s and Visual Art’s 20th anniversary title. Yuuma is a second year student at the prestigious public school Hoshioka Gakuen. It is known for offering a fulfilling school life, but he has yet to experience love and spends his days lacking any satisfaction. He hasn’t made any progress with his classmates nor his osananajimi. All he can do is look at his love interest, the student council leader Midori, from a distance.

One day, he saw her with a troubled face. It seemed that the remaining members of the school cafeteria improvement committee had resigned. After giving it some thought, he volunteered to lead the committee. After that fateful moment, his surroundings became a lot more lively and before long, his first love had blossomed.

The game’s concept is to focus on the lovey-dovey relationship that one yearns for, because the confession isn’t the goal, but only the start. Similar to LoverAble, it includes sending and receiving texts via cell phone as part of the experience. They’ve even included a love song for each heroine. Obviously the story doesn’t sound like anything new, but so long as they do a good job of pulling it off, then I have no problem with it. The huge 1.5 gb trial was quite fun and relaxing to play and spent plenty of time introducing each heroine. There’s many times when I’m playing a trial and it gets boring at a certain point, but I thought this one was quite well paced. Of course the art is really pretty to look at and the heroines are charming, especially Runa the imouto-like kouhai osananajimi. That’s like all my favourite types grouped together. But I like all the other heroines too. This is definitely one of the titles I’d recommend for this month.

Pretty standard formula, which in this case does not seem to be all that bad, again as Micchi stated if they manage to pull it off well enough. Shouldn’t be too hard to do with a simple and cliche setup so as long as you aren’t looking for anything new beyond the standard formula this game will likely be a good pick for this month.

Namima no Kuni no Faust

Company: bitterdrop
Game site: 波間の国のファウスト
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the first game by bitterdrop. Ritsuya still remembered the time when he looked at the blue sky with his osananajimis: Tsugumi laughing and waving, Nagi pouting and turning the other way, butting heads with Kazuhiko while Hakua quietly smiled. Now three years later, he returned to Naojima, the most prosperous island in the world, to take part in the largest candidacy examination for fund managers. Unknown to him, he was up against his childhood friends Kazuhiko and Nagi, who both resenting him leaving his friends behind for the sake of money. Tsugumi wished that it would be possible for them to be friends like in the past, but that is something that even money couldn’t buy.

Money always trumps friendships, right? The plot is certainly interesting since even though they look like high schoolers, it’s more about backhanded tactics in a dog-eat-dog business world. It’s seriously business I tell ya. I like the art by Odawara Haneko (Sinsemilla, Tsukumo) and the two trials were well-paced, so it’s worth a look at in this busy month.

I agree with Micchi about them looking too young for the theme here though other than that it is nice to see a different setting explored at least a little bit with the financial world being the main theme. Of course as with most games I don’t expect them to go the extra mile with their setting and economics to truly immerse the reader in the setting, mostly since they were lazy with the island idea. So really I would say this is likely to be a story more about friendship and how the real world can be a divisive factor for long term friendships as kids grow up and make their way.

Maou no Kuse ni Namaiki da!

Company: ラグジュアリー (Luxury)
Game site: 魔王のくせに生イキだっ！
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Luxury after their name change from Tactics Luxury. Kuranosuke has reached his 30th birthday, becoming a ‘magician’ (sadly) and ‘celebrating’ with his 2D waifu Kanata. Then a bishoujo who called herself ‘maou’ came out of his monitor! It appeared that he could become the legendary ‘most powerful magician’ who is greatly sought after by the four maou who wished to unite the demon world. In order to become the ‘most powerful magician’, he needed to train his vitality by having lots of sex.

Have faith, my friends! Don’t lose hope, my brothers! Your dreams could still come true! I’m still awaiting the day when my long-separated twin imouto shows up at my door. This is 100% nukige, but I like the playfulness of the OP and the console RPG-like interface, complete with bubble emotes.

Another terrible demon girl based game this month, at least while its just as blatantly a nukige they took the time to poke a little fun at the characters and audience along the way, so of the two I would say this is likely the better game. Of course being a nukige I still have zero interest in reading a story the plot of which could be contained within your average poem.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Hatsukoi 1/1
2. 1/2 summer
3. Astraythem

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Gurenka
2. Namima no Kuni no Faust
3. Astraythem

I wonder what’s going to be the next anime that gets parodied in eroge…

Kimi to Boku yaoi game I hope.