Game of the Month: Hakuoki

[chrry]

As the end of the Bakumatsu period draws closer...

A lone Chizuru Yukimura travels from Edo to Kyoto in hopes of searching for her father who mysteriously vanished. As she ventures through the unfamiliar city in the dark of night, she is suddenly attacked by a gang of samurai. Admist the chaos, a mysterious figure approaches her, hungry for the taste of blood. As the threat of danger approaches, she is saved by none other than the Shinsengumi.

After their encounter, Chizuru lives with the men of the Shinsengumi to fulfill their common goal: seeking out her missing father. However, she slowly uncovers the Shinsengumi's dark secret: the Furies. A group of men calling themselves "Demons" eventually confront the Shinsengumi, standing in opposition to their secret Fury identity.

Upon meeting these Demons, Chizuru is forced to come face to face with the secrets of her past.

Official site

Hakuoki is a lot, in every possible way the iconic series by Otomate. The original game was released for PS2 in 2008, after that it has been released for basically every platform with some additions here and there. There are some fandics/spin-offs too as well, but unfortunately those games haven't been released in English, and I'd rather focus on the ones we have available.
 
The series first arrived in North America in 2012 with Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom for the PSP.

In 2013 Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi was released for PSP as well (looks like a fighting game and like it's not otome at all, but I thought I'd mention it. It's also available for the PS Vita), and Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi was released for the 3DS in both North America and Europe.

In 2014 we got Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi for the PS3, and in 2015 the mobile ports. There are 2 different apps: the regular one where you can buy individual routes, and the premium app where you buy all of them at once.


In 2016 Idea Factory announced they would be releasing Hakuoki for Steam and the PS Vita. This version was released in 2 different games: Kyoto Winds (2017) and Edo Blossoms (2018). The reason for this is that they added a bunch of new content to the story, like 6 whole new routes that weren't in the original (Yamazaki, Nagakura, Sanan, Iba, Sakamoto, Souma), among other things (I'll leave this and this here, in case anyone wants to read more about that). All the versions before this one only include the original routes (Hijikata, Okita, Toudou, Saito, Harada, Kazama).

This is the only version I've played so far. Kyoto Winds took me around 58 hours and Edo Blossoms around 46, both full clear. And this is the playing order I chose after doing some research: Nagakura → Harada → Toudou → Yamazaki → Souma → Iba → Sakamoto → Saito → Sanan → Okita → Kazama → Hijikata

Kyoto Winds is basically the common part and the beginning of the routes. Edo Blossoms is where the actual routes are. You have to play both to enjoy the full story.

I know the translation of this release was kinda controversial in the fandom, and I can't say anything about accuracy because I don't know Japanese, but personally I loved it. I found it very fun to read.


I'd recommend Hakuoki to anyone who likes historical settings with supernatural elements, and also blood and suffering.

Anyone else has played? I know you have Tell us about it <3

HAKUOKIIII

[alias_sqbr]

Hakuoki is the game of the month and also my favourite otome!

When I started playing I wasn't expecting to like it at all, since I had never really cared much for historical RPF or samurai, and I started making a reaction post poking fun at it...which turned into a documentation of my INCREASING OBSESSION and now I am 100% HERE FOR ALL OF IT.

Especially the sexy vampires, an aspect I had not osmosed. Takes a while to get there, though, be ready for a lot of kinda dry historical exposition about the politics of 19th century Japan, I initially found this boring but now I'll ramble at anyone who'll listen about how FASCINATING it all is. Especially when you add vampires, which are a METAPHOR for COLONIALISM and TOXIC MASCULINITY and also VERY HOT.

And asides from all that the story is engaging, the boys are cute and lovable and varied, and the romances are really sweet. The historical background is tragic and there's always some element of bittersweet regret, but the good ends are still heartwarming and optimistic.

If you're interested here's all my reaction posts, plus a character list with pictures.

The Kyoto Winds/Edo Blossoms bundle (you want both, it's basically one game) is currently 70% off on Steam for $12 Australian, so like $8 US.