Best Story Rich Otome Games on PC

Tenebrae

Features:

A visual novel with sensual love lines and aesthetic erotic scenes.
An alternative modern world, where vampires are an independent branch of evolution.
A detective story, presented on behalf of a young vampire Beatrice, transports readers to the modern Czech Republic, immersing them in an atmosphere of mysteries and secrets.
Dynamic storytelling with tons of Easter eggs, irony and sarcasm.
Four independent branches and events leading to different routes.
Eight unique love routes with heroes representing the seven deadly sins and purgatory. Everyone offers specific trials and demands sacrifices.
More than twenty endings at different stages of the game.
Approximately thirty hours of pure gameplay.
The classic mechanic of choosing the heroine’s actions is combined with communication via a mobile phone.
Bright, detailed characters and lively dialogues.
High-quality visual style.
Original soundtrack.

Which path will you take, Beatrice?

William’s route. Theme: “Wrath”

The phrase “the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach” absolutely justifies itself when it comes to this guy. Is a well-fed man a kind man? Maybe…

But given how primitive it is, you will quickly figure out which buttons you need to press for this killing machine to work in your interests. You will live as safely as behind a stone wall.

Sylvan’s route. Theme: “Envy”

Look at this sly face, biker outfit and… Still in doubt?

Silvan always comes up with flashy sarcastic jokes, he is a hopeless romantic with a craving for travel, a professional liar, a scoundrel and a very smart young man. Well, someone has to be smart, right?

Charlie’s route. Theme: “Gluttony”

The flirty administrator of “Tenebrae” nightclub herself will kindly offer to become your guiding light in the dark world of revelry and pleasure. As long as it’s to her advantage, of course.

This beauty will reveal you much more secrets than you expect if you decide to get close to her.

Ryu’s route. Theme: “Greed”

Ever dreamed of an affair with a real J-rock star? Are you sure? This guy is a real handful, but what really motivates him?

Oh, you… What is your name again? Will you kiss me for good luck?

Do you enjoy emotional swings? Then let’s fly!

Friedrich’s route. Theme: “Pride”

Do you like men in uniform and high ranks? Great, but they don’t care about you. Threatening with a boycott and hunger strikes? Why? Oh, right… He did ground you, after all.

Fraulein, have at least some kind of conscience, you are causing nothing but headache.

Morris’s Route. Theme: “Lust”

Already dizzy?

It’s all because of hunger. How can you resist and not bite when he asks for it? But it’s better to control yourself because your only chance of getting out of here is by winning the bet.

What? Such tortures are against the rules? Come on, a little masochism and delayed pleasure hasn’t hurt anyone yet.

Dante’s route. Theme: “Sloth”

What does a woman most often do when she sees a lost man deeply in depression in front of her? Of course, she saves him.

How does she save him? Oh, Beatrice has some specific ways. A bit of role-playing games, a little provoking, some improvisation, and now the guy is already…

Well, that was not a bad plan…

Martin’s route. Theme: “Purgatory”

With the detective, things are very difficult. Save him for last.

To get to his route, you’ll have to put some effort into it: find the right combination of messages and telephone conversations, without turning off that road.

After walking you through all seven circles of sweet Hell, Virgil will lead you to Purgatory. You will simply have to pass just a few deadly tests, and then you will be able to go through the gates of the real Paradise.

This, of course, is a metaphor, but we are not exaggerating.

Read More: Best Story Rich Romance Games.

Tenebrae on Steam

Because We’re Here - Act I

War isn’t about middle grounds, and neither is Because We’re Here. It’s a game that may well prove to be polarizing (and I’m glad the dev took the risk). You could find this otome game a complete waste of time, or unusual but worthwhile. I’ll tell you why I’m in the latter camp as I go through different aspects of the game.

Older fans have probably played the demos (both super old and now defunct) that constitute what is now Act I, and might be wondering if it’s still worth it to buy this part of the game. Plot is the same but there’s been a pretty big glow up in other aspects. The biggest plus for me was how the other guys aside from August now feel much more fleshed out - nothing big, but little changes in the writing strengthen the characterization. There’s also longer ending scenes (with CG!) that make for better closure.

– Real player with 62.7 hrs in game

Read More: Best Story Rich Alternate History Games.

I first encountered this visual novel a day before it was released, and immediately I was excited – I love historical settings, and WWI doesn’t get nearly enough media attention, and the characters looked very varied and setting-appropriate, so I had high hopes. Having played the first act now, I can say that the VN delivered everything I wanted and more.

Firstly, this is a very well-researched story. Everything from the details of the trenches to the many different wartime roles that were available to the different kinds of reactions people had to the war – and how they changed over time – are replicated here perfectly. But it doesn’t feel either overwhelming or confusing – apart from a brief explanation of the political history of the war early on, there’s no exposition, instead allowing the reader to familiarise themselves with the world by watching it unfold. It’s worth noting now that this story isn’t technically based on the real WWI – the countries and their geography are different, with some interesting results – but if you want something that captures the spirit of WWI in a very personal, in-the-trenches way, I can’t fault it.

– Real player with 48.1 hrs in game

Because We're Here - Act I on Steam

BUSTAFELLOWS

Probably the highest quality otome game that’s been localised into English so far. I have yet to play a game with this many immersive elements, I’m shocked that this isn’t the standard. There’s animated CGs, dynamic voice work, characters with multiple outfit changes and poses. Their eyes even move to the speaking character if they happen to be on the same screen. This game has THE smoothest intro to main menu transition I have ever seen in my damn life.

So let’s look at our lovable cast:

Limbo is the confident and suave type who always seems like he’s in control. He’s funny, and supportive, but he’s actually a lot more childish than one would think. He’s a really good poster boy.

– Real player with 118.2 hrs in game

Read More: Best Story Rich Romance Games.

In short, I like reading Bustafellows. Although it has many places where it underwhelms me.

The stories in this game are kind of all over the place. It seems there are too many topics the game wants to tackle on, but fails to do so in depth.

A lot of the settings are far-fetched and unrealistic, like Crow being a super genius all-powerful hacker. The existence of magical plastic surgeries. Our 5 fixers, who are supposed to do things hidden, expose all of themselves to the enemy, or even worse, to the internet. Villains who conveniently put everything that would prove them guilty in a nice

! USB drive for us to read.

! Nanobots entering one’s body, powered by “body energy” which the only plausible meaning is glucose in the blood (right?), but they stopped working after the person goes in to cardiac arrest, but in no sense would going into cardiac arrest take away all the glucose in the blood. I know I shouldn’t expect realism in this kind of games, but not doing so would require me to lower expectations.

– Real player with 51.4 hrs in game

BUSTAFELLOWS on Steam

Imperial Grace

Imperial Grace is a visual novel / otome game, focusing on politics and romance in an imaginary medieval world. You play as the new Empress of Calidya, who must rule her country despite the hardships and precariousness of her position. During your reign, you will face many difficult choices, which can dramatically change the future of Calidya as well as your own destiny. You may even find love in difficult times, but be careful: love can equally help you overcome the perils you face and get in the way of your duty..

Imperial Grace has an optional management feature, if you wish to spice up the game and face ever more strategic and thornier choices.

A customisable strong-willed, competent, and ambitious MC
3 enticing love interests and a colourful cast of characters
A lot of meaningful choices shaping the story and epilogues
Beautiful graphics and music
Accessibility feature (for dyslexic and colourblind people)
Optional strategic resource management features

Imperial Grace on Steam

Magical Otoge Iris

Important Note

Even without reading this review, I highly recommend that you download the demo prior to purchasing this game. It helps give a good feel with how the game runs.

Save files from the demo will be transferred over to the full game when purchased and you also have the option to skip the events from the demo.

Overview:

Reiterating what was stated in this game’s description, “Magical Otoge Iris” is an otome visual novel. The player takes the role of the female protagonist, Iris, who works as a “purifier” – a person who helps move spirits onto the afterlife. There are four main routes (Rieffe, Lanneis, Reqieu, and Septem) and four best friend routes (the mechanics of these routes will be explained further in the Gameplay section). As I continue on with this review, I may shorten “Magical Otoge Iris” to “MO Iris.”

– Real player with 37.9 hrs in game

First of, I never played any other games of the series. I just jumped into the game without further knowledge of the other games.

Additionally, my actual playtime is not as long as it is shown, since I sometimes left the game open, while I was not even on the PC.

However, it’s still not a short game.

I’m a bit struggling whatever I would recommend the game or not.

It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the game - though there were some parts I really did not like.

I would’ve probably enjoyed the game a bit more, if I had been younger :)

– Real player with 31.3 hrs in game

Magical Otoge Iris on Steam

TAISHO x ALICE episode 2

TL;DR: this is an okay at best game, so if you have to choose between this and anything else, you’re far better off choosing the other one.

I’ve disliked the previous episode. So why did I still buy this one?

Kaguya.
like everyone else on Steam I am starved for new Otome games and thanks to 2020 might as well change that to literally any type of game.
Gretel memes.
also Kaguya.

Do I regret my impulsive choice? Ehhhh… not really BUT …

Story

The previous game had Kaguya as the heroine’s butler that was secretly having feelings for her, if you liked that go away this game has nothing to do with that. What about Gretel’s life as pompous’s Cinderella’s brother? Also moot. Confusing? Welcome to Taisho Alice.

– Real player with 33.9 hrs in game

This is not the game for me. However, it may be the game for you if you are interested in psychological horror, traumatic relationships, and challenging stories. I’m giving this a thumbs up because the game is well-designed and well-written, and has lovely art and music. Please see my CAUTION before reading my pros and cons list.

CAUTION: This game (specifically Taisho x Alice Episode II) contains vivid descriptions of self-harm, suicide, violence, and addiction. It is very difficult to reach the Happy Ending for either of the two routes, because the line between love and insanity is drawn very fine in these stories. You have to choose perfectly all the way through or you will reach a bad ending. If you have played other otome games, then the best comparisons are the yandere routes in Amnesia (Toma) and Ozmafia (parts of the brothel route in particular), especially with respect to Gretel’s route.

– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game

TAISHO x ALICE episode 2 on Steam

Fujiwara Bittersweet

tl;dr: I’m recommending this because its free and half the routes (Ikki/Yuta/Kenji) are fairly good. But some of the bad ones are really bad.

I’ll start off with what I like about the game: the art is lovely, there’s a good variety of love interests, the music is nice, there are romantic and platonic endings for each love interest, and there are a lot of secondary characters that add life to the game.

The things I disliked: The romantic and platonic routes diverge well before their actual ending scenes, but the exact point they diverge isn’t clearly marked. I think the skip function is supposed to not skip unseen text, but it doesn’t work properly–if you’ve gotten one ending for a LI, it’ll skip at lightspeed through all the new text in the other ending straight to the end. One of the secondary characters is a self-professed yaoi fan and fetishizes mlm relationships to the point of “shipping” real people she knows.

– Real player with 74.4 hrs in game

Personally I liked the game, and I know this is supposed to be a bad review but I want to explain the good and bad things about this game in general.

the bad things about this game is the lack of options and choices, and the fact you can’t even name yourself (MC). It feels as if we are not Mc and are just some fairy god mother helping Aya (MC) make decisions, or at least the very f e w options we even get as a player. Aya also has her own personality which I think is interesting tho still kinda plays into the idea of being a fairy god mother helped out Aya. Which is an interesting concept yet this is a dating sim/otome game.

– Real player with 42.0 hrs in game

Fujiwara Bittersweet on Steam

Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms

Being the second installation of the Hakuouki story (first of course being on the psp, with several ported editions to other systems - this is the second half of the afformentioned psp game that was cut in half when revisited) - the first being Kyoto Winds. This second half finds us where we left off from there. That being said, if you haven’t read/played/watched the beginning story, Kyoto Winds, I suggest doing that first. However, you wont have a hard time if you start with this game but it would be best if you are wanting to understand the back story of the Shensengumi and the Water of Life. That being said, this V/N has actual romance in it (surprise!) as the last one did not have much or much to the illusion to. This is a V/N that all people can enjoy as it is enriched with story and the characters individually fit into their own piece of the puzzle and stays very close to history as the writer very much intended it to. I am saying this because I feel like my husband who isn’t a V/N or romance kinda guy, could even get into if he felt like doing a lot of reading. :0)

– Real player with 325.1 hrs in game

Note: Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is the first part while Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms is the second and concluding part of the remake of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom.

Played Character Route Order: Chikage ◈ Sanosuke ◈ Hijikata ◈ Iba ◈ Souji ◈ Ryouma ◈ Yamazaki ◈ Saito ◈ Shinpachi ◈ Heisuke ◈ Sanan ◈ Souma

I was lucky and got a beta-key for this VN and I was so happy about it that I literally cried. This otome is just perfect, at least in my opinion.

After I’ve listed the improvements in comparison to other versions in my first review, I will only rate the story and gameplay this time, or rather how I feel about the whole game.

– Real player with 188.1 hrs in game

Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms on Steam

TAISHO x ALICE epilogue

Taisho and Alice epilogue finally sums up all the routes we’ve played before. On the one hand, it felt nice to refresh all the stories about my princes. Final CGs for each happy ending were so heartwarming. After all those arduous rescue missions it was very soothing to see them reach their happily ever after.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2551697285

But on the other hand story-wise I can’t say I got lots of new details. The storytelling felt too repetitive, all that retelling from different perspectives often felt boring. At the end I practically skipped the text. I mean usually I read visual novels on auto mode but I patiently wait for voice actors to finish their lines xD It takes more time than if I read at my own speed but I really love how Japanese seiyuu sound. But when the story is the same again and again it’s a bit annoying.

– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game

With this Epilogue, Taisho x Alice officially became one of my all-time favorite otoges, and I’ve played very many!

The final episode was very emotional, and had me in tears many times, but also wraps up the series skillfully and satisfyingly. I ended up falling hard for Alice–his story touched me incredibly, and I liked him with the canon MC, Yurika. While Yurika isn’t a picture-perfect otome MC, and has obvious flaws of her own, she is a very interesting character in her own right.

As always, the art, music, and voice acting are perfection. Alice’s VA, Yoshitugu Matsuoka, absolutely blows it out of the water with his incredible performance in arguably one of the best roles he’s ever done.

– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game

TAISHO x ALICE epilogue on Steam

Degraman: Act I. Vincent