The Switch is THE console for modern otome games, harbouring most of the must plays and classics, from beginner friendly to dark or steamy otome games and even cheap and indie otome games. Whichever kind of otome game you prefer, I’m sure you’ll find something to your liking!
Code:Realize and its two FDs
The story begins with the main character, Cardia, isolated and alone in a mansion on the outskirts of a 19th century steampunk version of London. With her blood a virulent poison and her touch instantly lethal, Cardia is shunned as a monster. Through a number of events Cardia is pursued by the Royal Guard, kidnapped by the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, and joined by myriad other handsome figures out of the best of western literature. With her new-found friends (and suitors) Cardia ventures out in the world to unravel the mysteries surrounding her very existence. (desciption by Aksys)
This was one of the first otome games brought to the Switch and for many to date is one of their favourite games, especially with the sweet fandisk content.
CollarxMalice
As a young police officer, you must save a city under siege! A terrorist organization’s brutal attack has left you fitted with a deadly souvenir – a poisonous collar that could end your life at any moment. With time running out, five strangers offer their help – but which of them can you trust? And will you be able to escape a fatal disaster? (description by Aksys)
Another all time classic in the west that got some people by surprise, as it has very dark turns, controversial characters and discusses the meaning of justice.
And this game as well has a fan disk CxM Unlimited for more story and of course romantic scenes.
Piofiore
In a city ruled by three mafia families, the MC becomes entangled in their struggle, finding out she is actually the centre of their war.
This game is famous for its violence, but also for its romance. There are few characters as infamous as Yang and what really stands out is that dating mafia guys doesn’t paint the world in black and white. You are dating criminals, they are not always nice, but rather act violently. But who can live with controversial LIs and a lot of blood, can surely find enjoyment in dating these charming criminals.
Piofiore 1926 (Fall 2022)
And in fall 2022 the sequel to the extremely popular game will finally reach the West.
In the sequel you can either experience what happens after each character route and in the story alternative there is a new threat to Burlone our Mafia guys have to work together against in order to prevent a huge disaster.
This game is a sequel, which means unlike a FD it doesn’t solely focus on romance, but also tells a new story. I will make a review soon, but so far it seems to me actually more plot heavy than the first part, what is kind of unfortunate for me as a romance lover, but definitely has the gorgeous Piofiore art and usual gore, like torture, a lot of death and heart wrenching endings.
Set on an island with a strict colour hierarchy the only left white olympia has to marry to continue her important lineage. Brought up sheltered, she not only has to find a husband, but also find herself in this colourful, romantic and steamy coming of age story.
The game definitely deals with some heavy topics, like violence and dsicrimination and has overall a tragic tone to it. Nevertheless I think people cannot help but feel enchanted by its tragic, yet heart-felt story.
Birushana Senki (June 2022)
Fifteen years after the Heiji Rebellion, the Heike clan has reached the height of its power, while the Genji clan remains devastated by defeat. Hidden deep within the mountains of Kurama lives Shanao, the youngest surviving heir to the Genji name. However, Shanao harbours a deep secret known by very few. She is a girl.
Torn between her duty to live up to the Genji family name and her desire to live a peaceful life, Shanao sets off in hopes to take down the Heike stronghold and finally bring peace to the country. Her adventure leads her to find new cherished relationships, as well as something deeper than the feud between the rivalling clans. (description by idea factory international)
In order to pursue your LI you not only have to raise his affection, but also balance your stats.
The game got positive reviews and in Japan even a FD was released. If you like historical settings, like Hakuouki and don’t mind a lot of battle scenes that come at the cost of fewer romantic scenes with tragic and bittersweet endings, then Birushana is the game for you.
Amnesia Memories + LaterxCrowd (Fall 2022)
Waking up with no memories in either of the four alternative worlds, the heroine must find out what happened to her, balance her stats to find out who she can trust and who is deceiving her.
In each world you are together with one of the four love interests. The story is filled with suspense about the mystery around your amnesia and because you never know whom to trust and with every character playthrough the cards on the table turn.
This game was for many people their first otome game and that’s why fans couldn’t be happier that on top of the base game, the two fan discs later and crowd were also announced for localisation.
In Amnesia Later you’ll experience sweet scenes and relationship development until they marry!
Amnesia Crowd consists of working mini games, a suspense route, where you unravel another mystery resembling the first game, and a love route, that takes place after Amnesia Later with typical fan disk stuff like pure romantic scenes.
That means finally kiss scenes for everybody!
Even if Tempest (2022)
Is voltage’s first fully voiced full priced game, that should release 2022
The heroine, who led a life of despair and regret, was revived by a Witch of Ruin, who bestows upon her the ability of fatal rewind, to rewind time. And with this ability she gets a second chance in life. How will she use it? And will she bring even more despair upon the world? What are the witched goals?
This game will certainly tell a very dark story, with a lot of violence and dark secrets.
On top of that thrilling story will come gameplay mechanics, like the fatal rewind, but especially the witches trials, which are werewolf-like danganronpa trials!
For a more detailed analysis about what we know so far, see this post!
Bustafellows
You play as a young woman with the ability to leap in the past for a very short period in the bodies of others, which you use for data collection and helping people. After witnessing the murder of a crooked lawyer – you go back in time in an attempt to save him. (description by pQube)
This game feels a lot like a crime novel, where you get to know with a quirky cast of characters executing their own justice.
What also stands out is the voiced heroine, who gets entangled with this kind of criminal organisation.
Bustafellows is not the most romantic otome game though. Big parts of the game focus on the crime and mystery aspect and only the few last chapters in each route have a little bit of romance.
Winter’s Wish (2023)
In 1716, the first year of the Kyoho era, Japan was under the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shogun. In response to repeated monster attacks on the town of Edo, the Tokugawa shogunate establishes the “Oniwaban,” a secret group tasked with keeping the monsters under control and maintaining peace in the city.
11 years later, a girl born with the special power of seeing calamity in a village far from Edo has been driven out into the snowy mountains by the terrified townspeople.
Then, one day, men claiming to be members of the mysterious Oniwaban appear before her, saying she is needed in Edo. Soon, the girl’s power, which previously only brought her misfortune, will become an invaluable asset to the Oniwaban and their efforts against the monsters… (description by Aksys)
I think this can be described as a very classical otome game.
You play as the shunned and shy girl and the LIs give you a second chance in life.
The game has many fighting scenes, which are balanced with sweet innocent romance scenes. But sadly there are quite some mediocre reviews, criticising the pacing and that the game doesn’t know what it wants to be, as it tries balancing sincere scenes with cute or funny scenes.
What for me personally stands out is the pretty art and gorgeous soundtrack, but of course it’s sad to hear, if the story was dragging, had small inconsistencies and only tied together by the true route, while the other routes felt rather self-contained.
In the trendsetting metropolis LosYork our MC works as a bridal advisor. Because her true identity is the goddess cupid and she wants to convince her father Mars that humans don’t even need her goldy help to fall in love. And she sees this point as proven, if she is able to match make the parasite 5 – 5 guys with the weirdest quirks, no one, literally no one would want to marry: one is hung up on his past love, one can’t shut up about his hobby, one can’t see ugly people, one is to busy to even meet women and one is only interested in women who already are in a relationship.
But then Cupid gets too close trying to match make them and falls in love herself, finding out, despite being the goddess of love, she doesn’t know much about love herself.
This is one of my favourite otome games, because of its stunning 50s art style and music that just makes you dance. And though the game is light-hearted and character driven, most of the routes also have a silly fantasy story.
I don’t know anyone who didn’t love this game, its cute happy and absurd, an absolute must-play, if you ask me,
Dairoku – Agents of Sakuratani
Ever since she could remember, Akitsu Shino has had the ability to see what others could not: spirits, apparitions, and indescribable creatures. As an adult, this talent leads her to join a secret government agency: The Occult Action Department. Her assignment is with the Sixth Special Preventions Office, and her job is to monitor the powerful beings who travel between her world and the worlds beyond. (despription by Aksys)
In this fluffy character driven romance, the MC has to put up with the weirdest ayakashi you could imagine!
Neither does it have a deep nor long story, but is solely focused on character interactions. Reviews are a bit mediocre, because there is really nothing more to this light-hearted game.
A member of a prestigious family and heiress to a fortune, Hibari learns that her eccentric grandfather is determined to find her a husband. He arranges to house her in a luxurious villa along with four handsome, hand-picked bachelors and her private butler. As her suitors try to win her hand by any means necessary, Hibari endures endless everyday trials and temptations. (description by Aksys)
But she quickly finds out that her grandfather surely has a strange taste in men, choosing a guy who attempted marriage fraud, a debtor, a gambling addict, and a gold digger.
Similar to the guys in Cupid Parasite you initially don’t want to date any of these guys at all, one is worse than the other. But already in the common route you discover they are not half as bad and you can definitely have some fun with the voiced tsundere heroine.
This game was quite hilarious, but yet the story and misplaced angsty moments couldn’t quite convince me.
Lover Pretend (Fall 2022)
Chiyuki is a college student with dreams: One, to become a scriptwriter like her late mother, and two, to find her father, whom she’s never met.
Living alone with no romantic experience whatsoever, Chiyuki struggles with writing stories about love. But one day, on the hunt for clues for the identity of her father, Chiyuki learns that he may have been involved in the production of a romantic drama based on a script her mother wrote before she was born.
In a stroke of luck, Chiyuki lands a job as an assistant for an upcoming film working with the sons of the former staff from her mother’s soap opera. (descrption by Aksys)
You can either romance a cold actor, the flirty model, your cheerful childhood friend, or the otaku assistant, while you search for clues about your father.
What is special about this game is the pretend time, where you have to make timed choices in order to convince people of your lies – I was not very fond of that mechanic, but you can find out more in my review.
Jack Jeanne (2023)
The game’s story centres around protagonist Kisa Tachibana, a girl who had given up a career in theatre, but receives an invitation to attend an elite drama school for male actors, where students play female roles (referred to as “Jeanne” roles) in addition to male roles (“Jack” roles). However, to maintain her enrollment, she must land a starring role in the school’s play at the end of the year, and also hide the fact that she is a girl.
This localisation was just recently announced and is special for several reasons.
The MC is voiced and it’s the first otome game on the western market with gameplay elements! Because you have to play rhythm mini games. But I was told their difficulty is nothing to worry about, because you don’t need to have a perfect score and there are multiple difficulty levels available. As the game was announced there was a short confusion about whether this game is an otome game, because it was not explicitly marketed as such. But yes, it is a visual novel, where you can romance guys. What makes it an otome game. It’s just that they all think you are a boy, so you don’t have the typical romantic scenes, but rather see their relationship develop as friends who then turn into lovers. And its really the character development that’s the focus of this light hearted game.
Café Enchantée
When Kotone inherits her grandfather’s Tokyo café, she discovers the shop holds more secrets than anyone could imagine. The café is a meeting place for beings from multiple, mystical worlds. You’ll meet the king of demons, a humanoid beast, a fallen angel, and more. And when government agents monitoring non-human activities show up at your door, your new café is about to become a lot more colourful. (description by Aksys)
Starting out as a cute cafe game, the character routes are filled with tragedy and angst.
I think this is one of the few games that actually manages to balance lighter and darker tones without feeling out of place. Though the angst took practically everyone by surprise, if you like tragic personal backstories in a colourful fantasy universe, you will quickly grow to like this game and its loveable characters.
Paradigm Paradox (Fall 2022)
500 years in the future, the world as we know it has become inhabitable. The remaining humans live in colonies, artificial environments surrounded by looming walls and a simulated sky. But rumour has it if you’re out past curfew, you may cross paths with a deadly monster…
One day high schooler Yuuki finds herself outside after curfew and face to face with a horrific monster known as a Vector, but is saved by four female superheroes… And is invited to join their cause and protect the colony from the Vector threat! But there’s more to these girls than meets the eye… (description by Aksys)
The game has two very interesting features: one is that there are hero and villain LIs and depending on which side you pick the story will progress differently. But of course the world is not always black and white.
The other special feature is the gender bender aspect: because in the fights against the monsters the boys turn into magical girls! Yes, you heard correctly. For big chunks of the game you talk to their girls’ appearance. This might also be a reason why the romance falls a bit short in this game, as it is very plot heavy and actually quite dark.
Taisho x Alice All in One
The game starts strangely – you are engulfed in utter darkness and stumble upon a bratty boy who calls himself Alice, but you don’t have any other memories at all. After you wandered through the darkness you come upon mirrors and behind each mirror a gender swapped fairy tale character awaits you!
Starting off like a ususl sweet otome games, the more characters you play, the more you’ll see of the immensely twisted plot…
Honourable Mentions
OperaHouse:
In Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku you are invited to a concert by the boy band fox ears, but as soon as they start playing your family pendant begins to glow and you fall unconscious. As you wake up you are surrounded by the members of that band, who are actually fox spirits and try to take this pendant from you. But as soon as they try, the pendant starts glowing again. Unable to take the pendant by force they decide to make you fall for them. Who will you entrust the pendant to?
Though the voice cast of this short game is quite impressive, the rest is not. So more a sweet little game in between the big otome titles.
My Mewitching Perfume seems like a machine translated title, where you make the guys fall for you with your perfume.
In Byokkai toi samurai you secretly go to an all boys fighting school.
Princess Closet is another game with gorgeous voice actors, but a mediocre story, where you suddenly find yourself casted as a model and your world turned upside down by the showbiz and the LIs you encounter.
Diamond Girl is a bad port of the unvoiced mobile game, where you find out you are a rich heiress and now have to be trained how to become a lady living together with the LIs.
In Yume midori Nostalgia your grandmother told you following a butterfly will guide you to your soulmate. So on one fateful summer day you do exactly that, but find yourself in the red light district of the Taisho Era and search together with Ikki’s and Gilbert’s voice actors a way back.
Indies:
by English developers and on a small budget, something if you feel like a change of pace from the standard Japanese romance
In Akash you can romance your five classmates, navigate the conflict between two war torn races, as you plan the greatest Coming of Age Ceremony for you, a girl with elemental powers..
In Nicole you start your first semester in college, just to witness how students get abducted and return with no memory of it. In the VN mode of this game you can skip the stat raising and directly romance the guys.
In Autumn’s journey the voiced MC helps a transformed dragon learn about her race and find out how to return him back.
In c14 dating you are an anthropology student on a trip to excavate some bones or fall deep in love with an extremely diverse cast of characters.
Cinders tells a cinderella story, but with a stronger emphasis on proactive characters.
In Roommates you can take the role of the male or female protagonist and romance your fellow students.
Arcade Spirits revives the good old arcade times, where you can nostalgically romance a diverse cast of characters.
And these weren’t even all the otome games on the Nintendo Switch.
There are also a lot of voltage games and some hidden gems!