Medium heavy spoilers ahead!
“This game makes Virche look like a children’s game”
Setting
In Over Requiem Z the heroine Yuhiru gets transported into another world – the world of Oz.
But before she can fully realise what happened, she gets the death penalty for invading the royal castle. The only way out is to go on an expedition with four other convicts to slay terrible monsters in the mysterious ruins scattered across the country that also got transported to the country of Oz – a journey that will turn out much graver than any death penalty.
This voyage leads them to ruins inhabited by terrible monsters, where every character is forced to face their deepest trauma, and the heroine is looking for a way back to her own world.
Characters
Recommended route order
Kaize > Claude > Noil > Morii > Dorothy
Dorothy can be considered the true route with all the information about the isekai.
Kaize’s route also has connections to the truth, so if you don’t want any information whatsoever, you can also play him second to last.
The other routes are pretty much self-contained. I think Kaize is a good introduction into the world, Morii has the cruellest route, Claude is also pretty cruel, so I positioned Noil in between as a little, really little break from all that cruel craziness.
Regarding the truth and darkness routes; If you want to suffer SLIGHTLY less, I either recommend playing darkness first and truth afterwards, so the darkness routes don’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth (because they are long),
Or first play all good and then all dark routes to feel less emotionally involved.
Kaize
- lonely good boi
Kaize is the second prince of the country, convicted of slaughtering his father. This comes to no one’s surprise as his black hair and black eyes are well known in the country to be an omen of evil and demons.
When meeting Kaize he seems to have two faces, the one shy and stuttering, the other mean and demeaning. I don’t think I need to tell you what his true face is, and that he immediately tries to protect the heroine from a fate like his, as she also has black eyes and black hair and thus is subject to disdain.
Will the heroine help him accept himself, or will their special bong turn into a special obsession?
I really enjoyed getting to know the true Kaize and learning about his sad and lonely past, and seeing the heroine support him to make him feel love the first time in his life.
Claude
- smart flirt
- likes to suffer in silence
Claude is a researcher convicted of killing a whole village including his family in one night, but to Yuhiro he acts like a gentle older brother. He reliably takes care of her so much, that his own worries almost went unnoticed.
Can the heroine help him move forward, of will his withering heart poison their relationship?
Claude was such an amusing character, who sometimes isn’t of this world. He is dangeroulsy good-looking at often gets hit on and thus assumes it’s just like people are around here! Because he’s afraid of ghosts, he eargerly tries to convince himself they don’t exist.
I had a lot of fun with his character, but his story was a bit too brutal for my taste.
Noil
- genlte beast
- knight in shaggy armour
Noil is an ex-soldier convicted of killing his comrades.
He appears wild and rash, only treating Prince Kaize with the utmost respect and admiration. His honour as a soldier also demands him to protect the weak and bet his life on protecting the group. While he seems strong on the outside, incredible sorrows are paining him from the inside.
Will these sorrows eat him up completely or will the heroine accept him as he is?
This route and character were my favourite by far! Noil is such a likeable character, seeming rough on the outside, but gentle on the inside. I found his trauma the most interesting and was especially impressed by the presentation. The game applies an actual psychological theory for treating his trauma, which is, at the same time, astonishing as it is moving, gentle, and sensitively told. We know a lot of otome routes about healing trauma, but this one felt so real. In top of that I think that these two had the most relatable love story, with the most intense moments, and focus on mutual support and trust, as they grew and faced everything together as equals.
Morii
- just stay away from him
- seriously
The calm and gentle Morii is surprisingly quick-witted and a skilled swordsman, not hesitating to kill, if necessary or even if not
In his true route, the heroine helps him achieve his goals while finding out the true reason his heart seems so cold.
In the darkness route, the dire fate breaks both of them, engulfing them deeper in a cruel tragedy.
I don’t know what to say. This route is the cruellest, most grotesque route I’ve ever read in my otome life, and I wish to forget it as quickly as possible. What is happening here is NOT OK! (breathes heavily)
I felt so sick and thought I was going crazy the longer I played this forsaken route!
Not even the romance could save me, as – for a good reason that is- the romance is almost non-existent.
Dorothy
- the not so hidden yandere
- overprotective as f***
Dorothy is the witch of the North, watching over the poor convicts as they go on their death parade to the ruins. But for some reason Dorothy formed a strange affection for Yuhiru, worries about her and gets jealous when the other fellows approach her, but of course he also carries his fair share of secrets.
Will the heroine find out the truth about her isekai, or will she continue to depend on Dorothy…?
A worthy true route, finally understanding everything about the isekai worlds, the heroine’s past and Dorothy, who shares a name with the protagonist of the first book of the Wizard of Oz series.
Yuhiru
- nerves of steal
- never gives up
The heroine Yuhiru just got transported into another world, yet she doesn’t waste time crying or lamenting, but faces her fate, and everything that comes at her – and believe me, that poor girl is suffering through a lot – and yet she stays strongly determined to support the ones she loves, no matter what. A great heroine, with the emotional intelligence and warmth, nerves of steel, but also wits and charm, talking her mind, facing her emotions and the trauma of the LIs up front, giving them what they need, be it a warm hug and knocking some sense into them.
I know some of you wish for stronger heroines and Yuhiru has got you covered.
System
- route changing choices
There are many outstanding aspects about Over Requiem Z, one of them is the system.
There are three kinds of choices: free choices, choices where you can get a voice line and choices determining your route.
Each character has a true route and a darkness route, equally long, branching out after the first half of the route, and each branch has two endings, so four endings overall. So in each playthrough, you make two important choices, one for the route branch and one for the endings.
In the other choices you’re free to reply as you please, what you want to eat or how you want to confess to your LI.
And I really love that system! I really enjoyed having a carefree life until the branching choices. And those branch choices are something else! This time, not the food you eat or which alley you walk down, will decide on your fate, but actual decisions where you can see where they will lead. Will you fight or succumb? Lie or tell the truth? Kill or not kill? Really life-changing choices.
A great system I would like to see in more games!
Art
While the art style seems simple, some CGs remind me of Ghibli sketches, some tunes bring me back to Laputa, while others give the eerie vibe of Nier Automata background music.
Just sometimes sprites flickered when changing position, but maybe that will be patched.
But it was the voice actors who made the game enjoyable for me, despite its goriness. I enjoyed the cast so much, as the game with its ups and downs gave every character so much time to shine and show their full range of voice and emotions.
My absolute favourite – of course – being Noil, Suzuki Ryouta鈴木崚汰, you know from Yona in Tengoku Struggle.
But also Dorie, Horie Shun堀江 瞬, you know from Himuka in Olympia Soiree, who isn’t really my type in general, absolutely got me with his deep yandere voice.
Claude, Furukawa Makoto古川 慎, you know from Allan in Cupid Parasite, wins the prize for the best kiss sounds.
Morii, Ishikawa Kaito石川 界人, you might know from Sharaku in Tengoku Struggle, convives with a light and playful tone.
And Kaize, Azakami Youhei阿座上 洋平, you might know from Koharu in 9 RIP, captures the softness and loneliness of the character.
Japanese Level
Despite the historical fantasy setting, the dialogue is surprisingly easy and rarely do you encounter obscure grammar patterns, just the kanji can be special at times. If you don’t want to wait for a localisation, surely give it a try even as a lower to upper intermediate learner, if you like emotional suffering over your learning material!
Tone
- “The true yandere game!”
The game is gory, brutal and grotesque like nothing I have read before.
I thought Virche was awful.
This was even worse.
You can’t play for 10 minutes straight without your display flashing red with blood or someone being dismantled.
And the crude physical pain is just the tip of the iceberg.
Maybe worse are the sweet three hours of the darkness route, where you witness the LIs and the heroine go crazy, agonise in mental pain and despair, in a downward spiral of infatuated obsession – which makes this game a true yandere game.
I do like bad endings – for 30 minutes.
I do like yanderes – if they are somehow happy in their twisted world.
But this. Is something else. It’s pure cruel pain for hours without escape and without hope.
But unlike in other yandere endings, that appear sudden, out of character, for the pure sake of yandere-ness. These yandere or craziness engings make sense. Over several hours you can witness the slow process of them spiraling down into obsession and co-dependance.
Each route has four ends, the only good end branching out from the true route, and you can’t be prepared enough for what happens in the darkness route. Let me tell you this. One of the writers worked on one of the most twisted Rejet games (Moshi, Kono Sekai ni Kami-sama ga Iru to Suru Naraba.)…it’s difficult comparing craziness levels, but this game is absurdly crazy. Think Virche, but double that and add more blood, and more.
Luckily, unlike Virche, for me, the romance development and sweet moments were way, way better in Over Requiem Z in my opinion (yes, I know I’m the only person who didn’t like Virche)! As soon as you enter the character routes, after the one-hour common route, you spend time with the LI practically non-stop and get to know each other deeply, so much until he opens up to you about his deepest fears.
This is also accompanied by funny banters of the cast and light-hearted RPG-like travel scenes.
In the second half of the true route path, the heroine helps the characters overcome their trauma with her unconditional love and compassion. Either the heroine supports the LIs emotionally or by taking action herself and fighting for them as good as she can.
Or together they spiral into despair…
Nevertheless, as the game is plot-heavy, romance is not the main point, and in some routes, they only confess and kiss at the very end.
Sadly, potentially hot scenes are reserved for the darkness route, so no making out without the bitter taste of craziness and despair – sorry, fellow steamy girls.
Oz
Is this a Wizard of Oz otome games?
Short answer: no
Long answer: The heroine gets isekaied in the same manner as Dorothy in the first book, in a country of Oz, also devided into North, East, South and West, each part assigned to a witch, like the witch and in the game also head of the royal guards Glinda.
I guess in the broadest sense, you will get to knoe the Tinman, the lion and the scarecrow, but the allusions are few and far between and might have served as an inspiration, but not so much a clear guideline.
Having killed the king, there is indeed turmoil about the throne, but Kaize Ozma is and stays a man, albeit with his secrets and revelations of course.
Especially the true route is filled with allusions to the first book, be it the isekai set-up or the shoes of the heroine.
Still, if you’re a big fan of the series, this might not be enough for you. – Or maybe you can find more allusions than I did?
The most Oz-esque thing about the game might be the message, that every potential already lies within us – be it good or bad.
Verdict
Over Requiem Z is a game about love. Loving yourself. Accepting yourself. Giving and accepting love. How love can heal. How love can support. How love can make you stronger.
It is also a game about trauma, trauma you can overcome together, or trauma you can never run away from and will confine you forever in its iron fist.
This is a plot-heavy game, fighting monster after monster until facing your inner demons.
This is a gory game, blood, intestines, arms and eyes, corpses and more blood and torture.
This is a game about the downward spiral of despair, bringing forth terribly tragic yandere endings. The CGs look arguably hot, but the stories are heart-shattering.
This is a game about choosing your own path and dealing with the consequences, as no one is just good or evil. Every potential lies within you, be it destructive or creating.
Personally, I don’t like gore, I don’t even like plot-heavy games, so I had a hard time with the game, questioning why I am even playing otome games! But the sheer fact that this game threw me into such disarray is only proof of how well written and thrilling it is! Rarely have I seen characters be portrayed so delicately and fragile, have suffered so much in yandere endings, felt so sick about the plot, feared the next event and wanted to drop the game, because it was too good for its own good.
The absurd amount of gore is the biggest drawback for me in this game and stopped me from enjoying it more.
Yet, trying to judge it as objectively as I can, so you can decide whether it’s worth the time and money for you, I cannot find many other faults.
It is plot-heavy, but the story is solid.
It can be long-winded, but otherwise, you wouldn’t feel the pain that intensely.
It rips your heart out, but that is what you’re here for.
Who is this game for
✅ like gore
✅ like despair
✅ like plot-heavy games with a true route
✅ like yandere
✅ like to suffer slowly for hours, watching the characters fall into mental destruction
✅fans of the voice actors
✅like a short common route
Who should think about it twice
❌don’t like gore, violence, despair, horror
❌want a lot of sugar content and sweet moments
❌get bored by plot-heavy games
❌want perfect happy ends
❌can’t bear seeing characters suffer for a long time
❌don’t like toxic relationships (in the darkness routes)
Some speculations at the end: The game was sold out in the week of its release, which makes me think that sales numbers must have been good. There was quite a hype, and many people are happy with the game.
- I think that makes a localisation likely
- I think that this genre, which I call Virche-like, gory, despair-inducing games, might be produced more often in the future as not only in Japan but also in English, Virche (and potentially also Over Requiem Z) was immensely popular. If I was Otomate I would give the fans what they obviously want: despair, gore, emotional pain and crazy, but painfully slow and deep yandere endings.
General facts
- playtime: ～40h
- common route 1h
- language: Japanese
- platform: Nintendo Switch