MARS RED: Edge of the Nightmare - Game Review

 Release: May 20, 2021

Platform: iOS / Android

Website:

Early twentieth century, Japan - the flowering era of Taisho influenced by Romanticism. As the nation prospered in modernization, some species were outcasted and stood at the crossroads of their lives.

They were - vampires. 

Although they possessed superhuman physical abilities, they would burn under the sun and only lived off of blood. They suffered from having keen senses, and most of them could not adjust to their eternal life. 

Thus - they were vulnerable species. This is a story about a young man named Yatsufusa, who became a vampire against his will and seeks the meaning of life as he encounters different people and species surrounding him.

(Summary from the Official Site) 

MARS RED is a mystery/adventure F2P visual novel mobile game produced by the MARS RED Production Committee, D-techno, and Favary Inc., inspired by a play and anime of the same name by Bun-o Fujisawa. 

The game currently is 280k words long and is full of content written exclusively for this game. It had to be delayed a bit but that's okay because it's finally here! 

I am not familiar with the original play or anime, so my only knowledge of MARS RED will be coming from this game. Yet even though I knew nothing about it other than vague details about it (like vampires hunting other vampires- what?), I'm glad I decided to play this game. 😚

Tune in below for a spoiler free review of MARS RED the game!

2020 Gaming Roundup & Awards / 7th Year Anniversary

This is the most amount of games I've played in a single year since... ever lmao. Thanks quarantine! (So apologies in advance now for all the images)

It's amazing to think that I've been (sorta) lurking here and on Twitter for 7 years now lmao. I always see other reviewers doing roundup and/or awards, so I decided to join in on the fun with my own version.  (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑✧

Table of Contents:

Game I Played - Otome + Mini Reviews

Games I Played - Non-Otome + Mini Reviews

Events - Personal | Gaming

Awards

Reflections

Otome Games That Also Let You Date Girls

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Shall We Date: Obey Me! Review

So I meant to post this back in May when I stopped playing but um... life happened. 😂

Release: December 12, 2019

Become the master who brings the handsome demon brothers down to their knees and enjoy life at the Academy in the Devildom! You have been selected to become an exchange student at RAD, a school for demons. Awaiting you are 7 ikemen demon brothers and a mountain of tasks...?! There is only 1 rule you have to remember to survive... One Master to RULE them all!

I'm here today with a review of the latest entry into the Shall We Date series: Obey Me! One Master to Rule Them All. You play as a genderless MC who is 1 of 2 chosen humans to be an exchange student in the Devildom, yet there's a special reason the demon ruler Lord Diavolo chose you as his student. Befriend and make pacts with Lucifer and his brothers, and discover your secret along the way.

This game is all the mobile hype right now so I decided to download it and force myself to play for 2 months.. but honestly I only did that because I wanted premium currency in other mobages 😂

It's been extremely popular since its release but... I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't enjoy it? 🤷‍♀️ Below are my thoughts after playing about 12 chapters. 

Shall We Date?: Love Tangle+ - Ryan Gray Review

So back in 2018 in preparation of Ryan's sequel coming out, NTT Solmare decided to make Ryan's route free to read. The only thing you need to provide are the talent points and the items. So obviously my cheap ass couldn't resist.

Ryan is a popular bartender at a prestigious bar called Le Ciel. He once wanted to be a film director and create his own scripts, but he gave up that dream to support his younger brother's - Cody's - dream as an actor...

Let me tell you, I'm glad this route was free because I would not have read it otherwise lmao. ヾ(＾∇＾)

(Also if you're unfamiliar with the story of Love Tangle, check out my post about the prologue here)

And now, tune in to salt below! As always, jump to "Final Thoughts" for no spoilers.

Shall We Date?: Love Tangle+ - Celina Winter Route Summary & Review

I started Celina's route back when she was released in June (which incidentally was pride month btw cough) but I didn't finish until not that long ago because of hiatus. 😂 I downloaded Love Tangle solely for her route because one glance at her and she stole my heart.

Celina Winter is the cool and gorgeous pianist that plays at a jazz bar when she has free time. Otherwise, she can be found managing the nearby cafe. But there's more to Celina and her cafe than meets the eye...

Below will cover an in-depth summary of her route but not any event stories. The Pop'n Sweet Cafe Stories will be covered in another post. To avoid spoilers, skip to "Final Thoughts" below.

Shall We Date?: Love Tangle+ - Prologue & System Review

I started this back in June when Celina's route first came out... I'm just now finishing typing because of procrastination 😂


Apparently this game has been out for a couple years but I'm so behind on the otome scene that I just found out about it, and only because a new route was released recently lol.

My Horse Prince / UmaPri - Episode 1 The First Gallop - Thoughts & Review

Since I kept seeing a bunch of screencaps of it on my dash a couple weeks back, I decided to download this mobile app by Usaya called My Horse Prince (or "UmaPri" for short). I actually played this earlier this month but I couldn't believe what I had just subjected myself to, so here I am now ready to die lmao

Basically you've got this ditz who feels like she's leading such an unfulfilling life because she can't meet any hot men at the office she works at, which is full of middle aged men boohoo. Since her logic is totally impeccable, she decides to head to a ranch to meet hot guys because princes ride horses, so obvi she'll meet her prince at a ranch. Once at the ranch she seems disappointed there's just grass and sky (girl dafuq you expect), but then the ranch owner brings out his prized horse and she meets quite the... interesting prince...

Xceed - Psychic Romance ― Prologue Summary & Thoughts

Now that I have a system that can play more otome companies than just Voltage and NTT Solmare, I've been exploring and checking out more mobile otoge. *u*

Xceed - Psychic Romance (エクシード~超能恋愛~) is a game by Genius LLC recently released in English on June 29, 2016. The summary given is as follows:

“You lived the normal life of a high school student. You have always had a strange dream — is it of a past memory you’ve forgotten or something entirely different?

One weekend you go on a club trip with members of the Super Science Club you are a member of. There some strange phenomenon happens to your childhood friend, Haruma Motoki, which is followed by the appearance of an unidentified detective and a strange researcher.

The wheel of fate spun by your forgotten memories has begun to turn once more.”  

Android | IOS

Shall we date?: Scarlet Fate+ Fragments of the Past - Prologue Summary & Review/Thoughts

The tablet works again, HURRAH! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ Since it's working, I decided to play a bit of Scarlet Fate+ (IOS ver.), which is basically the English app version of Hiiro no Kakera 4. And if I'm not mistaken, this game serves as the prequel to all the others. (I also know jackshit about HnK; hooray for blind jumps |D ) The story takes place in the Heian Period and MC-chan is a shrine maiden who guards a sacred sword and spends her lonely days tormented by whatever sins she had committed. In this version of Scarlet Fate, you can use "rations" and things to advance the storyline rather than the pay per route method. Yeah it takes longer, but I'm cheap :D //smacked// Also, you can level up as you advance through the storyline, gaining power (so you can advance through the story without using rations) and love experience, WHOO! You can also train and dress up your avatar to earn charm points~

Also I'm still kinda new to Otome App gaming, so do forgive me if I say things that may seem obvious in such a medium. |D