Why are multilingual or bilingual games so valuable for us language learners?
Because you didn’t waste money if you don’t understand a word, but even more importantly: you can check your understanding any time, being in the gist of a story or when you’re having trouble with translating one specific sentence, the perfect – or at least a good translation – is only two clicks away!
Those are the games you can buy on your regular English account on the Switch, that still come with Japanese text, so you can easily Switch and compare your translations!
And practically all of them have demos available on the eShop!
Voiced
Ephemeral – Fantasy on Dark
My favourite one is Ephemeral, as it’s in a fantasy school setting and totally suitable for beginners, where you can romance you favourite tropes as werewolf, invisible man, vampire or mummy with a gorgeous voice cast, like Orlok from Piofiore as Natsume or Tsukuyomi from Olympia Soirée as Rei.
Steam Prison
In a steampunk dystopia the MC is accused of the murder of her parents and unable to prove her innocence thrown into the so called depths, where the worst criminals are to atone for their sins. Having peacefully lived in the hights, far away from the scum of the depth, she must confront her prejudices and find out that the world is not as she thought it would be.
Nightshade
As the MC, who is the successor of a famous ninja clan and has trained to become a ninja herself all her life, finally gets assigned her first mission, she finds herself caught up in a conspiracy.
Having a historical setting, this game’s Japanese difficulty level is quite high and even more helpful is that you can easily change to the English translation.
Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi
This remake follows a girl, who becomes the first female fighter for the shinsengumi, again this game will pose a challenge difficulty wise and is all in all very old school.
The Charming Empire
As you suddenly find out you are actually a princess, not only your life changes drastically, but also how you see the world, finding out about your brother and what happens in the shadows of the kingdom.
This is a rather simple and short game, but as its a historical setting, it still will not be too easy to read, but might be a good introduction when you want to start reading historical games and the voice cast is also quite famous.
Gakuen Club
Being transferred to a new school the Mc somehow end up as a waitress in the school’s night club, where she has the chance to get to know her mysterious co-workers.
This game is short and sweet, quite cliched and full of shotas, but a good chance to start playing japanese games, as its fairly easy in a school setting.
Iris School of Wizardry
The orphan Aria somehow manages to get accepted as a prestigious school for wizards, where she is confronted with a class system and the school’s secret
This take on the magical school trope has at least a bit of a short story and some surprises as well as a voice cast worth mentioning, like Tsukoyomi from Olympia Soirée or Yang from Piofiore.
Kitty Love
You are cursed and from now on turn into a kitty by night and have to be saved by a true love’s kiss. A fluffy well made lovely game with straight out positive reviews. Also perfect as your fist Japanese otome game!
Spiral Memoria
The protagonist has lost her memories and the love interest helps her recover her past.
Though short games can be a good opportunity for learners as they are not as daunting and you will quicker achieve the feeling of pride when you finish a route, the downside is obviously the lack of character development and plot holes, like they occur in spiral memory.
But you again can listen to Tsukuyomi and Akaza from Olympia Soirée or Red Riding Hood from Taisho Alice.
But this game is NOT voiced.
Dogenzaka Labs (developer)
+ D3 (publisher)
These games are on the verge to eroge, with some controversial characters and scenes and more on the shorter site.
And for some reason they all also come with Chinese text!
The Men of Yoshiwara
On an island, where no men are allowed to live, the only chance for love is to meet a courtesan in yoshiwara. After helping a courtesan couple escape the heroine herself finds herself captured by these attractive men.
The language of this game is surprisingly easy considering the setting, so if you are in for some short smut and pretty art, this game could be a cheap quick experience.
Pub Encounter
Feeling unhappy with your life and looking for consolation in a bar, you get caught up with one of five middle aged men that you find surprisingly attractive.
Being in a slice of live setting, this game’s language should be easy to the eyes, in contrast to the ragged LIs. But not only are the LIs mature, but so is the content, so be prepared.
Destiny’s Princess
After your castle has been attacked by demons, you, the princess, find a dagger that grants a wish and summon 5 well known historical knights to protect the kingdom, fight for freedom and love.
I also think that the art in this game is quite pretty and the story is supposed to have some decent bad endings, despite being mainly focused on romance, but language wise it’s definitely on the difficult side.
My Secret Pets
After being dumped by your boyfriend, your various pets decided to turn into handsome men. I mean – why not?
This game actually has a decent plot and mystery elements, though the writing can be a bit off.
The Amazing Shinsengumi
The MC is saved by the shinsengumi and the incident is actually based on an historical event. And she consequently is allowed to live with them in their quarters and romance the leaders.
Some praise it, some hate, so on average, its probably a standard entry for Dogenzaka Labs, with some romance, a slight story and a bit of smut.
My Butler
Supporting your aunt’s talent agency you help her out by letting idols wait on you.
This smutty short game can motivate you for learning, even if not with the story, than at least with the more mature content.
Secrets of Me
You are too ugly for your fiance and get plastic surgery. After a man taught you how to stalk people, you tail your fiancee and find out he has only be using you. Now it is your new goal in life to stalk other men, romance them and free them of their bad relationships..
I think we have encountered enough Dogenzaka Lab games in this list, to kind of know where this is going.
Office Lovers
Though you work in a company designing makeup, there is no boyfriend in sight until you get to work on a new project with five handsome men that, well, kind of like to harass you.
This seems like a more problematic Dogenzaka lab entry, that is practically based on dub or non con
Dangerous Relationship
Through a fateful encounter you end up becoming a makeup artist for various idols.
This is also a game that focuses very much on quite explicit sexual content, not in pictures, but in wording, and features toxic tropes.
Voltage games
Interestingly enough all Voltage games on the Switch come in English and Japanese. Read about them here.
And also the new game by Voltage Even if Tempest will be a multilingual release!