TAISHO x ALICE follows a young woman named [INSERT NAME HERE] who embarks from a murky darkness into various worlds where love and broken men await her. While the entirety of TAISHO x ALICE (henceforth TxA) contains many different routes, this release, episode 1, contains only two.
The following is my spoiler-free review, delving into different aspects of the game: a tl;dr is available at its end.
❤Characters:
There are many other characters in TxA that help progress the plot, typically as an ally, but I've only outlined the below characters as they are the only two that are available to date in this episode.
- You: Rather than being the fragile, pushover type protagonist one comes to expect with otome games, [INSERT NAME HERE] is actually a more conniving, funny girl who I thoroughly enjoy reading. A definite good break from the standard.
- Red Riding Hood: An aloof police officer who makes it his mission to be your bodyguard after you've received harassment- frigid, but warms up.
- Cinderella: A playboy who blows his money on whatever he wants, and someone you're supposed to be engaged to- again, frigid, but warms up.
If you prefer your men troubled by life/emotional/psychological trauma and colder than average, this is the game for you!
❤Plot:
Rather than going too in depth on the plots of the individual routes to leave them to your surprise, the main gist of them goes like this:
You are [INSERT NAME HERE] Arisu, a rich girl who finds herself in a situation where she is pursuing a handsome man that does not want to be close to her at first. However, through your perseverance, you break down your man's walls and, over time, learn bits and pieces of his past and that he is struggling with a past event/mistake he made in his life.
Rather than strictly follow the stories of the fairytales the characters are based on, TxA uses more liberal interpretations-- which in my opinion is infinitely better than following the stories to a T. It would be so boring to just read an entire retelling of Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood, so this change is very welcome.
❤Gameplay:
The player picks which "world" they would like to go to (which character they want to date) at the start of the main game, and from there choices are made that determine whether you get a good ending or one of the two bad endings per route. There isn't any particular way to figure out how you're holding favor with a guy, so you'll mainly be picking based on common sense and reloading if you happen to not get the good ending-- annoying, but not impossible to do, either.
Outside of the main game, TxA has your standard CG/BGM/video/scene viewer, and also has some very nice voice acting, but it really ends there. While it is a decent amount of content and the translation is fun, the average player might feel a little ripped off by there only being two routes to a $25 game-- especially when other otome games exist on steam where you can get much more content for cheaper.
TxA is also glitchy when it comes to its achievements. I have done literally everything there is to do, but I currently only have 1 of 6 achievements unlocked. To the casual player, this may not matter, but achievement hunters beware!
❤My Review:
TxA was an interesting read, in part due to its very quirky translation, but also because it subverted my initial expectations for what a fairytale based otome game might be. Instead of a literal retelling of Cinderella, things are bent around to make a more perilous narrative. At the same time, however, the story stumbles over itself during its more dramatic parts due to some stilted writing and often sucks out the tension so it can make jokes, which is always unfortunate. And again, it's also a $25 game for 2 routes, which doesn't feel like nearly enough when considering other games at its price.
❤tl;dr:
Would I recommend you play this game? Yes!
Would I recommend you play all of this game? Yes!
Does this game offer a lot of content? Not particularly, so I recommend purchasing this on a sale.
Is this game hard? Not particularly-- you'll most likely be able to tell what choice to make through common sense-- but do keep in mind you have no way of telling if you're doing well or not.
I rate this game a 6.5/10.
Hope I helped! ❤ lone
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