Otome games like Mystic Messenger and Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side are made specifically for women. The genre began with with Koei’s 1994 game Angelique. Nowadays, otome games are mostly visual novels with lots of reading, but the genre started with a dialogue-light management sim. When I sat down with Tim Rogers to…
Absolute Obedience - Zettai Fukuju Meirei (2007) was one of the first commercial Japanese “boys’ love” visual novels officially localized in English, making it a something of a relic nowadays. After it was released, there wouldn’t be another licensed game from this niche genre brought over to the west for almost a…
Ladykiller in a Bind is full of sex. Naughty, dirty sex. It’s a fun visual novel that let me explore BDSM and consent. For those of you feeling a little timid, the game’s new update adds a few features to keep things PG-13.
Ladykiller in a Bind is a visual novel by Christine Love. It’s about affection, sex, consent, manipulation, and expression. Video games can often be a vector for experimentation and escapism. Playing Ladykiller in a Bind has taught me a surprising amount about myself.
Dating sim Mystic Messenger is blowing up, simulating the too-real experience of falling in love with mysterious people online. It’s a relatable otome (“maiden”) game in which, brilliantly, anime boys—and one girl—interact with you over a fake chatroom and text messages. Your character stumbles upon the fictional …
The Korean dating simulator Mystic Messenger has become somewhat of a sensation among over a million women worldwide. It’s an “otome” game (literally, “maiden game”) that offers female players a harem of anime boys to court. These suitors are all charming in their own ways and all have their particular emotional …
Kindred Spirits on the Roof was touted as being the first ‘erotic game’ released on Steam in its original uncensored format, but anybody seeking out this girl-on-girl visual novel for base titillation is going to find themselves sorely disappointed.
