I was very excited, when Tokei Jikake no Apocalypse was teased, at first: “a story that starts from a bad ending”, sounds like the type of game I could really enjoy; but as new (mostly derpy) CGs were showed, I started to worry that I was expecting too much.

What if the game’s plot is as cheap and disappointing as the art?

“Don’t judge the book by its cover”, they say; true, but this is an otome game, the visual aspect can’t be just ignored or dismissed.

I wrote my first impression and my opinion about Quat‘s route a few months ago, so if you’re interested in a short resume of the plot and my feelings as I started this journey, you can take a look there.

But here, let’s begin where I stopped months ago: Rudel, the creepy eyes guy.

He became a famous meme in the otome fandom, I guess you know who I’m talking about.

Despite some awkward CGs, I admit I was expecting way worse: he’s so kind, honest and shy, that I ended up falling for him anyway. Just don’t stare at me too much, please!

His brother is an interesting side character, I was always curious to know if he was hiding something behind his gentle attitude; I never trust side characters, most of them exist just to stab the main guy in the back.

My next route was a forced choice: Liam.

I wasn’t interested in him at all honestly, but the remaining other characters were locked, so he was the only way; surprisingly, I ended up enjoying his route way more than I expected.

He’s a pianist, who loves flirting with girls, but avoids serious relationships; he was always a gentlemen with Latchia, even when she was very pushy and desperate to get closer to him.

Finally, I could play Zir next.

I had my eyes on him since the common route, he was too weird, it was obvious he was hiding something important; and I wasn’t wrong! Spending time with him and getting to know the truth about the “box”, somehow made me feel sad. Overall, this route was bittersweet.

I got to play Unka last, the main guy of the game, whose route was locked until this point.

He’s Latchia’s childhood friend, a tsundere who has been in love with her since forever.

The first part of his route was basically a huge flashback seen from his point of view, showing when he met Latchia and first confessed his feelings; but I can’t say more, everything is a huge spoiler.

I’m sorry I can’t write a decent comment about Zir and Unka, but I don’t want to ruin someone else’s fun; if you really want to know more, you have to find out by yourselves!

At this point, the True Route was unlocked, but I admit I was kinda bored and I didn’t want to spend more time on this game, it was time for me to move on and play something I could enjoy more.

So, did I enjoy Tokei Jikake no Apocalypse?

I wouldn’t call it a kusoge, but it feels way below the usual standards of Otomate’s releases.

Starting from the art, which was obviously a huge problem, even the plot wasn’t well developed; going back in time once or even twice every route, sometimes felt repetitive and I was bored, to play similar scenes over and over. The main plot wasn’t enough to keep me interested, it took me months of dragging and putting this game on hold, to finally reach the ending.

I’ll be honest, at some point I kinda forced myself to complete it, because I was butthurt of spending money and leaving this uncompleted forever. Zir was the only character who got my attention.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but maybe if your expectations are low and you find a very cheap copy somewhere, you’ll end up enjoying it way more than me.

I swear it’s not THAT bad, but my hopes for a masterpiece were crushed after months of waiting, so it’s hard for me to hide my disappointment at the final result.

I’m out of this, so I can freely move on to something hopefully better!