Every time I complete a Diabolik Lovers game, even if I always end up enjoying it, I swear to myself: “this is the last chapter for me, the plot wraps up perfectly like this. It’s a good conclusion of the series. There’s nothing more to add, it’s over. I won’t buy another game, if it gets released!”.

But somehow, I can’t resist too much and sooner or later, I’ll come back to vampire hell.

And I never regret it!

So, even if I’m really late to the party, let’s talk about Chaos Lineage!

I won’t resume it, since I’m sure there are great translations and summaries already; let’s just talk briefly about the prologue, without many unnecessary details.

Yui lost her memory, she only remembers her new name: Eve.

When she wakes up in a random church, she meets Reiji, Kou, Laito and Ayato, who are fighting for her: apparently, who brings her home can be the new King of the Demon’s World (or whatever that place is called).

Everyone’s memories are so messed up, they forgot about their true identities and the classical division into Sakamaki, Mukami and Tsukinami doesn’t exist anymore: there are 3 different families and you can decide where you prefer to go.

This is how it looks now:

Scarlet Family: Reiji, Shu, Yuma, Kino;

Violet Family: Kou, Carla, Azusa, Subaru, Laito;

Orange Family: Shin, Ruki, Ayato, Kanato.

I was mostly curious about Kino, since he’s the character I spent less time with for obvious reasons, so I chose to live with the Scarlet Family first.

Reiji, Yuma and Shu’s interactions are kinda awkward to watch, if you consider what happened among them in their childhood; they are convinced to be real brothers here, so it’s a good chance to understand each other better.

They solved their dramatic issues in recent games anyway, but if you think about the events in the original game, you realize what an amazing character development each one of them went through.

Yet someone thinks Diabolik lovers is just plotless violence.

Anyway, let’s talk about Kino.

He still hates Karlheintz for neglecting him, so he wants revenge towards his brothers, who lived comfortably in their mansion while he was forced to survive among ghouls. Yes, we all remember that awful place, poor guy. He tries to make them doubt each other and eventually kill each other, but he fails miserably because their “brother bound” is stronger than memory loss.

Kinda clichè, but still appreciated. The last part of his route broke my heart, when Karlheintz pretended he didn’t know about him and he even said: “I only have 6 sons”, I felt my heart crushing into pieces. How can someone be so cold and cruel?! Obviously, I don’t believe him. And Kino deserves better.

I went for Yuuma next.

Despite my love for him, I have to admit that his route felt kinda plotless and useless: there was nothing memorable, it’s all about him trying to make his brothers remember their true identity.

I wish at least he would help Shu regaining his memory by using the Edgar card, but it didn’t happen; come on, writers! That’s nice fanservice, it’s easy for you and it moves me immediately, just use it when you can! This situation was perfect! I guess I’ll be forever disappointed.

Reiji should be one of the happiest while living there, he finally fulfills his dream to be the older brother! He becomes the head of the family, while ordering Shu around and being in charge of important decisions. That place is basically what he longed for his entire life!

I’m happy for him, since I stopped hating him after the first game, even if I can’t say he’s my type: his smartness and diligence can be attractive, if I were in Yui’s place I’d choose him for sure, but as a player I prefer more interesting characters, I’m not into cleaning rooms in games too.

Shu is always my best boy, my angel, my devil, my everything.

Ok, sorry, you know I’m biased, my opinion may be different from other people who can play this route without being grasped in a whirlpool of feelings.

Since I love his personality before and after (I mean, when he was scary at the beginning of the series and even recently, when he became softer), I enjoyed every moment we spent together, I just wished it would never end.

My personal highlight is the moment when he regained his memory, even if I can’t tell you exactly what happened to avoid spoilers; let’s just say, that when he’s desperate and doesn’t “want to lose his special person anymore”, I got teary eyed. That’s the kind of emotion I was looking for.

I think he also got the best CGs, when he kissed Yui’s forehead while sleeping, it was so beautiful I want to make it a huge wallpaper in my room.

But I need to stop now, I wrote so many spoilers already, I’m an horrible person………… I know, forgive my blind love PLEASE.

Now, to the Violet family.

Carla is the older brother and I felt like starting with him was the best choice.

Sadly, as expected, his attitude at first was really brutal: he was heartless like in Dark Fate until he regained his memory back, so going through that hell again was painful. But when he remembered his true identity and feelings, I enjoyed being by his side, I felt protected because he’s obviously the most powerful. He’s probably the most fit to be the next demon king.

Laito’s route was a wild ride, as I expected.

I knew it already, but meeting the “old” Laito, and slowly seeing him regain his memory, made obvious how much he changed, since he met Yui: he went from being a heartless rapist, to a person capable of true love and honest feelings.

I can’t believe that someone who could easily abuse a girl and have fun while giving her to others, was able to become a decent boyfriend! Yui true made a miracle.

Azusa was sweet as usual, I was sure he wasn’t going to harm Yui, even without his memory.

But what happened in this route surprised me a lot, that’s why I consider it the most interesting plot-wise: Azusa actually remembered it all even before the start, since this is apparently the 8th time this all happens! The previous 7 times ended badly (probably with everyone and Yui dying, so I guess Socrates had to reset it all) and since he knows what to avoid, he does his best to change it all.

The weirdest about this, is that I loved Kanato’s presence here! What happened to me?!

Subaru is sweet as always, the real husbando material of the game and probably the one who loves Yui the most in this series. He’s so desperate he would literally kill himself just to save her! Instead of killing other characters, he prefers to offer his life as a sacrifice to save them all. He’s so sweet, but also sad, I don’t even know what to say about him anymore. Oh yes, I can still say that I love him so much!

Kou was so sweet and sexy, for a moment I felt like cheating on my husbando Shu and choosing him as my favorite boy of this series; Shu won again, but it was a close call.

I’ve always loved Kou, since his awful childhood was told in More Blood and I cried for him.

Game after game, my affection for him increased, until he became undoubtedly my 2nd favorite.

But this game made me like him even more; he’s literally perfect, what else could I ask from a boyfriend? He was caring, romantic and also sexy. His interactions with Yui are amazing, their personalities fits perfectly and I love when he teases her, since she gets embarrassed, but she obviously enjoys that a lot. I want to see them happily married, their chemistry is amazing!

Now, the moment has come. Let’s dive into hell.

Let’s take a look at the Orange family for a bit, before talking about the individual routes.

Who the hell thought that Kanato, Ayato and Shin could be in the same family? Have they thought about the amount of abuse Yui is going to take, when she first joins that house? It’s insane!!

I was legit scared to enter that place.

I started with Shin, because I thought his devotion for his “brother” Ruki could save Yui, at least a bit; I’m glad I was right, he treated her decently to avoid being scolded by oniisan. Thank you Ruki for being a decent human being, I guess you’re the only one who is able to gain some respect there.

Anyway, I somehow survived Shin’s route without much damage, nothing really happened so let’s skip directly to Ayato.

You probably know my opinion about him, going through the first part of the game was really painful; poor Yui, when she’s with him she suffers a lot of abuse, but what’s even worse is that somehow she seems to consider it all as normal, to stay by his side.

Is it just me, or Yui looks the most pitiful and do-m with Ayato? But maybe it’s just a personal feeling, I know his behavior changes while falling in love with her. Maybe it’s still the awful aftertaste that More Blood left in me, I still can’t forgive him completely even if I try really hard.

Kanato’s route was a great surprise, I think it’s the first time in my life I actually enjoyed being his girlfriend: his possessiveness is useful in that house, it made me feel safe. Well, it didn’t stop Ayato’s violence, but at least Kanato did his best to save Yui from being treated like an object or food.

Probably, I got this nice feeling because Kanato gained back his memory almost immediately, so I could spare myself from his fork.

There were also moving family moments, when the triplets acted for the first time like real brothers who care for each other…. wow, it took like 7 games to get this far.

Ruki was another good surprise of Chaos Lineage.

I usually don’t like his serious and despotic attitude, but somehow he became sexier and even affectionate here, he repeatedly teased Yui and indulged in physical contact and a seductive voice.

What an improvement, from the previous games! I started this route ready to get bored, but it wasn’t the case at all. Nice to see him show some personality, instead of being Kalheintz’s forever slave.

Well, it was a long ride, but Chaos Lineage is over.

Do I recommend it?

I won’t lie, when I first read about the plot, with the memory loss clichè, I thought it was going to be stupid and the writers just ran out of decent ideas; but I take it back, somehow it worked out fine!

Anyway, it’s the typical Diabolik Lovers game, so if you love this series, you’ll enjoy this too; if you dislike it for various reasons, just play something else instead of spreading the hate.

Chaos Lineage doesn’t add anything to the overall plot, but it’s still interesting since you get to play the characters with their “old personalities”, with the awful attitude they had before falling in love with Yui; but then, when they recall their true identity, you can enjoy quality time with your vampire boyfriend.

For some characters, it really shows how much they changed since they first met Yui and I love when difficult characters have such a great character development, like Laito.

After a couple routes, everything becomes quite predictable, since everyone follows the same pattern: Yui gets her memory back first, after 6/7 chapters the guy remembers it all too, at the very end everyone realizes the truth and Socrates or Karlheintz come to the rescue.

It gets really repetitive after 13 routes, but this game is not based on a great plot, so I can’t expect more effort in writing.

The greatest surprise for me is that for the first time in my life I enjoyed Kanato’s route and I even grew to like him as a character, probably because he was always disgusted by everyone and everything and it’s honestly my feelings towards humanity too, lately. Anyway, he climbed my personal ranking a lot.

Same goes for Ruki, he showed an interesting attitude as a sexy character, I’ve never thought it could be possible; I guess he finally overcame his Karlheintz complex.

Anyway, it was a long ride which took me more than 2 months, but I’m glad I decided to get this game; I won’t lie to myself again, if a sequel is decided, I’ll probably play that too!