DHGF: Hakluoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom was definitely an odd choice of a game to localize. There are better visual novels out there, even ones for an all but abandoned system like the PSP. Hell, there are even better versions of this game for other systems out there. Aksys bringing over a niche genre to a system that even Sony stopped supporting is an odd choice; doubly so when you realize that Aksys did a pretty bad job with the localization, filling the game with spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, incorrect translations and even outright typos. They even cut out some of the end game content for some non-understandable reason. If you’re a visual novel fanatic, you can at least rejoice that another of these games made it to North America but you’ll also be disappointed in the end product if you pay enough attention. I’m glad I got to experience this as I’m a fan of the genre, but after having played through it I can safely say there are better and cheaper choices out there.
There is a name people caught up in the otome game craze should know: Otomate. This is the branch of Idea Factory that devotes itself to making games for women. These tend to be visual novels with dating sim elements, though Library Cross is a mobile RPG and I Will Protect You was an Otomate Forte Metroidvania. Lots of Otomate games have been released in English for people to enjoy! Depending on the system you own, you could have at least one title to try.
In the years since Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom made its English debut in 2012, otome games have enjoyed a surge of popularity worldwide. The genre went from an unknown to one that received multiple releases on various platforms each year. Sony handhelds have long been a haven for such titles, with people who own a Vita enjoying the fruits of this bevy of releases.
Marcus estrada writes: "Perhaps you’re a long time fan of visual novels but are still new to the realm of otome games, or you’ve never even touched one prior to Seduce Me’s existence. Whatever the case may be you’re not alone out there. There are tons of otome games available on PC (and a few on consoles too) to help quench a sudden need for them. It’s hard to say there are many others which allow you to date incubi, but hey, that’s part of what makes Seduce Me special."
