Three Honeybee Series Available for Digital Download!

Great news to those who want to experience Honeybee's games! 

As of July 20th, Animate Games tweeted that digital downloads of the following are now available:

• All 4 volumes of Starry☆Sky, In & After included (4,400円 each)
• Both Shinigami Kareshi games - Re:Birthday Song (7,480円) and Un:Birthday Song (5,280円)
• All 6 volumes of Photograph Journey (4,378円 each)

Ayakashi Gohan and its fandisc Okawari (4,950円 each) are also already available on Animate Games for digital purchase.

If you're interested in these games, then act fast! All products are currently 10% off until August 8 (JST). 

The games can be found at https://bit.ly/3z8maVV.

Happy gaming~

Do I Pass? Review

So Trans Day of Visibility was yesterday, and I actually discovered this little game by trans indie creator Taylor McCue thanks to Gayming Mag covering it.  

Summary:

"Do I Pass" is a visual novel where you play as a transgender woman who is worried about if she passes or not. With the help of a magical webpage she becomes a ghost and peeks into the minds of others to determine how they feel about her. There are three endings depending on the types of interactions she encounters from other people.

It's a short game but also very interesting, and I'm very glad I stumbled onto this 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

Taisho x Alice Episode 2 Will Be Releasing Early!

 

Also on tumblr: [x]

Great news for TaiAli fans anxiously awaiting the next installment of the series! A tweet just went out that TaiAli Ep2 will be releasing a month early. Instead of in October, it'll drop on Steam either the 17th or 18th of this month!

Having a game release early is really exciting in general. I think it was also a smart decision from a PR perspective. Piofiore is also releasing in October, so the two games would've had to fight for publicity. But this way, each game gets its time to shine. 😉

Don't forget to support the company! The more copies that are sold, the more inclined they may be to localize the entire series. 😊

Until next time!

The Divine Speaker - Extended Demo Impressions

Extended Demo Release: August 12, 2020
Website | Twitter | Itch.io | Discord | Steam

"Does fate not exist after all?"

"The Divine Speaker" is an upcoming fantasy BL game by indie dev Two and a Half Studios. The demo is SFW with some slight spiciness but the game will be 18+ at release and in multiple languages. (Maybe I can replay this in multiple languages to help with my foreign language learning. 🤣)

Follow alongside Raen - an orphan from the secluded city of Aurelia Cavella, the only civilization on the entire planet... or so they're told.

Abandoned for his poor Judgement, the "destiny" given to him by the Divine Speaker, he grew up thinking his life would be plain and unexciting, and that's exactly how he liked it.

However, that all changes when he's expelled from his home on a death sentence, cast out into the vast and dangerous forest that surround Aurelia Cavella.

Raen must finally come to terms with the fact that there might be something else out there after all - and there's more to Aurelia Cavella than first meets the eye.

Honestly it was a complete accident finding this game and I'm so glad I did! Lots of gushing below the cut because this was such a delight. 

Otome Games That Also Let You Date Girls

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Blast from the Past - Palais de Reine in English Available Now!

 

SURPRISE!! Play KOGADO's classic diplomatic sim + medieval fantasy romance "Palais de Reine" on Steam NOW, remastered and in English for the first time! Lead your kingdom to glory, woo hot knights, and challenge the status quo! 20% off for a limited time! https://t.co/r5JjvuPlyz

— Degica Games (@DegicaGames) June 18, 2020

With absolutely no warning, Degica Games dropped an English version of Palais de Reine, available to play now! 

The player acts as the young princess of a kingdom who never expected to ascend to the throne. In the last year, her father died, and her older brother went missing. During the coronation ceremony, some of the leaders of the 12 provinces in the kingdom say they don't believe she can lead the country, and refuse to give their allegiance. 

The aim of the game is to win over enough leaders over a year to be accepted as the kingdom's ruler. This can be accomplished through different ways, including sending gifts, having your knights challenge the leaders to jousting competitions, and trying to assassinate them. You must also keep your kingdom fairly prosperous and quell civil disturbances and unrest. 

While doing this, you can also 'romance' characters, including the 12 leaders and your knights.

Wow she can't catch a break can she? 🤣 The first part of that summary also gives me Fire Emblem Sacred Stones vibes oop

Originally a PS2 game from 2006/2007, it's now remastered for PC. As a sweet bonus, this game is on sale for 20% off until June 24th.

This game came out before I got into otome, so this is all new to me! It's interesting that this is part strategy simulation rather than straight VN, and there's a looooot of characters. 

Summer Game Fest - PC Gaming Show Highlights

Summer Game Fest is going strong with continuing their streams, this time bringing coverage about upcoming PC games, some of which were sneakily added to Steam. Even though a lot of developers were present there actually a ton of games I was interested in... But below are my favorites from the stream!

I would just like to point out, I can't believe their intro included this meme lmaoo. 

Pc gaming show really knows their memes #PCGamingShow pic.twitter.com/HgrWseI9la

— Joseph29 (@Joseph29_SSBU) June 13, 2020

Also to anyone who'd like to watch the stream in its entirety, you can find it here.

Pipe Dream Demo Review

Polished Demo Release: March 27, 2020

Twitter | Itch.io | Kickstarter

A visual novel dating sim that follows the protagonist Robin as she enters college and finds friendship, love...and hopefully herself.

I don't remember where but I saw a post about this game and decided to give it a try. Pipe Dream is a slice-of-life Indie otome game developed by Notome Games. The game follows the adventures of Robin (CV: Melissa Dorsey), a college freshman who runs away from home to pursue a life where she can finally make her own decisions.

Read more below for my thoughts on characters and the demo in general. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ (Click to enlarge any images.)

Quick and Dirty Reviews: (Some) Early 2000s PC BL Games [R18]

Cheesy graphic brought to you by yours truly

You ever have those moments where you vividly remember something you did years ago? I just took a trip down memory lane and flashbacked to all the BL VNs I used to play back in the day lmao. So now I present: Quick and Dirty Reviews of some early BL games!

By no means is this an extensive list; I did have a life back then and couldn't spend all my time gaming (kinda..). Since I'm probably never going to write full reviews for most of these games, I figured this would be a fun little thing to do. Disclaimer: It's been years since I've played so my details may be fuzzy, although some games made more of an impression on me than others.

Ken ga Kimi Released on Steam [JP/CHI]

Teased a while back by Beijing Happy Entertainment Technology, Ken ga Kimi has released today on Steam! Currently there is a 5% discount on the game.

Unfortunately to fans who play only English games, this game is available in only Japanese or Chinese (simplified or traditional). While it may not be as "accessible" per se, there are some good things about this release.

1. Ken ga Kimi for PC isn't suuuper readily available for PC purchase. Otherwise there's KgK for vita, or a twin pack with both the original game & the fandisc. 
2. Rejet has been known to not be very localization friendly... So I'm actually a bit surprised there's a Chinese translation available now. This doesn't necessarily mean that Rejet is open to English translations, but it might be a good sign they'll willing to possibly expand.
• I noticed a lot of people are commenting for an English translation as well. While it never hurts to try, it's not guaranteed either
3. This Steam version is based off the Vita version, so it comes with the extra goodies

Ken ga Kimi is a game I've wanted to play for ages and I'm happy it's getting exposure again since it always seems to be so popular. 

Part of me wants to buy the PC version because playing on a bigger screen is always nice. Another part of me though wants to save and import the twin pack version from somewhere... 🤔🤷‍♀️

But who knows! I'll reach a decision eventually lol.

Regardless, give it a play if you can and always remember to support!

That's all for now! Tune in below for some of the many beautiful art from this series. 😊

Lamento -BEYOND THE VOID- Review

Even if the world killed you, I would not forget you

In celebration of Lamento's localization announcement, here's my review on the game! ヽ(｡ゝω・｡)ﾉ It's been a few years since I played this game, so please forgive me if I'm spotty on some details.

Long ago, a union between the cat-like goddess Ribika and the god Two Canes led to the creation of the land of Sisa and the species known as Ribika. Currently, a recent epidemic known as the Sickness has spread throughout Sisa, killing off a large portion of the female population and causing fevers and missing limbs in others. At the same time, a food shortage is caused by a phenomenon known as the Void, since vegetation rejects any cat that touches it. This can lead to death if severe enough, and this is why many have turned to cannibalism as a last resort. Throughout the lands there are also special cats known as Sanga that power fighter Touga cats through the power of song. 

The protagonist Konoe (CV: Hatano Kazutoshi) is an orphan living in the starving village of Karou. He begins to have nightmares, and strange marks appearing on his body leads him to believe he's the cursed cat legends speak of. Konoe decides to flee Karou in hopes of finding a way to dispel the curse. Throughout his journey he discovers his abilities, teams up with unique individuals, and discovers his own past.

As usual, many spoilers below. Skip to "Final Thoughts" if you want to be spoiler free.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games Thoughts part1 - 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors

lmao guess who distracted herself from studying for finals

999 is about a group of 9 individuals kidnapped by Zero and forced to gamble their lives in the Nonary Game in order to escape a ship that will sink in 9 hours. On their wrists is a numbered bracelet that carries a detonator, and the only way to get rid of them is to escape or to die. Originally for DS, Steam recently released a remastered version and bundle of the first two games. On the website there's an Answers tab that I would recommend reading once you've finished the game. It has some interesting stuff and also helps to tie up any loose ends!

Shinigami Kareshi - Re:Birthday Song Trial Summary, Thoughts & Review

....It completely flew over my head that this series released a demo until I saw something on my dash about it. I hope I'm not too terribly late to the party. (*._.) Also, the full version of this game was released extremely recently - January 30th. Basically I've been out of the Shinigami Kareshi loop for a long time since it was announced. |D BUT HEY BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, NO? And thus, I'm here today with a review and my babbles of Re:Birthday's demo.

Main Cast:

Kairi - Fukuyama Jun

Yoru - Maeno Tomoaki

Ame - Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Syun - Kondou Takayuki

Nami - Suwabe Junichi (ako si Mr. Suave~ //bricked//)

Other Cast:
Zen - Hino Satoshi
Rikka - Tachibana Shinnosuke 

Oh gawd, yes, I approve of the cast. ouo

Before I begin, I found a way to get a lowercase "c" to work, hurrah! Normally, the patch will only let you type a capital case C when caps lock is off by pressing shift C. So start with that to capitalize the first letter of her name. Now if you turn caps lock on, the only way to make a letter lowercase is when you press shift c. Do that with caps on and tadaaaa, lowercase c, enabling you to fully type out "Cocoro." (Or whatever name if you wish that needs a lowercase c). And then don't forget to press enter. c:

DRAMAtical Murder - General Review

IN CELEBRATION OF THE ANIME COMING OUT TODAY, I DECIDED TO THIS LAZY ASS GENERAL REVIEW 8'D (May do a more in-depth one of the routes someday, but not sure)

(because I need otome breaks lol)

So since this is a general review, it'll pretty much be spoiler-free, save for a couple important details that are needed to know to understand the story.

Gawd I've been wanting to play this game forever. XD But, not too shabby if I do say so myself; only about 2 years after the release date. 8D (For some reason, I thought it was longer than that. Guess that's what happens when you try and play catch-up with Vivid Color)

I loved this game so much. This may come as a shocker to some, but I actually do thoroughly enjoy engrossing plot in my BL besides just frick-fracking all day lol. Despite its colorful art and upbeat music (especially for a Nitro+Chiral game), the exact reason that it is a Nitro+Chiral game means it's not going to be some fluffed up game. I mean damn, half the reason I found it so intriguing was Aoba Desire's whole "I'll destroy/break you" (俺 が お前 を 壊してる) thing haha. On top of that, you could say it's sci-fi-ish in a way with it being futuristic. Though if you think this is bad, you really ought to play Nitral's other titles LOL

Main Cast:

Aoba → Atsushi Kisaichi

Ren → Takeuchi Ryouta

Koujaku → Hiroki Takahashi

Noiz → Satoshi Hino

Mink → Miyake Kenta (Though for the anime release, it got changed to Matsuda Kenichiro)

Clear → Masatomo Nakazawa

PV1

Note: Although the video says "Noise", the official spelling is "Noiz"

PV2

 

 *ahem* Anyway. DRAMAtical Murder (DMMd) is a BL R-18 game created by Nitro+Chiral (so if neither are your thing and you're just gonna bash, do click the back button)

In Midorijima, a plentiful island to the southwest of the Japanese islands, mankind and nature once coexisted.

However, due to being purchased by "Toue Company," a powerful corporation in Japan, one-third of the island has been changed into an extravagant amusement facility called "Platinum Jail". Equipped with the latest cutting-edge technology, Platinum Jail has gathered attention. On the other side, the islanders who became victims of forceful development are forced into the "Former Residents' District", and have no choice but to carry out their lives in a place that is by no means prosperous.

The protagonist Aoba Seragaki spends his days working part-time at a junk shop named "Heibon," inside the Former Residents District, living with his grandmother Tae.

Among the youth of the Former Residents District, a certain game has become popular. In "Ribstiez," teams are created and days of human-bullet turf wars unfold. On the other hand, "Rhyme" is an electronic brain online game using a virtual world as its setting. Aoba shows no interest in either game, thinking that it would be nice to just live peacefully with his grandmother. But naturally, a disaster is bound to shake up those peaceful days.

Bad Medicine ~ Infectious Teachers~ Demo Review & Thoughts

Well about a week or so ago, Rejet released a demo of Bad Medicine, which can be downloaded here. Below is a brief summary and my thoughts on Rejet's newest sadistic game. :3

How to Get Extras in BWS ~Bloody Nightmare~ to Work

Well, I just finished up the good and bad endings of Mejojo's route and cried a bunch and started Arles' route when I realized... NONE OF MY CRAP WAS SAVING!! (」゜ロ゜)」 No CGs, no red vocab words, NOTHING. I already had the patch from Rejet, and uninstalling did nothing. And whoop de doo my luck, I played all that BWS in one sitting... My game froze, so I had to force quit, and guess who lost all those hours of progress. \(^o^)/ However, I found a little solution and will give a little how-to so that you can experience this heartbreaker game as well to it's full value.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

New Project from Honeybee and Satoi! "『Re:BIRTHDAY SONG～恋を唄う死神～』紹介ムービー"

Seems like Honeybee is presenting us with a new game project for PC: Shinigami Kareshi! So yup, this series will be about (singing?) death gods. Also, can you guess who the artist is? SATOI! The wonderful artist who brought alive characters for series such as Diabolik Lovers, (Heart Supplement Series vol 3-9) Sukima Time, and Ozmafia.

ALICE=ALICE and Bad Medicine OP & ED Download

Well, as some of you may know, ALICE=ALICE and Bad Medicine are two of Rejet's upcoming game titles for PC. And now the openings as well as audio samples for the games have been released! 8D

Cheritz's Upcoming Game Has an English Title Now!

Well at the beginning of the month, Cheritz announced that they had a new upcoming game. However, the title was in Korean and sadly my Korean knowledge is close to none. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

In celebration of White Day, Cheritz decided to give free bookmarks of its new title with every order for a limited time until the bookmarks ran out. And so, it seems like the bookmark has the English title on it as well! ♪