July 2012 Eroge Releases

I hope you love imoutos because there’s not one, not two, but THREE imouto-ge this month: Sphere’s Imouto no Katachi, Silver Bullet’s IMO-bilizer! and Latte’s Dainikai Imouto Senbatsu☆Sousenkyo! FAVORITE’s Irotoridori no Hikari will provide Shinku fans with all the icharabu that they want, in addition to a route for her imouto Ai. There’s also a baka imouto in Nounai Kanojo’s Yomejuu! and you’re tasked with saving your ‘imouto’ from the end of the world in Cotton Soft’s Owaru Sekai to Birthday. You could also save humanity in AkabeiSoft3’s Sousei Kitan Aerial, but imoutos take priority of course.

What a lame month, I know it’s summer and all so people tend to get out more and flagship titles are almost never released, but wow even by my standards where most months aren’t so great, this stands out as a particularly bad month. Sure there are a fair number of titles to choose from with a seemingly wide range of settings and characters but everything is just so sub par I have trouble believing even fans of certain genres would have difficulty enjoying many of these titles.

Guilty Crown Lost Xmas

Company: ニトロプラス (Nitro+)
Game site: ギルティクラウン ロストクリスマス
Release date: July 26, 2012
Comments:
This is an all-ages title which takes place during the “Lost Christmas” incident, ten years before the setting for the Guilty Crown anime. In 2029, an experimental subject codenamed ‘Scrooge’ escaped from a certain research facility. He was a powered up version of a past failed work and used the ‘powers’ which he was given to eliminate those that were chasing after him. During his escape, he met a strange girl named Carol who was also an experimental subject. Surrounded by his pursuers, the three ‘ghosts’ Present, Past and Yet to Come, Carol told him to ‘use her until she’s about to break’ and took his right hand and thrust it into her chest. There was a bright light and a strange weapon came out of her body. What hidden power lies within Scrooge’s right hand?

It doesn’t seem like you need to have watched the anime, as this takes place earlier in the timeline. Of course, you’d appreciate it more if you have done so. The short trailer was pretty nice with good music and animation, although I wish they’d show more than just the events from the synopsis. Heck, even the PV felt like it had more. It seems to be tailored for fans of the series.

Nitro+ of late feels reminiscent of a rich girl who; conceited with her status and made some bad decisions that put her family in debt, causing a drastic and classic fall from grace which has led to her being paid to provide sexual favors for the middle aged perverts who used to work for her. Of course this may not completely reflect their current state but given how lacking their last few years of games have been they have certainly fallen far. Given the nature of the game itself and the silliness of the entire premise only the blindest of Nitro+ fanboys, emo teens, or your typical brain dead weeaboo could find this an exciting prospect for a visual novel.

PV

-atled- everlasting song

Company: FLAT
Game site: -atled- everlasting song
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is an 18+ renewal version of the 2008 doujin game of the same name. Aoba is a street musician who is best friends with Machi, a fellow orphan. Their dream is to give a performance, with Aoba singing to Machi’s piano accompaniment. However, one day Machi fell down the stairs at school and seriously injured her hands. Still hoping that their mutual dream wasn’t lost, Aoba seeked out a book in the library which was rumoured to grant any wish. She performed a ceremony to revert time to before Machi’s injury, but instead ended up in a time before she was born.

While the scenario writer (Itsukihara Shin) is still the same as the well-received doujin version, the character design has been updated by FLAT’s artist Hayakawa Rinta. If you haven’t played the original, it’s worth checking this out. It uses the same engine as LOSE’s Monobeno and includes a bunch of insert songs (some good, some not so-good). The trial includes pretty much all of the first chapter (out of 3 in total) and the story is well-written, although there’s a few dull parts in the middle. It’s nice, but I’m not sure if there’s enough new content to warrant a full-priced game.

Wow!…..                                   Boring.

Faint Tone

Company: リオン (Reon)
Game site: Faint Tone
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut title by Reon. Yuuya was just your typical guy living a very ordinary life. However, that all changed one day with his parent’s sudden announcement that they’ll be living apart. Faced with his first life choice, should he follow his father or his mother? Should he remain in the city and continuing living this normal life, or head to the countryside and maybe find the girl that he often appeared in his dreams? After giving it some thought, he decided to lead lives in both places. Meeting the girls who were waiting for him in each place, he slowly began to remember the faint memories from his childhood, including that most precious person from his past.

You’re given a choice of following either the city route (Otoha and Suzume) or the rural route (Koito and Rua). Considering how Suzume is extremely badly drawn and the most stereotypical modern tsundere you can find (aside from the hair colour), I’d choose the rural route in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an option in the trial. The BGMs were repetitive to the point that I got sick of them after a few seconds, which says a lot. There’s also a problem with Otoha’s voices being delayed since they start after the text has entirely showed up. It feels like Faint Tone is two different stories put together since the heroines probably don’t show up much in the other side. Considering the art nor the story are any good, I’ll be definitely passing on this. I think the best thing are the OP songs; I could listen to the city version for quite some time.

Interesting idea in letting you choose the setting by allowing you to choose a parent to side with. Like most good ideas in eroge however to actually see this used in a well written and entertaining manner we will have to wait until someone with talent for writing steals the idea.

Well, not like you’ll see much of either parent no matter which side you choose.

Indeed, parents are mythical creatures in eroge, no one wants them around to get in the way I suppose, too hard to write…

Rewrite Harvest festa!

Company: key
Game site: Rewrite Harvest festa！
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the all-ages fandisk for Rewrite, offering both after stories and if stories (from parallel worlds) for the six heroines. The spinoff stories follow the theme of a ‘harvest festival’, the time to celebrate.

It’s not often that you see a fandisk that isn’t based around more H scenes for your favourite heroines. Guess we’ll have more ichaicha time and fanservice scenes instead.

Now if only someone could Rewrite history to keep this travesty from being made, perhaps ensuring the abortion of certain writers along the way I would embrace this title with open arms. Unfortunately it seems this is unlikely and key will have to remain as dead to me as Nitro+. Such a shame when companies abandon the things that made them what they are in favor of a slow decline as their name fades into a mockery of its former self.

Tiny Dungeon ~BRAVE or SLAVE~

Company: ロゼブル (Rosebleu)
Game site: Tiny Dungeon～BRAVE or SLAVE～
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the fourth and final game in the Tiny Dungeon series. It picks up from the end of the third game Birth for Yours with the introduction of Camisia in the fourth world different from the previous three games where Hime chose one of the three doors for Vell, Note or Uluru.

This should interest Zen as I believe he’s one of the few that stuck with the series. I’ve just been watching videos of Opera-san raving about Uluru.

I have sort of kept up with the series but ever since the first game I knew there would have to be a forth to get me to keep reading. As it is finally here I suppose I will catch up on the series when I have some time. The games themselves are not really special on their own but were a pleasantly enjoyable surprise with how well written the character interaction and dialogues were, enough to make up for a lack of real substance to the story.

Irotoridori no Hikari

Company: FAVORITE
Game site: いろとりどりのヒカリ
Release date: July 27, 2012 Delayed to August 31, 2012
Comments:
This is the much anticipated fandisk for Irotoridori no Sekai, featuring the icharabu and heartful Shinku after story. Now finally together in a new world, Yuuma begins living with Shinku. Even though they both love each other greatly, they become flustered when they try to convey their feelings across. There’s also after stories for the other four heroines, along with a side episode for Shinku’s imouto, Ai.

Yes, Ai route!!! With more Kyou, Tsukasa, Ren and of course Shinku, this fandisk is definitely gonna sell like hotcakes. FAVORITE didn’t disappoint me with the Hoshimemo fandisk, so my expectations are high for this one. Can’t wait for more Shinku and Ai! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Meeeh.

Supocon! ~SPORTSWEAR COMPLEX~

Company: アストロノーツ・アリア (Astronauts Alya)
Game site: すぽコン！～SPORTSWEAR COMPLEX～
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Astronauts Alya. Tatsuya excelled at all sports during his school years. Now instead of being an athlete, he trains to be a coach at his former teacher’s school Josho Gakuen. However, the leader of the swimming club Katsumi tried to seduce him in order to improve her results by any means. He opposed her actions, but could it be that the elite players from other clubs also have the same plan!?

This is a sports-based harem nukige and it’s only here because there’s tennis outfits. Good for you Tatsuya, all that practice has upped your strength and endurance. You can’t lose to a bunch of girls now, can you?

I care little for sportswear of any sort and I care even less for nukige, so unlike a certain someone who can be so easily enticed by some fibers wrapped around flesh in a certain manner, I’ll pass.

Well, nukige generally have some theme, and I’d rather it be sports outfits than something like NTR.

Fair enough, though since its just a CG set anyway, i don’t see why they bother with the games, a lot of extra, meaningless effort.

Imouto no Katachi

Company: スフィア (Sphere)
Game site: イモウトノカタチ
Release date: July 27, 2012 Delayed to August 31, 2012
Comments:
Yukito doesn’t have a single relative after a great flood which claimed the lives of his parents when he was small. That was also when his imouto went missing. One day, he happened to hear in the news that the past records pertaining to the disaster would be available to the public for the 15th anniversary of the event. He decided to return to his hometown of Kugumi-shi, holding on to the belief that if he checked those records he might be able to reunite with his long lost imouto that he only faintly remembers.

Yukito is not just a tennen. He is a super tennen. THE tennen. I don’t think I’ve seen a protagonist so lacking common sense in my life. However, he passes the oniichan test with flying colours. When asked what he would do once he reunites with his imouto, he said he would embrace her and then give her a passionate kiss. That’s our role model, brothers! There was a secret heroine, Mayuki, which wasn’t revealed until quite recently. Could it be that she’s his imouto? Or maybe Miyuki? Or maybe Chimari… oh wait, she already is one. Maybe they all are imoutos, including MeTA, who’s actually the robot clone of his imouto (*my imagination). True happiness made from love.

Alas, his sister is dead to the world and him, oh well time to move on! Or so I would have liked it to go, instead we get to play Russian roulette with siblings hoping we land on an empty chamber when its time to pick a route. There couldn’t be much worse than landing on the true little sister route after you are locked in, unless of course you find out she really did die and none of them are, whew that would be a nice save. Given this is Sphere however I will sooner bet on a cheap story that does little to bring out the characters in favor of glorified sister fanservice appeal to those who allow themselves to be duped by visual moe linked to the word “Imouto” hook line and sinker.

この中に１人、妹がいる！

Pajama-san Konnichiwa

Company: EMU
Game site: パジャマさんこんにちは
Release date: July 27, 2012 Delayed to September 28, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. 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.

Yomejuu!

Company: 脳内彼女 (Nounai Kanojo)
Game site: ヨメ充！
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
After the passing of his mother, Eiji became the owner of Hakuyoudou, a store for old books. Spending his days studying and working, he was unsure if he was satisfied with such a life, even if his osananajimi Ikuno helps out around the house and he’s worked to death looking after his imouto Shiori. Suddenly one day, a princess Lieselotte came to his house, kissed him on the lips and proclaimed that she’s his fiancée, causing an enraged Ikuno to slap him in the face (with raw steaks and fish). With his trickster trap friend Kanata, mysterious Kouzaki-senpai, ultra-negative maid Donnerstag and other peculiar characters in tow – what lies ahead for him?

Unlike Nounai Kanojo’s previous gem Josou Sanmyaku, there is only one trap in this game. Too bad. But the comedy is still top notch, much like Asa Project’s titles. The aho imouto is of course adorable (her first impression was great), but the puchigire osananajimi is not something that you see often. Nor the guy friend that doesn’t even a sprite and is ignored by everyone since they don’t see him. Play this for the slapstick comedy and nothing more. And remember the 3 laws: 1) the transfer student is always a bishoujo; 2) an older brother’s virginity is always taken by his imouto; and, 3) the childhood frie-

Why is it that most eroge protagonist get everything except for parents? Gamewise I get the impression this is a better written and better drawn version of Your Diary. Not likely to win any awards for a compelling story, character designs, nor a unique and innovative setting this is nevertheless the perfect month for such a game to come out, being surrounded by so much garbage makes compost look that much more appealing.

Furuiro Meikyuu Rondo ~HISTOIRE DE DESTIN~

Company: Yatagarasu
Game site: 古色迷宮輪舞曲 ～HISTOIRE DE DESTIN～
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from May. Yukito worked part-time at a tea house called the Fairy Tale Forest at the corner of a quiet residential street. Fairy tales and picture books, along with music boxes lined the antique interior with the sweet aroma of black tea in the air. One day, a giant wooden box was delivered to the store. Inside were a lot of bunny dolls… and a mysterious silver-haired red-eyed girl. The girl Saki told him that the wheel of fate was out of whack and that he will die after one week and that he will bring misfortune to anyone near him. While he did not believe her at first, accidents happened around him just like she had warned. Will he be able to fix the wheel of fate before the week is up?

This is a mystery ADV where you have to avoid the bad end. To make it difficult, there are no save options and the game autosaves. There are no choices to be made, but rather you have to use keywords that you collect over the course of the game to initiate conversations. Characters affected by the wheel of fate have a fate parameter may be lowered depending on your keyword usage. They die when their fate parameter reaches zero, which I guess you want to avoid. You’ll probably have to go through a few bad ends in order to solve the mystery, à la Higurashi. Of course you could use a walkthrough, but why not take the challenge and solving it yourself?

I must say I do like the idea of being able to kill off characters you don’t like, one can only hope that it won’t negatively affect the routes of the characters you do like however. On the other hand it will be exceedingly difficult to pull off a story like this successfully, the complexities involved in a story involving fate and changing it are not something easy to account for. Given the method of change which is reasonably the use of words for a simple game I think part of the appeal is lost when it becomes about collecting and using said words. Though more difficult from the creators perspective, giving the reader the chance to select words from conversations completely on their own to dictate the path of the game would involve the reader in the mystery more. Allowing for failure with such a system would give you knowledge of what happened and a second more obvious way to change things, leaving the story to be told in a less superficial manner that still involves the same plot elements. As is though it is my opinion that the game is structured in too linear a fashion to take proper advantage of its own system, relegating something that could have been interesting to a potentially annoying gimmick that attempts to make a story interesting beyond its own merits.

While that idea is quite interesting, I’d assume it would be a lot harder to design and implement. Baby steps.

Even babies need something to strive for, the most successful companies are willing to discard the training wheels and jump at opportunity rather than fade into the mists of obscurity.

Update: I tried playing the trial. It was bugged, so I patched it. Then I got stuck and ragequitted. The system was a good idea, but damn is it annoying. They really need to fix their bugs before release.

Kurenai Kagura

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debonosu)
Game site: 紅神楽 -くれないかぐら-
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
The link between the human world and the youkai world has weakened in recent times. The demon-vanquishing Isami visited the Takemori shrine deep in the mountains, carrying a talking rock, who is actually a youkai Masaru who had been sealed inside. The miko sisters Mamori and Inori told them about recent events that they thought were caused by the youkai. They were sent to investigate, but instead found Himawari, the youngest of the three oni siblings who lived in the nearby castle stronghold. She accused Masaru of being a traitor and killing his own father, who was the past leader, three years ago. Isami reluctantly released the seal on him so that they can repel the youkai forces. After doing so, they continue to proceed towards the castle stronghold in order to bring peace to the area, and also for Masaru to clear his name.

This is the latest in the roguelike tactical SRPG series. The objective of each battle is to capture all the spirit circles or defeat the boss. You lose if monsters take over all the circles or Masaru dies. If either Mamori or Isami is defeated, then you’ll be treated to an H scenes with some ugly monster raping them. The system has also been updated where you can capture weakened enemy youkai and raise them as your allies. Since it’s tile-based, I keep on wanting to pick up stuff and throw them.

Lame story with simplified RPG gameplay, why I or anyone else would want to play this baffles me.

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: July 27, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. 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.

Tokeijikake no Ley-Line ~Tasogaredoki no Kyoukaisen~

Company: ユニゾンシフト：ブロッサム (UnisonShift:Blossom)
Game site: 時計仕掛けのレイライン -黄昏時の境界線-
Release date: June 29, 2012
Comments:
Michiru is a new student at the private boarding school Tenbinruri Gakuen, which is located deep in the mountains and has a towering clock tower. On his first day, he was caught up in some trouble with another new student Kotarou and ended up breaking the expensive-looking statue at the school’s entrance. As compensation, the headmistress Fuhito assigned them to work for the school’s special investigation unit.

Having not received any other information except for a unhelpful map, they had a hard time finding the office room. As night approaches, the student council members ushered all the students to the dorms. They came upon a girl Ushio, who apathetically told them magic exists within the school and when the bells of the clock tower chime, the ‘night world’ will appear. They didn’t believe what she said until they saw it happen in front of their own eyes. Ushio was part of the unit they were looking for, whose job is to solve any magic-related problems which arise.

Fuhito is nuts, Neko-chan is delusional and there’s hints of chuunibyou scattered throughout. The trial was pretty entertaining, although I could only see them going from solving one problem to another. It’d be nice to know more about Michiru’s past and why he is now afraid of fire. Speaking of Micchi, he’s so cool! Can’t open a door? Just kick a hole through it! No wonder Neko-chan is so in awe of him.

Looking at Michiru and Kotarou, I can’t help but see FH‘s Hotaru-chan and Souryuu. But considering that the art isn’t drawn by Itou Noizi, that’s probably just coincidence. I think the game should be decent, but it feels odd playing a UnisonShift Blossom game that isn’t drawn by Itou Noizi though….

A plot this flimsy definitely takes a company not suited for anything with a story and is a recipe for disaster. A moege company should just stick to what they do and not bother trying anything else, these games usually have likable characters yet force you to trudge through plots terrible enough to make you rip your hair out in frustration. Sure there may be some interesting elements to any game. However the same could be said for randomly hitting a string of keys into a search engine, unless it forms a cohesive whole that brings about a plot worth reading and investing the time in I don’t understand why they waste their time, money, and more importantly our time spent reading to produce something sub par. Even more so when its a company that almost always copy pastes the most cliche of plot elements, settings, and stories from other eroge, but fails so utterly when they try something without a cheat sheet that I cannot see this game as an intelligent business decision. Sales will probably be good on this game itself but will also likely make their next game look more questionable unless they do a superb job on it. Then again the people who play their games only care if the characters are cute looking, say words like “Onii chan” and have some form of transparent character anomaly to give that one dimensional being some added flavor. Additionally they tend to be more willing to sit through writing that would make an primary school teacher grimace for the sake of seeing said characters spread their legs. So, it just may do quite well!

PV

Owaru Sekai to Birthday

Company: コットンソフト (Cotton Soft)
Game site: 終わる世界とバースデイ
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
On September 29, 2012, the world will end. The majority of people did not believe in this internet rumour, but many were still apprehensive as the date approached. Kazuomi was not one of these people. To him, the most important thing is to protect his late best friend Touya’s imouto Iri who had mistaken him as her own brother since Touya’s death in a motorcycle accident two years ago. Later, his classmate Mikaeru enlisted him into her unofficial circle, the ‘9.29 countermeasures group’, which investigates whether or not the rumours are true and plans ways to prevent the end of the world. September 29 is fast approaching. It is the date when Touya died, and also Iri’s birthday.

There’s a killer on the loose! We must protect the imouto at all costs! Cotton Soft takes a sharp turn from their usual titles and presents us with a mysterious one with bloody bad ends and an apocalyptic story. They also use a Texi (Tenkuutown Exchange Information) SNS where messages pop up throughout the game. I find it’s pretty interesting and fun to follow since you can read other character’s reactions ‘real-time’ and they also have their own messaging styles. As for whether the world will actually end on September 29th? You just have to wait 3 more months to find out!

I would prefer the world ended July 26, 2012 to prevent this game from releasing, but maybe that’s just me. Under the assumption there is no godlike being kind enough to answer my prayers and this game will in fact release I would like to point out the silliness of a bunch of random high school brats trying to figure out a world ending disaster then prevent it. Considering that is pretty much the entirety of the plot with some H scenes thrown in for good ero measure, I don’t understand why they don’t simply kill the little sister at the start, skip all the boring most likely poorly written nonsense about a theme better suited to an Akatsuki studio. At least then the readers would be getting what they wanted without what they don’t, right?

You’d be pleased to know that that’s one of the early bad ends.

I believe you are pronouncing that wrong, you say it like this : Good End or perhaps True End may be acceptable to some dialects.

Or as Misaki would say: GOD end!

Sousei Kitan Aerial

Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: 創世奇譚アエリアル
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
In the year 2040, global warming had caused the poles, glaciers and mountain ice caps to melt and submerging the entire world. The surviving 100,000 inhabitants now live aimlessly on the man-made Aquapolice City which floats on top of the ocean. Lately, they have come under attack from an unidentified robotic life-form called SPOOK. It is up to the Aquapolice air defense force to repel the invaders, but their overwhelming numbers are too much and gradually they are being pushed towards defeat and annihilation. That’s when a mysterious girl Nagi appeared with the super-weapon robot GrandBlue Aerials.

A single boy thrust into battle, entrusted with the fate of humanity. Throw in giant robots, savage unidentified enemies, tragic deaths and sacrifices. It’s a set-up that’s tried and true (Muv-Luv Alternative anyone?). Coming from AkabeiSoft3, I’m sure that the story will be well written, although the technobabble is a bit excessive in my opinion. For someone who loves military stuff, they would be thrilled to be able to know the specs of all the planes, helicopters, aircraft carriers, etc, but I honestly don’t care. There’s plenty of battles and the action is well depicted and keeps you on the edge of you seat, so no matter what your preferences are, I think there’s something here for everyone.

Ok so the world is a giant swimming pool a few feet too deep, fine I’ll bite, at least this time the end of the world isn’t so shallow and somewhat plausible. Well, ya know other than the fact there kind of isn’t enough water to flood it to that extent but lets not get bogged down in obvious facts here, they had an eroge to write! And what a game it is! We have a dying world with a city that just happened to be function as a Noah’s ark for humanity just in time for fourty days and fourty nights of … well melting? Makes me wonder if they even dealt with the potential difficulties of the food supply, fuel for power, freshwater, the likely shift in climate and massive storm systems? Oh well, who cares when you have ero content, right? Still lacking something though, semi functional apocalyptic settings are nice, H scenes are a guaranteed selling point, and throw in some characters based on a few popular archetypes almost completes it but still lacking something what could it be… OH, I know! Mahou shoujo. When all is said and done this is a mahou shounen using a mecha instead of a wand and a cute girl instead of a cubey, or qubey, or QB or whatever that retarded rodent was called. Trying to bury the childish power rangers esque magical girl plot underneath some references to modern military hardware that anyone interested would already know about from better sources, and those not interested would be bored to read about is all well and good but this does little to make the setting or story more fascinating. Even more of an issue is that most of the current military tech even those scheduled for the longest service lives are only set to be maintained to 2040 or so already. Add in the world ending and I am pretty sure they would not put effort into something like oh lets say making sure to preserve their forces of b2 bombers on the sole surviving outpost for humanity? Which this means is that any reference they use is just going to be made up bull anyway, so what was the point of bothering with such details in the first place? Well if you enjoy stories about a young boy using his magical robot powers to defend humanity from the forces of evil… other robots as their lone savior only to find out in some twist that his magical robot powers come from the same source and are destined to fight each other forever or some such nonsense, you should love the game.

Dainikai Imouto Senbatsu☆Sousenkyo ~365-nin no Imouto Icharabu Gojitsudan~

Company: Latte
Game site: 第2回妹選抜☆総選挙 ～365人の妹いちゃラブ後日談～
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Imosen adding the 366th imouto Artemisia! One month after the harem end, a coalition was formed with Kikka as the leader of the imouto council. Then the 366th imouto appeared as their teacher. She also started up a new party (Tachiagare Imoutou) advocating an imouto harem and happiness for all. With the coalition and the new party facing off in a dissolution election, things are lively as always at Tachibana Gakuen!

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke when they announced the FD, but I guess they had to make one since there wasn’t an imouto for February 29 yet. Thank you, leap year. In addition to the new story continuing from the harem route, there’s also after stories for Yotsuha, Matsuri, Hiiragi and Kikka (along with their party members). I’m definitely gonna throw my support behind Artemisia (Aru) this time though. How can you go wrong with a manifesto that vows to create an imouto harem, bringing happiness for all? Not to mention her bunny outfit is the cutest thing ever! And so much pink! Imoutos are the best!! Imoutos are the best!!

Most fandisks make me glad, but this one makes me sad, I sure wish little sisters were just a fad.

There have been little sisters since the dawn of time.

So maybe it is time to let go?

Chou Dengeki Stryker

Company: OVERDRIVE
Game site: 超電激ストライカー
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is a power-up version of OVERDRIVE’s electrifying heroic saga Dengeki Stryker, adding three new stories for Rin, Hiruko and new character Kurie. There’s also new characters, animation, OP/ED, sprites and event CGs. Didn’t play the original, so nothing really to say here.

Wonderful. Fantastic. Delightful. I give it two thumbs up and game of the year for a release I don’t even have to think about writing for, thanks OVERDRIVE!

Bishoujo Mangekyo -Wasurenagusa to Eien no Shoujo-

Company: ωstar
Game site: 美少女万華鏡 -忘れな草と永遠の少女-
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
This is the second chapter of the Bishoujo Mangekyo series. Akihito was once a cheerful and lively boy, but now he often skipped school and became distant with his past friends. The main reason was because he hasn’t heard from his osananajimi and first love Shizuku since she moved away and he felt betrayed by her. One day, Shizuku reappeared before him and their relationship takes an unforeseen turn.

Most of you played the first game for Happoubi Jin’s erotic art and this time they’ve made the breasts jiggle as well. I hope you’re thrilled. No vampires here though.

Ah the subtle ripples of motion conveyed by supple, gelatinous objects undergoing the forces of inertia will always have a soft spot in most male, and some female hearts. What better way to celebrate the joys of excessive reactionary forces upon fantasy female flesh than to bring the endless bouncing formerly reserved for fighting games and MMOs into our eroge? Obvious gimmicks aside this is pretty blatantly more about the artwork than the story itself.

Hin wa Bokura no Fuku no Kami ~Binbou no Kami-sama datte Shiawase ni Naritai to Omotteiru no da~

Company: ボンボンカンパニー (bonbon-company)
Game site: 貧は僕らの福の神 ～貧乏の神さまだって幸せになりたいと思っているのだ～
Release date: July 27, 2012 Delayed to August 24, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut work by bonbon-company. A beautiful girl Yoshino transferred to Touju Gakuen, attracting the attention of many boys at the school. But rumours spread that any boy that gets near her will fall into financial misfortune and they began to distance themselves from her. Some kind girls offered a helping hand, but were struck extremely hard into poverty. Soon she found herself isolated.

However, Yoshino’s curse doesn’t scare Daichi – he’s already as poor as he could be. She wondered if he was fated to be with her and revealed herself as the god of poverty. She used to be a zashiki-warashi and believed that if the aura of poverty around her were to be completely cleansed, then she would return to normal. He agreed to help her out by staying by her side so that no incidents would happen, but she also wanted him to help those girls who she had unwillingly cursed. Thus begins his life together with bishoujos at the run-down Sanshunkan dormitory.

I have a confession to make: When I saw ‘hin’ in the title, I thought it was gonna be full of hinnyuu. I was disappointed. Yet another game where the imouto subchar is more appealing than any of the heroines. Unfortunately, the trial takes place prior to Yoshino’s transfer to the school, so it’s just introducing the characters. Aya is the best of course, even though she’s pretty typical. Not really anything that stands out for a new company. Not the best way to debut.

God of poverty seems to be the “In” thing now among the stories centered around shinto gods. I have been seeing this a lot in just about every medium, I guess the appeal lies in a god with a nature that keeps them more isolated and thus easier to take advantage of or write a relationship about by having the protagonist be their lone crutch and lifeline emotionally. Other than their lazy choice in character designs to produce an easily manipulated attachment to build from, the rest of this game reeks of mediocrity. I agree with Micchi here, not the best way to make your entry known in the eroge market.

PV

Hiragumo-chan -Sengoku Gekokujou Monogatari-

Company: ライアーソフト (Liar-soft)
Game site: 平グモちゃん－戦国下剋上物語－
Release date: July 27, 2012
Comments:
In the merchant city of Sakai during the Sengoku period, the peddler Kyuu-chan spends his days sleeping after his wife left him. His senior Dou-san and his otouto Nagayori were worried about his future and organized a formal marriage interview with the daughter of the famous Jouou-san. He decided to attend to avoid losing face, but he fell in love with Hiragumo-chan at first sight and married her.

They start a new life together, but since his credibility as a merchant was lost during his dark days, he couldn’t find a job. Nagayori recommended that he work for his lord Miyoshi Nagayoshi. Nagayoshi took interest in Kyuu-chan and made him a samurai under his command. Will he be able to survive in his new role during this period of strife!?

This story is (very roughly) based on the tale of Matsunaga Hisahide and his prized teapot, Hiragumo. That’s right, Hiragumo-chan is an anthropomorphic teapot. Even the other heroines are teacups. The game is partly voiced (both male and female) and is an SLG where you are in charge of what to focus on, whether it be working on internal affairs, training the military, maintaining citizen loyalty or expanding your assets. You also need to manage your own stress levels and the lords’ favourability meter. I don’t think I know enough about this tale to appreciate what I read during the trial (or maybe it was just boring). Hiragumo-chan is cute though. Hiragumo-chan GO~!

Leave it to Liar soft to come up with a game about loving teapots. I do like the setting however, and the idea is interesting as most of their games tend to be, as is the management side of things, but at the same time I cannot feel as though I would want to play this game. I think it is the combination of poorly designed SLG with characters I am not all that fond of added to the lack of writing quality that usually kills most Liar games no matter how good the rest is. At least they try new things though and I always appreciate the companies that do so, if they ever managed to get some good or even decent writers to combine with their concepts they would be one of my favorite companies by far.

IMO-bilizer!

Company: Silver Bullet
Game site: 妹（いも）びらいざー！
Release date: July 27, 2012 Delayed to August 31, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. The protagonist has an imouto named Saki. She’s cute, great at studying and excels at sports… pretty much the perfect imouto. They aren’t closer than any normal siblings would be. It’s not like he’s a siscon nor she’s a bracon, or at least that’s what he thought. He wondered if he should fall in love with someone, perhaps his oneechan-like osananajimi Izumi, her baby-faced but big-breasted imouto Mizuumi, or maybe Saki’s cheeky tsundere best friend Yui. But something seemed to be missing. Something that, unbeknownst to him, had always been close to him.

Of course, the imouto is a closet bracon! *rewinds tape* Of course, the imouto is a closet bracon! Obvious Oreimo references aside, all four of the heroines appeal to me, so I’ll definitely be playing this.

Moe centric charage aimed at the Micchi demographic explains the entirety of this game nicely.

Micchi’s Top 4 for This Month

1. Irotoridori no Hikari
2. Imouto no Katachi
3. IMO-bilizer!
4. Dainikai Imouto Senbatsu☆Sousenkyo ~365-nin no Imouto Icharabu Gojitsudan~

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Nothing
2. Worth Playing
   
3. This Month
   

IMOUTOS☆!

SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Quitting imoutos Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health. Imoutos Cause Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, And May Complicate Pregnancy.

Imoutos are one addiction I will gladly live with.