Hi all!
So this game I've been playing (or reading) is a bit different from the games I've introduced here earlier. I must say that I'm a huge fan of visual novels, especially the otome-genre. To those of you who aren't familiar with it, visual novels are interactive, story-driven games, where you get to make choices that will eventually affect the outcome of the entire game. Most visual novels are so called harem games, where the main character (in most cases male) is surrounded by pretty girls and gets to pursue one of them. To be honest I'm not too excited about playing a male character in the hopes of getting to date/screw an anime girl, but this is where otome comes in. Otome is basically reverse-harem, mostly a genre enjoyed by us girls. The game I'm about to introduce you to was just released on Steam and it's sequel to an otome game I really enjoyed reading last year.
The story goes as follows. In the first game, the main character Mika inherits the grand mansion of his recently deceased grand father. On her first visit to the mansion, she faces the view of five young men scrambled on the floor, obviously hurt. Out of the pureness of your heart you let the men stay with you at the mansion and eventually it is revealed that they are royal incubi of the Demon World, running away from their duties. This and that happens, and you get to date one of the brothers in the end (PG-16 style!)... (plus various other people, like your best friend Suzu and a succubus lady called Diana!)
James - The oldest of the brothers, heir to the Demon throne, a bit serious by nature
Sam - A total brute, hot-headed and has a dirty mouth
Eric - A bit of a flirt, keeps calling you princess (uggh)
Matthew - Baby face, a total turn-off imo
Damien - Can read minds, a bit shy, but my absolute favourite in the first game!
Diana - Passionate by nature, will do anything to achieve her goals (drag the brothers back to the Demon World)
So in the second game you pick a route and it continues from where the first game ended (won't reveal any specifics, I don't want to spoil the story). You are about to get married to one of the incubi brothers, when all of a sudden you are dragged into the Demon World.
There you are greeted by Diana and her "friends" and it is revealed that if you want to leave the place, the Demon Lord has to go down. Your fiance, plus his brothers and their wives follow you and together you prepare for the ultimate Demon War.
I must say that I've enjoyed the sequel immensely. I still haven't gone through Erik's or Diana's routes but the rest have all been very unique and entertaining. I've read the forums at Steam and many people are struggling to get "happy endings". That's all I've gotten so far, so actually I'm struggling to get the bad endings.
I can't help but think of a 14-year-old when I was playing Matthew's route. The story was interesting but since the sequel is PG-18 instead of 16, I felt so awkward in the sex scenes. Of course, it is clearly stated in the intro that you can always say NO and it doesn't affect the outcome of the game, but obviously I was curious since you do get CG art from some of the scenes. So if you want to collect all the art, you must have sex.
Obviously the sex scenes aren't anything graphic since otherwise the game wouldn't be allowed on Steam. Nevertheless the scenes are still written quite intimately. Well written soft-porn or so to speak.
The first game was free which really shocked me. Full-scripted voice acting, plus beautifully drawn CG art. I was willing to pay for the game, so it was no surprise that the sequel had a small price. For a measly 10 euros I've been having an absolute blast. I've played for 11 hours and I still have two routes left, plus finishing the bad endings for each route. The game also has a bonus story that is only revealed if you know the correct password. You get a letter from each ending and I'm such a dimwit that I've forgotten to mark them down... I've read on the forums that people are still struggling to find the correct password but when they do, I'm just going to cheat a little bit. Anyways, I feel proud playing this game since it clearly shows that the Japanese aren't the only ones who can create a proper VN!
There are a few bugs I've found so far. Sometimes the voice acting differs from the script that is shown on screen, but that hasn't bothered me that much. Also, while playing Matthew's route, I got a happy ending with Diana dying. In the aftermath, Diana was still alive and kicking despite dying earlier... Oh well, not a big deal. When the game is text-based there are bound to be some typos, but those don't bother me at all. Try playing a Japanese VN with translator software... then you will understand.
Example: I played Sweet Pool years ago with a translator, didn't understand much but enjoyed it nevertheless. Later on my friend laughed at me and told me about the actual story. Go google it, it's too disturbing to write here.
Overall I'm really glad Seduce Me got a sequel. I didn't hear about it until later but the game collected over $23,000 on Kick Starter. The creator, Michaela Laws included a letter in the game that indicates she has "a million stories to tell". I hope that's true and she keeps on making these amazing stories!
Alrighty, I think I'm going to read Eric's route next. I hope it's good!
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