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Dramatic Create and HuneX announced the release date for its Switch port of one of the Comfort Arcana Famiglia otome games that originally appeared on the PSP and Vita in Japan. Arcana Famiglia: La storia della Arcana Famiglia Ancora will appear as La storia della Arcana Famiglia: Rinato on the console on July 24, 2025. The official website noted a PC version is also on the way, but there’s no exact release window for it yet. 

The Arcana Famiglia otome games all deal with mafia stories and more battle-hardened love interests. In many cases, the heroine ends up being head of a gang or part of a “family.” That’s the case here. Your heroine is daughter of the Arcana Tarocco boss, and now that her father is stepping down he is looking for a successor. That could be her or one of his underlings. As you go through the adventure, your avatar can end up romancing Debito, Dante, Jolly, Liberta, Luca, Nova, and Pace. The story may sound familiar, as Sentai Filmworks released the anime adaptation La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia outside Japan.

Here’s the latest trailer for La storia della Arcana Famiglia: Rinato, which does feature some English text as the full game will be available with English, Japanese, and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese subtitles.

And the full list of voice actors is also available. While subtitles are available in multiple languages, only Japanese audio will be available.

• Dante: Jurota Kosugi
• Debito: Hiroyuki Yoshino
• Jolly: Koji Yusa
• Liberta: Jun Fukuyama
• Luca: Yoichi Nakamura
• Nova: Tsubasa Yonaga
• Pace: Tomokazu Sugita

La storia della Arcana Famiglia: Rinato will appear on the Switch on July 24, 2025, and a PC version of the otome game will be available as well. The title appeared on the PSP and Vita in Japan. The anime adaptation also appeared worldwide, but it doesn’t seem to be currently streaming anywhere.

The post Vita Otome La storia della Arcana Famiglia: Rinato Heads to Switch, PC appeared first on Siliconera.

Sometimes, I’ll go into a game incredibly excited about the experience and will find myself adoring elements of it, even if it’s incredibly broken. Like there can be so much potential there. It makes me want to let people know about it, as well as warn about the issues, but in a way that doesn’t put someone entirely off exploring it. HaccaWorks, HuneX and Dramatic Create’s visual novel Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi is the ideal example. It’s captivating, but boy is the official English release a mess. 

While Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, also known as AkaAka, is relatively well-known in Japan, it isn’t as prominent in other regions. Yen Press picked up the manga adaptation years ago, but the original PC and PSP games remained trapped in Japan. It’s only because of HuneX and Dramatic Create that it is out now on the Switch and PC worldwide. It’s a fact I want to note I appreciate going in, since this over 10 year old game is something special, even though people who hop into it right after launch will experience issues. 

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi begins with the sense that something isn’t quite right. A young man, who we will come to know is named Yue, is met by someone in a fox mask. It’s a fleeting moment, before we see he’s heading down to a town for the first time accompanied by a talking black fox yokai named Kurogitsune. There’s a festival, and they’re sneaking away together to attend even though Yue’s exclusively lived at a shrine to a goddess named Mikoto his whole life and never given forbidden to leave. They’re on the precipice of leaving what might be considered “normal” and “safe” for Yue and engaging in acts that will change his life forever.

It’s an ominous moment, exemplified by art creating an incredible atmosphere. And, while the translation and localization ranges from adequate to bad, there are some lines that still really hit hard. It pushes the otherworldly and mysterious nature of everything. For example, in the opening moments when Yue and Kurogitsune are heading down from the shrine to the festival to enjoy the festivities and get something to eat, Yue says, “…It’s almost time for our meal.”

This is foreshadowing, as much of the early hours finds the shrine residents who know much more than Yue, goddess Mikoto and Master Sato, referencing an “meal” for Yue and if it is the right time for him to take part. Clearly, it is some sort of ritual. However, the fact that he’s clearly an outsider compared to the yokai at the shrine, and he’s being tasked with befriending human young men named Togo Tsubaki and Akiyoshi Tochika immediately sets the reader on edge. Why? What is the meal? Why these two young men? Who is Yue? What is going on?

It’s also helped by the fact that the town itself seems awry and wrong. The shrine seems far more normal, welcoming, and homey, compared to the way things seem off. All humans are depicted as fox-like shadows, to set them apart as others. The color schemes, such as the purple skies, suggest something could be off here. Couple that with the strange encounters and rumors, and clearly there are many mysteries that a patient reader could uncover. 

Plus, the bonds between Yue, Kurogitsune, Tsubaki, and Tochika genuinely are fun to watch develop. Yue and Kurogitsune are immediately such a great pair, with their natures being so different. However, even so, there is clear affection between them, with one of the first choices a player can make being to make Yue stand up and protect Kurogitsune after the fox yokai was willing to sacrifice himself and take a punishment entirely to protect him. But Tsubaki and Tochika are also interesting in their own rights, and I loved watching these bonds develop among all of them. (Note that for those curious, there is no romance here.)

But now that I have raved about some elements of Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, I do have to issue that warning. As I mentioned earlier, the localization isn’t great! Even at parts where the idea is conveyed properly, it can be awkwardly phrased. The formatting means phrases are arranged oddly in the text boxes. But the greatest failing of all is that there are some parts of the English version of the game that just… aren’t translated. You can be reading along and suddenly only see Japanese text instead. 

Here’s an example. 

Considering the game is being sold for $59.99 on Steam and $50.13 on the eShop, it’s clearly an issue.

So Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi is a game that leaves me feeling split. It’s a well-told, fascinating story with interesting characters and incredible art. I love that HuneX and Dramatic Create took the chance on the HaccaWorks title so we can play it worldwide. I just wish the execution was better so people could appreciate it. Perhaps in a few patches, we’ll see the situation surrounding it improve. Even if the localization doesn’t, perhaps it will have English throughout and not sudden spots where it is suddenly in Japanese again. If so, it could be a value piece of visual novel history for folks who enjoy the genre.

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi is available on the Nintendo Switch and PC worldwide. It is on the PC and PSP in Japan. All volumes of the manga appeared outside Japan via Yen Press.

The post Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi Is a Flawed Beauty appeared first on Siliconera.

HuneX announced its next Switch otome game to appear in English will be Hana Awase New Moon. This entry is unique, as it originally appeared as four games in Japan. In addition to the visual novel elements, it also features Hanafuda card games.

In Hana Awase New Moon, people follow Mikoto as she gets acquainted with young men attending the Kasen National Academy. They’re the best players of the game and able to use special powers while playing. The Switch release includes a new Karabeni/Utsuku Volume story starring the two characters and Mikoto. It also includes English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese subtitle options in addition to Japanese.

There’s also an initial trailer for this Switch otome game. However, rather than showing off how the Hanafuda elements will work, it mainly focuses on showing the love interests Himeutsugi, Iroha, Karakurenai, Mizuchi, and Utsutsu while the theme song “Wheel of Fortune” plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4E55jACoG4&ab_channel=dramaticcreate%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB

A few screenshots are available that show how both the visual novel and Hanafuda elements work in-game.

Nintendo Switch "Hana Awase New Moon"
Game screenshots are available on the official website. Please check it!https://t.co/1nOSSjINfE#NintendoSwitch #otomegame pic.twitter.com/7wZGfucubX

— 【Official】 HuneX EN (@HuneX_info_EN) June 2, 2023

HuneX has gotten in the habit of making its Switch otome games more widely available. For example, it recently released Crimson Flower That Divides: Lunar Coupling worldwide in 2023.

Hana Awase New Moon will come to the Nintendo Switch on October 26, 2023. The games in this release also appeared on the PC in Japan.

The post Switch Otome Game Hana Awase New Moon Also Features Hanafuda appeared first on Siliconera.

There’s a line in a Taylor Swift song that goes, “Boys only want love if it’s torture.” Well, given the nature of some otome games, it seems a concept that could be true of anyone. Certainly, it would apply to people who would pick up The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling. This Switch otome game is the first port of a mature title that appeared on platforms like the PC, PSP, and Vita in Japan. Granted, this release cuts out the “adult” imagery, but keeps the mature connotations and sexual overtones.

As you’d expect from a dystopian romance filled with constant mental and physical trauma, The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling gets dark! People who’ve experienced sexual or physical assault would very likely be triggered by many of the situations in its routes! However, while it is constantly assailing the player with the prospect of terrifying situations, there’s are some redeemable elements. Localization issues aside, I found myself caught up in the stories it told, loving its strong, incredible heroine, and genuinely feeling for a few of the men and women I’d meet over the course of the game.

While The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling is a romantic visual novel, it often gets quite political as well. Set in a besieged by a plague known as The Rot, most women catch, then die, from the disease. Few survive. Those who manage to avoid it are fought over by nations, in the hopes of actually managing to continue to survive. After the heroine Naala’s father died, her mother was taken by men from the country of Nasla. Naala, the only known woman to survive the affliction, was hidden away and saved. The Rus royal family took her in, and she was raised knowing she’d be the wife of its king, Auri.

Naala grew up molded by this experience. She’s fought alongside the men of Rus, becoming as strong an archer and swordswoman as them. So when Nasla attacks the Rus royal city and she realizes her two dear friends Shalanna and Shalu are in the district under assault, she leaves the security of the palace to fight for them. And, to be fair, she does beat back the Naslan soldiers! She seems to buys them time to escape! However, she’s caught in the process. So her and the captured women, as well as her friends, find themselves in the Nasla capital. There, they find it is a country with so few women they need to raid other villages, but have adopted a mentality that “Women Choose Their Husbands.” Naala now must adjust to life there, see if she can find freedom and happy endings for the Rus women, and perhaps find a love of her own.

In of gameplay, The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling is a very straightforward visual novel and Switch otome. As you go through the story, you’ll occasionally get the chance to choose responses that shape the course of the story. There’s no menu option to see how high a relationship is with one of the bachelors. However, you can turn on an indicator to get a visual signal showing when a response favors a certain character. The story primarily focuses on Naala and is seen from her perspective. However, there are some chapters in which love interests take the lead to show their point of view. Given the antagonistic nature of some, like Suren and Nohl, this is to their benefit and show that they may not be exactly who you expect. (Conversely, it also shows that what another love interest is saying and presenting might not be as accurate.)

You also have an array of love interests. Unfortunately, there's some gatekeeping. Certain routes are locked behind others. So say you want to romance Nalan. Well, you'll also always first have to get onto Suren's route, which gets dark. It's unfortunate, as it forces a player to go through circumstances they might want to avoid or interact with characters they don't care about.

It’s generally sound and effective. However, translation issues abound. I happened across incorrect spellings. There’s some awkward phrasing at times. However, the biggest problem is when the came can’t decide whether one character’s name is “Nalan” or “Naran.” I also happened upon a bug a few times which resulting in the background image being “off” by almost an inch, leaving a black gap on the right side of the screen. (Reloading an old save fixed that.)

So, about those triggering topics! The next paragraph will go over the dark underbelly of The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling, so avoid it if you are sensitive to these issues and skip to the image after it. This will also involve some spoilers regarding the kinds of content you’ll read about or see.

Naala, her friends, and even some of her love interests go through hell. There’s kidnapping, nonconsensual marital sex, near sexual assault, references to self harm, suicide, murder, and abuse. There are heartbreaking endings. There are good people here. Not every love interest is out to do Naala harm. You’ll likely get attached to people. You’ll see them broken. Suren’s route can be particularly triggering. Also, while there were moments I did ittedly enjoy in it, The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling can tend to quickly excuse or brush over behaviors by quickly offering a “sweet” moment or no showing how an actual relationship can suddenly develop after such trauma or attempting to excuse behavior. This is absolutely a case in which some routes are better than others, and getting one can mean being forced to see and deal with these traumatic and terrible incidents because that character’s tale branches off of Nohl’s, Suren’s, or Touya’s. It feels very dated, given the original game appeared in 2012, and that’s to its detriment.

However, I will say that Naala is a fantastic heroine. She’s a strong woman who cares deeply about her friends. She’s taken to heart the fact that she’s become a leader. She won’t abandon the Rus women in Nasla. Regardless of which route you follow, she maintains this considerate attitude that sees her trying to put others first when she can. When one of the Rus women is sick, she stays with her even if it puts her in danger, and forceably asserts it isn’t The Rot to keep her safe. When her friends repeatedly end up in danger, she gives up her own safety to protect them. She realizes how to deal with people. She sees when someone is lying to her. In a game where many of the love interests could be bland or downright problematic monsters, she’s a standout star who deserves better.

The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling is the equivalent of the tawdry romance novel you pick on sale or at a second-hand store. You probably won’t proudly it you enjoy it or read it in public. Instead, it becomes your problematic secret you’ll sneak off to play. You’ll find a favorite character or characters and savor certain segments. Just know going in that this is absolutely a “mature” story with triggering themes.

The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling is available for the Nintendo Switch.

The post Review: Love is Traumatic in The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling appeared first on Siliconera.