Ayakashi: Romance Reborn 12+

The game has a lot of different features to explore and you never really get bored! I’ve had the game for around two months now and have been playing it quite often. The game has multiple features for all aspects of gaming from storyline to little chat features to leveling up cards. You can even fight creatures on an interactive level! There’s always something new to try, and the amount of detail that was clearly put into the games making is astounding! It’s cleverly made, interactive, and full of beautiful aesthetics from characters and backgrounds to the buttons for the icons. If I were to be concerned about one thing, it would be that when you are on the home screen and a character appears on the left side, they read out the text below them. On the storyline however, when the text appears for me, it only reads the first word or syllable of the text, which makes for some very interesting listening. I’m not sure if this happens for everyone, or if it’s a speaker compatibility issue, or if there’s some sort of setting I need to adjust, but that’s probably the only minor issue I have with this game. Otherwise, I find it to be very piquant and have been enjoying myself to the fullest.

I don’t usually write reviews, but I decided to write one for this game. First, the story. The story is fantastic. It was well thought out and with some- but not all- the plot twists being unexpected. The characters are lovable and make the game come to life. The main character can be a tad irritating some times, but that could just be because she makes choices that I wouldn’t make. Now, onto some of the cons. One of the biggest issues I have with the game is the grinding. At the beginning, it’s not too tedious. But once you reach the high levels like level fifty and above, it becomes extremely irritating. You could probably spend to an average of twenty minutes grinding to raise ONE level. The only upside to this is that you don’t have to wait for your energy to regenerate, you can just use five gems which are very easy to get. Lastly, I will talk about the romance aspect of the game. This game is classified as an otome game, which, in my opinion, somewhat accurate. There are romance routes, which I had a lot of fun doing. But that was because of the story, not because of the love between the MC and the love interest. And in only one or two routes do you really get to see their love progress. However, in most of the routes, the guy just ends up proclaiming his love in like the last chapter and it feels really rushed. To me, the only aspect of the game that has kept me intrigued is the plot. If you enjoy in depth stories, give this game a shot.

I’m pretty sure one of the characters in this game who frequents a shrine called gotokuji is supposed to be extremely ironic since this character hates cats and gotokuji is the lucky cat temple hehe ^.^ (I’m not sure if this is intentional since the game doesn’t address it. I only know because I’ve been there)

Overall, this game is very rewarding and worth your time.

Pros:
-15 characters
-completely free to play and you don’t have to wait/watch ads/etc because the game makes the accumulation of energy very easy.
-The story is also very well written and the English translation was done seamlessly.

Cons:
-Some other reviews mentioned how tedious grinding is at higher levels and it’s no exaggeration.
-the setting of the game didn’t seem like early 20th century Japan due to the amount of relatively recent slang used by the main character especially. I know this is nitpicking but it doesn’t alter the story or anything so I just wanted to mention it.
-My other complaint is how, well, PG it is. I’m not trying to sound pervy nor do I want this game to be rated R. But a lot of the stories end with a confession of love and that’s it. The stories themselves are good but seem lacking, especially for a game that has the word “romance” in the title. I think the game would be more rewarding if the routes incorporated closer interactions between characters. I hope this part of my review makes sense ^~^

Cjr