By: RJ (@rga_02)

• Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds
  
• Developer - Idea Factory
  
• Publisher - Idea Factory
  
• PlayStation Vita
  
• Rating - M
  

Otome games aren’t my thing. I don’t hate them, but I haven’t played one until now. So I came in assuming that this game was nothing about yaoi pretty boys that just happens to be set in 1800s Japan. Which I was looking forward too, because that premised sounded pretty funny in my mind. I didn’t get that plot though; instead I got quite an adventure.

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is an updated version of the original 2008 release. I haven’t played that game, so my following thoughts are what are based on this version.

You play as a heroine Chizuru in mid 1800s Japan. During this time period there is political rife going between the Emperor and a group of samurais. Chizuru goes off to Kyoto to search for her missing father. Things don’t go smoothly for her once she arrives and finds herself entangled with the chaos of the political storm and supernatural. But since this is an otome, you try to find love in the midst of all this chaos.

I do want to note though – if you are, for whatever reason, uncomfortable with romancing fictional samurais in a videogame, there is an option to turn off the romance. I didn’t touch that option since I wanted to experience the game as it was intended and I suggest you do the same as wel.

There are 12 samurais (which is double from the original) that you can befriend or romance and each of them have their own contained storyline that overlaps with the main premise.

I said earlier that you might think that this game is nothing but some pretty boy reading simulator, but it’s anything but that.

While there are some trope moments when it comes to the romance, this game was pretty serious. The 12 men each have their own personality and aren’t the typical fill-in-the-blanks character that you would find in your harem of choice. You can’t just seduce all of them for your selfish needs. You have to figure them in-and-out and get them at the right time. With the amount of time you have in this game, it’s quite easy to miss certain events. Luckily for you, once you’ve seen an event you can easily fast forward through them. So if you decide to do multiple playthroughs of this game, it’s not a chore.

But the game is more than just trying to seduce samurais. There are a lot of supernatural, espionage and political events that you must go through. This is taking place in a violent era of Japan after all. Some of your choices might even go towards the war effort. So think twice before you go with your husbando of choice.

My favorite aspect of this game however is the art style. It’s gorgeous. From the characters to the backgrounds, it evokes the feel of the period really well.

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds was an interesting adventure. The tinfoil hat in me loved the supernatural events and I adored the attention to detail of 1800s Japan. Plus the romance wasn’t that bad either.

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Read Omar’s review on the iOS version here and read their primer here.