Our Guide To Otome Games
Welcome to our Guide To Otome Games. If you’re looking to jump in to the genre, we’ll get you started on the right foot with some brief information on what to expect from this ever growing style of game and we’ll give you some recommendations on what to play first!
What Are Otome Games?
You can think of Otome games as the video game equivalent to Shoujo anime. They’re games that are generally aimed towards women, but of course anyone can play and enjoy them. Most Otome games are story-based, so you can expect a lot of visual novels or dating sims. For the most part, you can expect Otome games to involve romantic relationships between a main character, usually a female protagonist, and a whole bunch of potential male love interests that you’re at risk of falling in love with.
What Is The Gameplay Like?
As most Otome games are visual novels, you can expect a lot of reading. A lot of your gameplay will come from making various choices in dialogue that will effect your relationship with characters. You will find that some characters will react well to something that another character would hate, which gives you a good amount of replayability as you try out the different routes available.
Some Otome games will be dating sims, if this is the case, you can expect similar gameplay, but usually with a few more mini-games thrown in for good measure.
Which Is The Best Platform To Play Otome Games On?
The answer to this question changes depending on whether you want to play new and upcoming games, or play through an already larger library. The PlayStation Vita has a great selection of older Otome games with English localization, and if you can read Japanese, you’ll have an even better time. If you’re looking to continue to play newer Otome games though, a lot of the PS Vita library can be found on PC, which should also get a nice selection of new Otome games over time.
If you’re more of a console person, or you just want to be able to play Otome games on the go, the Nintendo Switch is the platform for you. You may find the Switch lacking in some of the older Otome games but it will make up for it with a strong lineup moving forward.
Where To Start With Otome Games?
There’s a lot to choose from, and everyone will have an opinion. Because of the variation in stories and styles you can find in this genre, it can be hard to place exactly what will suit you as a new player, over time you’ll begin to realise what you like, and you’ll naturally gravitate towards the best otome games that work for you.
With that in mind, a great otome game and a general good entry point would be Amnesia: Memories. It’s available on multiple platforms, including PC, Vita, mobile and Nintendo Switch, so you should be able to access it. The premise of the game revolves around you awakening without any memories (A classic trope), your task is to remember who you are, whilst navigating through various romantic interests. You can expect the game to last you anywhere between 10-30 hours depending on your play style, and there are 26 different endings based on your choices throughout.
Just one warning, the game is very much directed towards adults, with some heavier themes, so do take that into consideration.
Other beginner recommended Otome games:
- Ozmafia!!
- Nightshade
- Hakuouki
- Code: Realize -Guardian of Rebirth-
- Collar x Malice
- Norn9: Var Commons
- The Rose of Segunda
- Cinderella Phenomenon
Otome Games coming in 2020
Now that you’re hooked like the rest of us, you can expect to see plenty of new additions on the way, especially to the Nintendo Switch. You should look out for more otome games released from Aksys Games and XSEED, and PQube, who are publishing more and more visual novels as time goes on. That said, you can check out some recently announced english Otome games right here.
If you have any other questions about our Otome Beginners Guide, our community on Discord has it’s very own visual novel channel! You can join here:Â https://discord.gg/ZSV6pWG
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