✨️Shoujo vibes save lives✨️

Mr. Love Queen's Choice

Kiro:

Sun|Moon: here

Piofiore: Fated Memories

Leo/Lili: A Lily in a Sea of Red: here

Tears of Themis:

Luke:

In the depths of memory: here

Death, as in, Connection: here

Marius

The Portrait of a Ghost: here

So this is Safety: here

Shoujo Recs/Reviews:

Em's Personal Favorite Shoujo and Josei Manga

Fantasy Shoujo and Josei Manga Recs

Rec Lists

Otome/amare games where you can get the girl

Otome/amare games with a gender selectable/gender neutral protag

Games for Pride 2022

Top Five Games Played in 2021

Top Three Games Played in 2022

Top Otomes Played in 2023

Otome/Amare Games for Pride 2024

Otome Games for the Fall

Top Five Games Played in 2024

Individual Reviews

Delphine's Discovery

Tears of Themis: First Impressions

Blooming Panic: OG Version

Blooming Panic: Full Bloom Edition

Bustafellows Quick Thoughts

Otome Jam 2022: Diffraction Demo

Otome Jam 2022: Obscura Demo

Otome Jam 2022: Error143

Otome Jam 2022: Eye can See You

Otome Jam 2023: Intertwine

Otome Jam 2023: Assignment Due: Project Blue

Otome Jam 2023: Karamu

Otome Jam 2024: Veilcrest: Trial of the Arcane

Otome Jam 2024: Under the Thorns

Otome Jam 2024: Chromatic Agape

Otome Jam 2024: Love Limit

Otome Jam 2024: Divine Trials

Otome Jam 2024: Adventures of Clairune

Otome Jam 2025: Help! I Tried to Summon a Boyfriend...

Otome Jam 2025: My Husband is a Stranger

Infinity Nikki: First Impressions

Otome Jam 2026: Our Light Affliction: Spider's Covenant

I told myself I was only going to play like fifteen minutes last night to try it out before I go to bed. Instead, I ended up binging the game and playing it until 2 in the morning. I was completely drawn in from the opening on.

Obligatory I've been meaning to check out other games by ENDYSIS but have not yet (aka me with every game dev at this point, oops), but I'm so glad I finally got around to playing one of their games.

Each scene is perfectly framed and artistically this game is just stunning. The art and framing of everything portrays the atmosphere and overall feeling of each moment as well.

The entire premise is the main character's fruitless endeavor to save the love of her, and the more we got to the end the more I felt her despair and frustration. Both towards our MC, who kept repeating things over and over again, as well as the fact that there was no happy ending. It says it on the game page, but a very small part of me was still hoping for a miracle. And I think that makes this story work so well. I was so in it that even despite knowing where things were going, I was still hoping for a different ending, just like MC.

Also the fact we got an actual sung song at the end was such a pleasant surprise and set the ending scene so well!! Props to the singer, her voice was lovely, and it was the perfect way to top off the game. It had me tearing up in the middle of the night, and I'm glad there is an official soundtrack for the game because I need to listen it out of the game.

Ok, so I'm obsessed with a manga called "Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun," which if you haven't heard of it, yes has a ridiculous name but becomes such a fascinating and intricate story over the course of it's twenty-something volume run thus far. And I'm bringing it up, because this feels like the Otome Jam version of that manga series.

Obviously a game jam title isn't going to be that intricate, but it was exactly what I wanted and was hoping for when I picked it up. It's about a girl becoming too close with a supernatural for her own good, and the consequences of that. Edelweiss and Lucifrid were fun characters to follow, and even if Lucifrid is obviously a Spider Spirit who does not operate with human morals, his dynamic with Edelweiss was both teasing and sweet. It makes it easy to get invested in the relationship between the two.

And as far as Ilya goes...I think his character works in the narrative and makes sense. But he is a secondary love interest, and I think that really shows since how things end with him and Edelweiss feels rushed? As an antagonist though, he works great!

I also just really love the way the backgrounds were done? A lot of them have that fish eye perspective which really sets the tone and genre of the game right away. From the first scene everything feels a little warped and off kilter. It's a small detail but it works wonders. Especially when the duo is on the 'dark' side and there's a faint warp effect going on, too.

The character art itself is honestly pretty cute, and I am biased on the grounds that I love line art that has a 'grainy' or 'sketchy' quality to it. I remember this being what made nefferinthia's other game "Duskbound" stand out to me (even though it came out years ago and I have yet to play it whoops aldkfja), but looking at the screenshots from that game to this one, their art has also improved!