![]() Tools which I generally took for granted-the ability to skip just text that’s already been read, toggling the text box for screenshots-are noticeably absent. ![]() ![]() That said, as someone who is perhaps overly familiar with the visual novel genre I found the actual user interface of Hatoful Boyfriend to be bare bones at best. It’s a fun play, regardless of your opinion of dating sims, with some downright flawless execution of its storytelling. While it may seem strange, Hatoful is a game that is best experienced by jumping in headfirst without too many questions and simply letting the game take you where it may. Admittedly not on the same level as something like The Last of Us, but far more than you would expect from something that uses the tagline “An Avian Love Story.” The BBL route in particular, which is where the vast majority of Hatoful’s worldbuilding is finally addressed, displays a surprisingly wide range of emotional moments not the least of which is the feeling of horrified disbelief that dogs the entire route. It also packs something of an emotional punch by the game’s end. As a result, the game is surprisingly immersive. In fact, Hatoful does one of the best jobs tying up all its loose ends out of any visual novel I’ve played in a long while. Although the game is a clear satire, it doesn’t use it as an excuse to cut corners in storytelling if anything, Hatoful takes it as a reason to dig deeper into its own world-building.ĭetails that at first seem like they rely on a willful suspension of disbelief-Hiyoko never interacting with other humans, birds’ role as the apparent dominant species-are explained by the game’s end, and usually in a surprisingly clever fashion. One of the game’s biggest delights is simply watching how characters’ stories intersect across the game’s nine major routes. While the cast all slot neatly into one trope or another, Hatoful takes the time to flesh them out. Some things, after all, are best discovered on your own.ĭespite its absurd premise, Hatoful displays a surprising amount of depth in its development of characters. And in the interest of preserving the game’s excellent sense of pacing, I won’t be discussing the BBL ending in great detail, despite its prominence as arguably the “true” ending to the game. Hatoful's biggest accomplishments are firstly how on-point it is as a satire of the dating sim genre, and secondly its ability to convince the player that, despite all the niggling hints and pieces that don’t quite fit, that’s all it is-a dating sim. It’s also worth noting that the name Hatoful Boyfriend is a bit of wordplay in Japanese: it can be read as either “Heartful Boyfriend” or “Hurtful Boyfriend.” Both have a darker side which only becomes apparent with the game’s secret route, unlocked after completing all the others, called the Bad Boys Love ending (or should it be Bad Birds?). After that, regardless of what options the player picks, they’re stuck talking to (and romancing) a bird.īut don’t let the pink hearts and pastel color palettes fool you there are deeper things at work in Hatoful Boyfriend and St. Hiyoko’s acquaintances are all birds of the dove family (such as a fantail pigeon, a rock quail, a mourning dove), but through “advanced visualisation software,” players have the option to see them as anime-esque boys during a CG for their first meeting. ![]() Her potential love interests all fall into usual dating sim tropes: the childhood friend, the kind teacher, the ladykiller, the haughty rich kid. Pigeonation’s, the world’s premier school for gifted birds. Oh yeah, did I mention Hiyoko attends an all-birds school? Because she does-she's the first ever human student at St. So unsurprisingly, when I heard that Hatoful Boyfriend was getting an English translation, I jumped on it.įor the uninitiated, Hatoful Boyfriend is a high school dating sim, where players take on the role of Hiyoko Tosaka as she pursues any one of eight of her classmates. Reviews // 14th Oct 2014 - 8 years ago // By Ruth Krabacher Hatoful Boyfriend Reviewįull disclosure, I’m a huge sucker for visual novels-the weirder the better. ![]()
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