Hatoful Boyfriend
Hato Moa, a manga artist, created the original Hatoful Boyfriend, which was made available for free in 2011. The artwork and display text in Mediatonic's remake of the text-based avian romance game have been overhauled, resulting in a more polished visual experience and a smoother play-through.
Aside from a new look and a few new scenes written specifically for this new version by Moa, 2014's Hatoful Boyfriend retains the original's core ideals and charm. Hatoful Boyfriend moves from strange to bizarre to uncomfortable, but never into the realm of self-awareness. It's one of the most bizarre and incoherent dating simulators ever created.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a dating sim that has players romancing talking birds as the only human at an elite avian school. Hatoful Boyfriend is mostly like a visual novel, with storytelling that leads players through twists and turns to make decisions that affect which bird they end up with.
Though the birds are not explained in the original game, it is important to note that it is later explained in the game Bad Boys Love that Hatoful Boyfriend takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been wiped out and birds with human intelligence have taken over as the dominant species.
One of the best aspects of Hatoful Boyfriend is that its numerous plots and options allow you to replay the game multiple times, each time taking a different path. Hatoful Boyfriend's multiple paths and endings, like many other visual novels, will gradually reveal a more complete story when all of them are completed.
Although the premise of Hatoful Boyfriend is very humorous, there are also mystery elements in the game, such as an alternate murder mystery story involving the death of the protagonist of the main story - and that's what makes it so entertaining.
Pros:
- Many plots allow the players to replay the game numerous times
- The writing is genuinely amusing, and the plot is frequently surprising and provocative
Cons:
- The graphics are mostly a jumble of photos and simple backgrounds
Rating on Theguardian: 4/5
Price on Steam: $9.99
See it on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/310080/Hatoful_Boyfriend/
