I’ve been meaning to jot down a list of otome games with actual gameplay, i.e. not visual novels but the work and research involved turned me off. But I realize I’m never going to get started if I wait to get all the information I need, so I’ll start with what I know and update it as I go along.
Why otome games + gameplay? Because I enjoy romance games but I’m not a fan of reading-reading-reading “games.” When I pick up that handheld or controller, I want to DO something, not read a poorly-written teen novel. I figure I’m not the only one who thinks this way, so this list might come in handy for other readers. To make it onto this list, a game must:
– Be an otome game i.e. have a female protagonist and a heavy romantic element. I’m not including games where you can choose to play as a male or female protagonist either. It must be a game about dating cute guys (whatever else the premise may claim) and you must play as a girl.
– Have something for gamers to do other than read for 10 hours.
– Not be an 18+ game (I don’t play them so I don’t catalog them).
Simple, right?
Let’s get started, all the games I know. I was going to put them in alphabetical order, but maybe a Type of Gameplay order will be more helpful. I’ll update it later with consoles and release dates and all the other stuff I was waiting to find out before writing this list. All titles are in Japanese unless otherwise noted.
Turn-based/Action/Strategy RPG gameplay (game summaries on a separate page)
Akai Suna Ochiru Tsuki
Arabians Lost: The Engagement on Desert
Crimson Empire ~ Circumstances to Serve a Noble~
Goddess Princess
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 2
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 5
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 6
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Yume no Ukihashi
Jewel Princess Ellejou/Destiny Stone [Korean]
L2 Love x Loop
Little Anchor
Neo Angelique
Princess Battles [English]
Real Rode
Sengoku Night Blood
Tensei Hakkenshi Fuumaroku
Ururun Quest Koiyuuki
Stat-raising gameplay (game summaries on a separate page)
Always Remember Me
Brother’s Conflict – Passion Pink & Brilliant Blue
Dandelion – Wishes brought to you
Glass Heart Princess
Hanasaku Manimani
Houkago Colorful*Step Undoubu & Bunkabu
Kami-sama to Koigokoro
Kimi ni Todoke ~Sodateru Omoi
Kimi ni Todoke ~Tsutaeru Kimochi
La Corda d’Oro/Kiniro no Corda
La Corda d’Oro 2/Kiniro no Corda 2
La Corda d’Oro 3/Kiniro no Corda 3
La Corda d’Oro 3/Kiniro no Corda 4
Lucky Rabbit Reflex [English]
Mermaid Prism
Miss Princess: MisPri!
Nicole [English]
Otometeki Koi Kakumei ★ Love Revo!! [has English Patch]
Prince of Stride
Ratirica
Star Project [English]
Storm Lover
Storm Lover Natsukoi!!
Storm Lover 2nd
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 1st Love [has English patch]
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side: 2nd Kiss/Season [has English patch]
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side: 3rd Story [has English patch]
Trouble Fortune Company★ Happy Cure
Vampire Knight DS
Wand of Fortune
Wand of Fortune 2 ~Jikuu ni Shizumu Mokushiroku~
Life simulation gameplay (game summaries on a separate page)
Albaria no Otome
Angelique
Angelique Special 2
Angelique Trois
Angelique Etoile
Arcobaleno!
Clover no Kuni no Alice
Datenshi no Amai Yuuwaku X Kaikan Phrase
Duel Love – Koisuru Otome wa Shouri no Megami
dUpLicity ~Beyond the Lies~ [English]
Elkrone no Atelier ~Dear for Otomate~
Enkeltbillet
Hanayaka nari, Waga ichizoku
Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku Kinema Mosaic
Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku Tasogare Polar Star
Hana yori Dango – Koiseyo Otome!
Heart no Kuni no Alice ～Wonderful Wonder World～[English]
Hoshizora no Comic Garden
Houkago no Love Beat
Issho ni Gohan.
Joker no Kuni no Alice
Kaiketsu! Gakuen Nandemoya
Kanuchi: Futatsu no Tsubasa
Kimagure Strawberry Cafe
Koibana Days
Koi wa Kousoku (Rule) ni Shibararenai!
Last Escort
Last Escort 2 ~Shinya no Amai Ibara~
Last Escort -Club Katze-
Love & Order [English]
Meine Liebe Yuubinaru Kioku
Meine Liebe II ~Hokori to Seigi to Ai~
Meshimase Roman Sabou
Nana – Subete wa Daimaou no Omichibiki?!
O*G*A Oni-gokko Royale
Palais de Reine
Princess Debut [English]
RE: Alistair++ [English]
Reijou Tantei ~Office Jiken~
Ren’ai Banchou! Inochi Mijikashi, Koiseyo Otome! Love is Power
Ren’ai Banchou 2: Midnight Lesson!!!
Ripple no Tamago ~apprentice magician~
Saikin Koi Shiteru?
Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama ~Go to the top~
Spirited Heart [English]
Tennis no Ouji-sama: Doubles no Ouji-sama – Girls, be Gracious! [has English patch]
Tennis no Ouji-sama ~Gakuensai no Ouji-sama~ [has English patch]
Tennis no Ouji-sama Gyutto! Dokidoki Survival Umi to Yama no Love Passion
The Flower Shop – Winter In Fairbrook [English]
Tokimeki Restaurant ☆☆☆
VitaminR
VitaminX
VitaminZ
Miscellaneous gameplay (game summaries on a separate page)
Amnesia Memories [English]
Area-X [English]
Atelier Annie: Alchemist of Sera Island [English]
Ayashi no Miya
Cute Knight Kingdom [English]
Cute Knight Deluxe [English]
Dear Girl ~Stories~ Hibiki: Hibiki Tokkun Daisakusen!
Dear My Sun!! ~Musuko Ikusei Capriccio~
Drastic Killer
Fantastic Fortune
Fantastic Fortune 2
Hana Awase
Hanayoi Romanesque
Harajuku Tantei Gakuen Steel Wood
Heileen: Sail Away [English]
Heileen 2: The Hands of Fate [English]Heileen 3 [English]
Issho ni Gohan.
Kaeru Batake de Tsukamaete Portable
KLAP!!~Kind Love and Punish
Koi Sentai Love & Peace the P.S.P.
Library Cross
Long Live the Queen [English]
Magical Diary: Horse Hall [English]
Memoirs of an Angel [English]
Ouji-sama Platonic Keikaku
Pandora ~kimi no na wa ore ga shiru~
Princess Maker [English]
Princess Maker 2 [English]
Princess Maker: Yumemiru Yousei [English]
Princess Maker 4
Princess Maker 5
Ranshima Monogatari Lair Land Story
Scared Rider Xechs
Please help me flesh out the lists by telling me if I’m missing anything, especially for English-developed games and those on the Android/iOS (both full game releases and gacha). Thanks in advance!
As far as English developers go, Hanako Games makes a lot of them and they’re mostly attempts at Princess Maker clones so I guess life sims. There’s the two Cute Knight games, and the most recent famous one on Steam is Long Live the Queen.
Thanks, I’ll look into Hanako Games and see if they have anything that fits. I left out the Princess Maker games firstly because they aren’t really romantic by nature and secondly because the lead character is just the main (male) protagonist’s puppet. He sends her to school and puts her to work for 8 years and then she marries a merchant is how it usually goes in those games, much as I love them.
–I think I’ll add a “Borderline” category to deal with those cases.
Thanks for the list and I was going to say P3P until I read the list of rules. There’s a lot of games where I can choose the MC’s gender :<
Hana awase? It's a VN but it has card mini-games.
Shikkoku no Sharnoth: What a Beautiful Tomorrow: has an optional mini-puzzle game where you can escape from monsters. I know there are other VNs in the same series but I can't read JP so MMMV.
Atelier series features dating-sim elements and has a young girl as a MC who can date various male NPCs.
Cheritz's Dandelion is a Korean otoge with a stat-raising element and story mix.
Ugh, I totally can't think of many other otoge for some reason orz. Is the romance aspect the main factor? I could list other games w/female MCs but it would be there as a side quest or something.
Do puzzles count? It's still reading as in interactive fiction games but they'd fit otherwise.
Thanks for the suggestions! Romance is the main factor, otherwise I don’t really know if I’d call it an ‘otome game.’ If the gameplay is optional I’m not sure if I want that to count either, so I’ll put Shikkoku no Sharnoth under ‘Borderline.’ All the Atelier games I’ve played don’t feature dating, though Lilie comes close. I’ll research the PS3 games a little more to see if Rorona/Totori/whatever they’re called can date guys. Puzzle gameplay is still gameplay, fire away if you have any more ideas.
I admit the only Atelier game I’ve played was the one for the DSL Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island orz. I don’t think I could date anyone but I could befriend a lot of male NPCs including the advisor.
The only IF I can think of is Bronze by Emily Short which features a retelling of Beauty and the Beast where you need to solve a variety of text puzzles.
Oh and Princess Debut which is a music/rhythm game for the DS. Meine Liebe series another very old GBA game but the sequels are more VN-like than mini-games.
Other Age by Zeiva had mini-games. I feel like there are some online otoge/stat-raisers like Star Project.
I kinda wish there were otoge w/actual player interaction other than branching routes now that I think about .-.
Yeah, I find otome games sadly lacking in experimentation. They all have one formula: cute bishies + popular seiyuu + bland main character + lots of reading and clicking. It’s the rare game that tries anything even slightly different.
I guess, it must be selling well in Japan? I’m not totally sure about the overseas market though. I think it’s one of the main issues w/otome drama CDs because I feel kinda bored since I was expecting a audiobook exp instead of what feels like a person talking to doll orz.
Reminds me, I got excited for Alice Quinrose mobile adaptation since she has a lot of “personality” but the horrible ENG translation killed it quickly =/
OT:I could write a 5 paragraph essays about my thoughts wrt to otoge but I get a feeling it wouldn’t be exactly well-received lol.
Lol, I have a blog precisely so I can write 15 paragraph essays about all kinds of games without feeling bad.
I think standard otome VNs must sell really well in Japan, because at any given time Otomate has about 20 of them waiting for release. In the US I think Hakuoki did pretty well for Aksys, since they licensed some more otome games since then, but apart from that I have no idea.
And I heard a lot about the Alice translation. “No, I don’t want to follow the suicide rabbit!” I want to play it just for that, but I don’t want to reward the company for being too cheap to hire proper translators.
I’m being totally lazy here by not looking them up myself, but have you browsed through Takuyo’s game catalog? http://www.takuyo.co.jp
They’ve been doing romance games since the PS2 at least and porting them over to the PSP and now vita, and although a number of their older games had both male and female protags, looks like they mainly just do otome now. I think most of their stuff are visual novels, but at least their newest Vita game, Kami-sama to Koigokoro is listed as 「シスター見習い」育成恋愛シミュレーション, so it might be worth taking a look through their games for other simulation stuff.
Hi-ho! Hi-ho! It’s off to the Takuyo website I go!
Thanks!
Enkeltbillet is a recently-release PSP otome game that’s supposed to be a life sim. It looks like Hanayakanari, wa ga Ichizoku from the screenshots.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%A2%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC-Enkeltbillet-%E9%80%9A%E5%B8%B8%E7%89%88/dp/B00I0SUPE0
I’m at that odd spot where I’d like to play more otome games, but most of them go the pure VN route and don’t exactly do the whole “writing” or plot aspect well compared to most eroge I’ve read.
Want. Want now. The Amazon reviews are quite positive too. Thanks for the head’s up!
The poor writing is the problem I have with most VNs. The game is supposed to live and die by that writing, but it’s usually just so BAD. I’ve been lucky to find one or two with decent writing, but it’s just that: decent. That’s why I prefer the ones with gameplay, then at least I’m doing something other than yawning my head off.
Brother’s conflict (both Passion Pink and Brilliant Blue) have stat raising. So does Glass heart Princess. There’s a lot of stat raising games, but I can only remember these at the top of my head. The Quinrose Alice series has gameplay for the following games (pc version): Heart no Kuni, Clover no Kuni, Joker no Kuni and Anniversary no Kuni. But it’s not stat raising, it’s….weird. Basically you have like 200-300 turns and you can visit a character, and depending on which characters you visit, when and how much you do it, you unlock different routes/events. No idea what to classify those games as, but those were the best games in the series IMO, as long as you play them with a guide.
Thanks. I’m adding them all to the list for now, then I’ll sort the gameplay issues out once I do some research. Thanks again!
Thanks for the list, exactly what I was looking for! Now to read every entry and decide which game to throw my money at…
I’m having the same problem, actually ^^;; Hmm, what to play next…
Many games with “stat-raising” belong in the “dating sim” category. “Stat-raiser” is not a genre per se, but an element that’s present in other genres (mostly sims). I don’t know why you’d put TokiMemo GS in that category but Re:Alistair in “life simulation” (all of the features in the latter are present in the former and TMGS even has more “life simulation” since you can actually go on dates and stuff) and I bet some others you consider “life simulation” are actually just “stat-raisers” with no other distinguishable features.
I don’t see the point in classifying games like you did, since stat-raising seems to be present too in games on the other categories. Maybe get rid of the “stat-raising” category altogether and place those games under “life simulation”?
Thanks for the comment. I should note that I haven’t played most of the games I have listed here so I’m usually going off what reviews and official websites had to say about the gameplay. There is considerable overlap between “life sim” and “stat-raiser” so I guess you could consider stat-raising to be a specific subset of life sims. I did feel they were distinct enough to deserve their own category.
The important questions were, “How important are your stats and raising them to your romantic outcome?” “What do you spend most of your time doing?” and “Is there another aspect of gameplay that is more prevalent?” For example in Hanayaka Nari Waga Ichizoku, you have stats to raise to keep you from getting kicked out of the mansion, but I filed it under Life Sim because those stats don’t count towards getting your guy and the game is all about being a Taisho era maid simulation. And so on and so forth.
As I play more of these games, I might shuffle them around within the categories (e.g. having played Meine Liebe, I think it belongs under stat-raising now while La Corda d’Oro is more of a life sim) but I’m happy with the categories themselves as they are.