Platform Played On: PC
Visual novel games aren't something I'm entirely sold on most of the time. I'd rather just read a comic book more often than not, which I know means I miss out on some really good examples of the genre. If a visual novel offers me a lot of choices and I feel like I'm truly impacting the story, then it's fine. If I'm just sitting here clicking to read, that's more of a chore than anything.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel that has gotten a lot of attention since its original release in 2011, and even more now in its 2014 remake, because of its premise: You are a human girl in a school full of pigeons and you try to date them. Originally I thought you were pigeons dating pigeons, but no, the game has to make you question your own sexuality by slowly revealing your hidden desire to date birds.
I'm not different than a lot of other people. I know a weird concept is enough to draw me in. I'll buy into the hype, I'll eagerly anticipate something that's different than other things you see. That's the kind of person I am. I'm not entirely sure if I expected to like Hatoful Boyfriend or not, but it didn't really end up grabbing my attention when I finally sat down to play it.
Ignore the fact that you're dating pigeons and it becomes just like other dating sims. You make choices to try to date the pigeon that you've decided you like. This may or may not succeed. There are stats to manage like Wisdom, Vitality and Charisma but it's pretty unimportant and is more of an illusion to gameplay rather than truly being gameplay. I know it affects the game in a very miniscule way, but don't spend much time really thinking about that.
Hatoful Boyfriend consists mostly of putting you in places and making you decide what the best course of action is. Your choices do impact the game somewhat, and there are multiple endings to uncover, but was the plot really interesting enough to indulge in it numerous times?
That's the thing about Hatoful Boyfriend: Its narrative is deeper and more rich than one might think when looking at the game. The stock photos of birds and amateurish art work do a lot to try to hide the darker themes behind the cutesy visual style. This is not just a game about dating pigeons, after all.
You have to play through the game a bunch of times in order to unlock the true story. You may notice, even if you only play through once, that some things are odd and out of place, such as destroyed buildings or the fact you're a human (the only human by the way) and you live in a cave. Maybe you chalk these up to just being silly elements in a silly Japanese game, but they aren't, and once you unlock the final branch of the storyline, the game will clear up these issues and it becomes more intriguing than just being an adorable pigeon dating simulator that may or may not make you feel comfortable with your beastiality.
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| I also secretly want to be a girl so this game satisfies me. |
I can give props to a game that takes a concept and then completely changes it around and gives us something we didn't expect. The plot does get more interesting and does show some good writing, and the parody leads into a legit complex plot about the school you're going to.
But if you're like me, then getting to the point that the plot unloads itself onto you is more of a chore than anything. It's simply not that much fun to play. You spend most of your time watching, and since you're expected to cover all the branching storylines, you end up slogging through it just to get to the good stuff. Why could they not just give us a way to unlock the story without doing this? It's lazy and and it's a poor excuse to force us to put more hours into the game than we might want to. Though I said above that you have choices, it's more superficial than a game like The Witcher 2 where your choices have impact... you do have choices but you have to end up making certain choices in order to progress in the game, ultimately. If I don't feel like I have real control in a game like this, it's simply not amusing to play.
It's not that Hatoful Boyfriend is terrible, it just seems more like a game you could get the same amount out of by simply reading a detailed plot synopsis on Wikipedia or something. I give respect for setting it up like a dating sim and then ripping the carpet out from underneath us to showcase something more expansive, but it's not a fun game. Defenders of the genre may take offense to that, but there are really good examples of this type of game out there.
Rating: 4/10
Verdict: Has a plot that is darker and deeper than you may originally think, but it isn't an entertaining Visual Novel to play.
