My Otome Games Awards 2018

Another year is almost over, so it’s time to look back and see if 2018 was a good year for otome games! or at least, for me, since most of the games I’ve played in these past months were older, as usual (yeah, backlog).

Instead of writing proper “awards”, I’ll share my opinion and my honest feelings, so don’t feel offended if I end up criticizing a series or game you loved.

Without further ado, my Otome games Awards 2018!

I’M DONE WITH VAMPIRES: Diabolik Lovers Lost Eden

I won’t lie, I still enjoyed Lost Eden and I don’t regret playing it to meet Kino.

But I think it’s time to cut this out, there’s no need to keep adding characters or nonsensical scenes in a story that should be over for good: it reached a natural ending in Dark Fate, keep adding unnecessary stuff will only damage the good points that this series used to have at the beginning.

I loved Diabolik Lovers with all my heart, it’s one of the reasons I started learning japanese and playing otome games, but for me it’s over.

MOBAGE PORT QUALITY: Charming Empire/Gakuen Club

Let’s be honest, I played these games only because they were cheap and I thought playing in english could be relaxing from time to time.

I didn’t have expectations from the start, so I can’t even say I was disappointed.

If I had to choose, Gakuen Club was a bit more entertaining, just because it didn’t pretend to have some kind of deeper plot.

ZOMBIES ARE COOL, BUT……: Chouchou Jiken

This game had the best premises: interesting setting, dark themes, beautiful art… but still, something went wrong. Boring scenes, lazy backgrounds and a font that made my eyes burn made it difficult to sit through.

SHOCK OF THE YEAR AWARD: Zettai Kaikyuu Gakuen

At first I thought it was just a normal school game, even if the rules in that academy were really radical and unfair. But when I reached the ending of every single character, I realized the truth was hidden very deep and the true survival game still had to start.

It was very long, so I can’t blame people who dropped it before unveiling the truth, but it’s still worth the effort.

HISTORICAL GAME OF THE YEAR: Jyuuzaengi

The heroine was amazing and most of the routes were interesting.

It’s quite difficult for me to feel involved in wars and endless fights, but I was so emotionally attached to those characters, I enjoyed this game a lot.

Next year I’ll play the FD for sure!

WORST WRITING AWARD: Shiratsuyu no kai

The plot looked original and the prologue intrigued me, for a couple hours I thought I was playing a forgotten gem; but as soon as I entered the individual routes, I realized the writing always became an inconsistent mess without a proper ending and I understood why no one ever bothered to port it to PsVita.

MOST DISAPPOINTING FANDISK OF THE YEAR: Tierblade fragments of memory

I was waiting so much for this fandisk, since I enjoyed the original game a lot and I missed most of the characters. All I asked for were cute scenes and pretty CGs, it’s not that much!

Well, my expectations were crushed, since I was almost falling asleep all the time and I even needed to take a long break at some point or I would have ended up dropping it for real.

Disappointing.

IT WASN’T THAT BAD AWARD: Kaleido Eve/Rear Pheles

This may happen when you start a game thinking it’s going to be the worst kusoge ever: you give it a try expecting the worse, but it’s actually non THAT awful and it seems even decent in the end. Well, this happened to me with Kaleido Eve and Rear Pheles.

If you find very cheap copies (and I mean VERY cheap), it may still be worthy in the end!

CUTEST GAME OF THE YEAR: Yunohana Spring

Colorful and funny, I really enjoyed working as the heroine in that nice environment; she was also determined and passionate about work and her life goals, I admired her resolution.

And now, the most important awards:

FANDISK OF THE YEAR: Collar Malice Unlimited

This fandisk is everything I could ask for, it’s the perfect ending for this amazing story.

It gives us all the sweet couple moments and sexy scenes that were missing in the first game and it exceeded all my expectations.

GAME OF THE YEAR: Piofiore no banshou

There’s nothing I would change about this game: the plot is engaging, the characters are amazing and the art is stunning. I really hope to play a fandisk or sequel someday, I’m still not ready to say goodbye. It’s rare for me to be so deeply involved in every single character and I even liked all the side characters. If you still haven’t played it, do it now!!

Well, I think it was a good year overall.

Something was disappointing, but I also played great games so I can’t complain too much.

After so many years, it keeps getting more difficult for me to find something which makes me excited and impressed, but as long as I get to play at least a couple masterpieces every year, I won’t give up this hobby.

So, let’s meet again in 2019!