With the recent success of Otome games garnering mixed attention from the gaming community, many new players have found themselves interested in the genre. Increasing curiosity about the types of Otome games, how they work, what they are like, and which are the most fun to play. Veteran players have jumped on this trend, excited to bring more players into the dating sim universe, with a laundry list of different title suggestions for those to try. Hoping to share more of what they love with those who may not understand the genre and its nuances.
Overview
While Otome games include a cavalcade of different settings, plots, and mechanics, their core function is to be a game designed to facilitate romantic interactions between the player’s main character and a host of young, attractive men. Built, designed, and written to be a foil for the ideal notions and tropes often associated with the perfect guy, these dating sims incorporate a mix of combat, resource management, social interactions, relationship development, and accompanying interactive storylines indicative of a typical format for visual novel style games.
Love and Deepspace
One of the most popular Otome games currently available, Love and Deepspace, prides itself on an interesting and varied story. Set in a futuristic universe, where the players take the role of a Deepspace Hunter trying to protect the world from interdimensional monsters from deep space called Wanderers, the game offers gamers an interesting database of primary and mythic stories worth exploring. The backstories of the main male characters, the implementation of multiversal lives deepening the game’s lore, and private one-on-one moments make exploration of the stories insatiably inherent.
Love and Deepspace was developed by Papergames and distributed worldwide by Infold Pte. Ltd is rated for a teen audience. Available for download on Android and iOS, the game can also be played via PC emulators such as LDPlayer and Bluestacks. The game is free-to-play but incorporates microtransactions should the player wish to spend the money.
Mystic Messenger
An older Otome game, released in 2016, Mystic Messenger is a classic that boasts a unique look at the genre by focusing on chat-log style gameplay. Players have to respond to messages from their potential love interest in real-time. Additionally, the game follows the genre’s standard male love interests but bucks the trope by incorporating a female lover option among the group. Immersive and interactive, the game also includes plot hooks and storylines that ingratiate the player into the world, all while offering the potential of unexpected endings and beginnings rarely seen in typical visual novels.
Released by Cheritz in 2016, Mystic Messenger‘s ESRB rating varies between Teen and Mature depending on the platform. With the former on Android and the latter on iOS, they typically average 4.0 to 4.5 stars in player reviews overall.
Ikemen Vampire
Released in 2017 by CYBIRD Co., Ltd., Ikemen Vampire Temptation in the Dark is one of five Otome games in the multiversal Ikemen series and is a transmigration time travel story, wherein the protagonist is pulled into a world based on 19th-century France. Now suddenly trapped in a mansion with eleven major characters based on historical figures, the protagonist soon learns the greatest secret ever kept: they are all Vampires! Legends like Mozart, Napoleon, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Vincent van Gogh, and William Shakespeare are just some of the enigmatic love interests available.
Ikemen Vampire Temptation in the Dark has earned a 4.4-star rating from users on Android and a 4.7-star rating on iOS. Rated M for mature themes, scenes, and occasional language. The game is free-to-play but incorporates a pay-to-win microtransaction system, similar to other Otome games.
