don’t hate hatoful, heart it<3

February, 2020

I recently finished this game after having it downloaded for so long, and can say with confidence: it more than exceeded my expectations.

The spoiler free, summarised plot is that in the year 2188, birds are highly evolved and are now the most prominent race on Earth. With their intelligence and capabilities surpassing that of mankind. The MC is the only human that attends St. Pigeonation’s institute, the best school for anybirdie. The story sees you navigating your way through school life, taking classes and choosing which handsome bird-boy you want to date- so you know, the typical high school life.

This game, quite literally, is a joke. It was released to light-heartedly poke fun at the otome genre, being released in Japan on April fools day, 2011. It started as a flash game. Then got a little longer, a little funnier, and a little more sinister.

In 2014 the game was revamped and brought to the west, quickly gaining notoriety for its complete ridiculousness. I remember the release, and watched it get dragged through the mud because ‘people will play anything these days’, and mentions of ‘they’re back at it again with the visual novel garbage’.

But people were missing the point. It was meant to be completely outrageous. The characters, plot and setting are all laughable and ludicrous- but that doesn’t make it bad, that’s exactly what makes it so good. Because there is that air of light-heartedness to the game, you can play it easily, and not much concentration is needed.

And then the plot hits you like a train wreck.

Because of the game’s ‘quirky and fun’ nature, you haven’t been paying too much mind to the small little hints and signs that were scattered within the story. You thought nothing of the post apocalyptic world and look where that got you. Caught up in deep rooted mysteries, societal and political controversy, turn-based fighting, the bourgeoisie, and to top it all off- now you’re lowkey smitten with a bunch of birds.

The romance is absolutely minimal in this game. The focus is the storyline, messages and problems that are brought up within. Hatoful brings up real life issues and deals with them appropriately, if not somewhat exaggerated. Regardless of it’s absurdity, the game does leave you thinking and I’m not ashamed to say I cried a couple of times during my play-through.

Hatoful Boyfriend a wonderful game that I feel is great to help ‘ease’ people into otome, or visual novels in general. It’s light mockery of the dating-sim and ‘choose-your-own-path’ cliches makes it easier for people who aren’t used to the genre to give it a try. People who may otherwise feel embarrassed about playing these kind of games, would likely be more comfortable as it can be played ‘ironically’ (but we all know you’ll secretly love it).

I don’t have much to say character wise (nageki is best boy though) and can’t talk about the plot without spoilers. But I’ll reinstate that the storyline is very well written, with the twists and general progression of the game making me tense in both anticipation and shock.

The game is available on most platforms, including ios and the play store, and it’s cheap across the board. I think my vita download came to like £1.50 (if not less). If you get the chance, please try out the wonderful and weird world of hatoful boyfriend!

Code Realize: Guardian of Rebirth, Switch Collectors Edition Unboxing

I was so happy when it was first revealed there would be a switch port, and I made sure to preorder the collectors edition as soon as the Europe store would let me. The delivery arrived earlier than expected, and was very well packaged. (When I say well packaged- I mean I was almost drowning in bubble wrap). After finally getting to the box itself, I was immediately impressed.