When it comes to Otome Game one certainly cannot fail to mention Otomatetrusted brand of Idea Factory in churning out visual novel dating sim aimed at a mainly female audience, where the girl on duty is surrounded by steers and has to choose one to covet. In recent years, the Otome genre has proliferated in the West, to say the least, and we have had exponents translated into English, some so popular that they even have animated transpositions (see for example the series of Hakuokiwhich we have already covered in various reviews, or the very interesting Amnesia). It must be said that more often than not, however, the Otome genre tends to take itself far too seriously. Many stories have dark, melancholy, often violent and deviant shades, with an unfortunate protagonist who finds himself having to extricate himself from life-threatening misadventures, personal dramas and young boys with their crowds. And that’s why she breathes a big sigh of relief when she finally gets to get her hands on a sparkling, light-hearted otome full of jokes and hilarious situations like the game we’re going to talk about today, that is Variable Barricadenovel released in 2018 on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita and landed on Nintendo Switch only this year.
- Title: Variable Barricade
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Reviewed version: Nintendo Switch (EU)
- Kind: Visual Novel, Otome Game
- Players: 1
- Publisher: Aksys Games, Idea Factory
- Developer: Otomate, Design Factory
- Language: English
- Exit date: February 24, 2022
- Availability: digital delivery
- DLC: nobody
We reviewed Variable Barricade with a Nintendo Switch code given to us free of charge by Aksys Games.
The protagonist of the story is the seventeen year old Hibaria beautiful but unfriendly girl whose main characteristic is to be disgustingly rich. He has a giant mansion all of his own, a modern vacation home, an army of servants at his disposal, as well as a charming personal butler named Kasugaand attends a refined private school for girls where all the companions look at her with silent admiration, not to mention that she is the only future heir to one of the most powerful and prestigious families in Japan, namely the family Tojo. In short, a party certainly not a laugh for any man!
One fine day, as she goes home from school with her friend Tsumugi, something very peculiar happens to her: four attractive young men stand in front of her, each with a rose in his hand, begging her to take them as her husband. It will be the girl’s grandfather (which she affectionately called “old vulture”) to explain the situation: being Hibari her future head of the family and approaching the age of majority, it is time for her to start thinking about marriage; why he picked up four suitors of her for her: Ichiyawith excellent cooking skills but exaggeratedly gooey gab, the outspoken and arrogant self-styled rocker Taigathe calm but very lazy esthete ShionAnd Nayuta, an energetic and simpleton boy who loves sports and food. In addition, the young woman will move with the four and Kasuga to the Tojo family’s holiday home to live together, in order to deepen the bonds between all of them in the hope that forced cohabitation will convince her to marry one of the boys.
Hibari, being however a stubborn girl, despite having to submit to coexistence with these strangers, has not the slightest intention of bonding with those who, in her eyes, are only lousy dowry hunters; not to mention that, from the investigations carried out by her butler on the four of her, some details have emerged that are not exactly encouraging: tall of them have sordid backstories, such as being guilty of marriage fraud (Ichiya), having gambling problems (Taiga), being a chronic retained person (Shion) or a walking debt generator (Nayuta). Hibari’s decision is clear: he will never fall in love with any of them! But will the barricade that has been created around the heart hold up, or will it be overthrown by the skills of one of the four suitors?
I will break down your defenses!
Variable Barricade, as a novel, it is characterized by many mini episodes on a diagram that we will gradually fill in … or rather, diagrams which outline the various routes of the game, with pieces that can only be unlocked by viewing certain episodes or by unlocking the various diagrams of the four suitors. We will therefore have a common route that is freely intertwined with that of the other charactersand the game allows you to visit and complete diagrams of each route allowing you to get to know them all before making your own decision as to which is your favorite suitor or if you prefer to have nothing to do with them anyway.
Once we enter the event diagram of a particular suitor, that is where the real one will start dating component Of Variable Barricade. As is now the practice for titles of this kind, we will be given events in which we will be given a choice of answers to certain situations. The answer we will give will decide whether we will increase the love for the suitor (characterized by an increasingly elaborate weapon) or Hibari’s reasoning ability (represented here by an increasingly robust barricade). The result of the choices made during this phase will decide the outcome of the Barricade Battles, events that will take place in climax moments of the various routes and will decide how much Hibari’s feelings will change towards the suitor on duty. And believe me: between three levels of diagrams for each pretender, each with their own choices and Barricade Battleswe will really have many different crossroads and endings (reaching even four per pretender!).
In the house of Big Brother Coniglietto
Between one section and the other of each route, we will have an intermission screen where we can save the game and select which tile to view among those that we have not completed on the various diagrams, both on the common route and on that of the candidate on duty. Not only that: we will also be able to use the app Whis to exchange messages with our friends and with the various suitors. At some point in history, Hibari will receive from her classmate Noa a cute little robot in the shape of a black rabbit named Rabi, which the girl can send around the various areas of the house to observe what happens when she is not there and see how her rowdy suitors behave. If we are lucky and we have sent the robot to the right area, in the next interlude we will be able to enjoy a very nice video showing the boys and / or Kasuga in their light-hearted adventures while they are busy living together, with developments one more fun than the other ( and sometimes some private video of the boys in the intimate …). A decidedly nice addition that adds further meat to the fire of this already very full-bodied otome game, which among the various routes is both common and not, is definitely one of the longest that you find yourself reading, not to say also fun.
The neat and pint life of the rich
To accompany a script and dialogues full of lively moments, sweet scenes and many, but many funny gags (although it is necessary to admit that the English text has a few small smears here and there …), we have a graphic sector that is rarely seen in an otome game. The colors are very clear, the colors very clear and bright, characters characterized by a clean and expressive line, with each male character that is completely different from the other both in style and look. There are also several comic skits in which the characters are rendered in an adorable super deformed key that can only tear a smile for their pucciosity.
The sound component is also very catchy. Many of the main characters have quite famous Japanese voice actors: Taiga, for example, is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto (Bakugo’s voice of My Hero Academia, so to speak), and their interpretation is simply excellent. The music is catchy and very varied, as well as suitable for any context, and each character has its own musical theme that plays when it appears on the screen, such as the refined theme played on Tsumugi’s harpsichord, the soft air on the piano that characterizes Shion, or the unleashed rock of the Taiga theme.
Who do we recommend Variable Barricade to?
This is a nice full-bodied novel that it will surely delight all fans of otome games and visual novels in general, but I also recommend it to anyone who wants a story that doesn’t take itself overly seriously and that features many comedic moments worthy of some of the funniest sitcoms. Moreover, given its abnormal amount of text also for the genre (I repeat: it is VERY long!), we recommend it to those who love reading and do not let themselves be discouraged by titles where the narrative sector counts more than the gameplay, as here, as you would expect, there is very little of it. As always with the Otomate novels, however, it must be remembered that the western localization is in English only.
- Long but without being tedious
- Great character design
- Very catchy music
- Excellent characters with dialogues one more hilarious than the other …
- … Although the English text has some flaws
- It has no major gameplay innovations
- Lack of localization in Italian
Variable Barricade
An Otome Game fun that exceeds expectations
Variable Barricade it is definitely a great one Otome Game to keep an eye on, thanks to its very nice script worthy of the best sitcoms, to a very pleasant visual and sound sector and to a length that, despite everything, instead of tiring with long-winded dialogues, encourages you to continue thanks to its format in small episodes that tempt to enjoy one after the other like chips. Also valuable is the fact of being able to freely route each character to get to know them better, without being left to chance. Sure, there aren’t any great gameplay features, even the Barricade Battles themselves are ultimately uniquely influenced by their own choices like any other standard novel, but in a smooth way that’s never left to chance. If you like Otome, and you want something light that can put you in a good mood and make you laugh out loud, then this is the title for you.
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