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

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

I HAVE AN I LOVE IT AND I AM GOING TO MAKE A POST ABOUT IT.

Also, nice theme :)

[scytale]

Hakuouki! <3

Hakuouki is the first otome I played, which I only picked up on a whim because I needed a break from the game I played. And then I fell in love because crossdressing! Subtly strong heroines! Demons! Honor! Vampires as a reflection on war, history, colonialism, and technological weapons! Backdrop of historical tragedy! How to live, as an individual, in a world that is full of suffering and turmoil (which is a theme that is...taking on additional resonance now)!

And it ended up being weirdly influential to my 2019 and 2020: between getting into otome, making new DW friends, and some other things, including travel and starting to learn Japanese.

...But embarassingly I still have not finished it; I mired myself in Hijikata's route earlier this year and never finished it. I'll try to make some more progress on it this month, but maybe set Hijikata's route aside for now.

If anyone has suggestions on the next route to play (I think I'll start the PC version next), I'll take suggestions! I've played all of the original routes except Hijikata's and Harada's. Should I do Harada's next or one of the new routes?

I've also posted some scattered things about Hakuouki.

DW tags, with some initial reactions to Hijikata's route and AMV recs: https://scytale.dreamwidth.org/tag/hakuouki

Heisuke's route reactions on Tumblr: part 1, part 2

All those screenshots are terrible because I took them with my phone. :P That's the problem with playing on handhelds. I still have the biggest soft spot for Heisuke, though I think lately I've been more drawn to Saito's route.

[caramarie]

I've only played Saito and Harada's routes, but I really enjoyed the game overall! Maybe I should use this as impetus to go back and play some of the others ...

Posts I made in the past!

The game was very educational for when I came across the shinsengumi in other media later, too :)

[kalloway]

It's been forever since I've played any of the games, but I did watch the anime not long ago and really enjoyed it.

(Also, I remember the PSP action game being a lot of fun!)

[waterscroll]

Hakuouki is an underrated great work of world literature that works on so many levels, from serious meditation on the traumatic effects of war and the fragility of life to tropey kinky romance. I've written some fic for it but would love to write more, there's so much to explore.

[amber_moonlightwaves]

I realize this is a super old post, but I just wanted to comment and say that I absolutely LOVE this game a lot X'D

It was my first otome game and helped to get me hooked into the whole genre, lol. It has been a while, but I still remember playing the PSP version when it came out. I greatly admired the art, the story, the historical aspects, the culture (especially about samurai/warriors), and the characters. Plus, I dig the vampire trope, so when I saw it was there, I was immediately a fan of the series forever XP

I haven't finished the most recent release, but I've played the original six guys, and I liked the different themes each route touched upon. It wasn't only focused on the romance. It closely looks at important issues without glossing over the details, making the game feel rooted in reality and raising the stakes when things happened in the game. For instance, it examines the problems Japan encountered during this time, i.e. how Japan would survive amidst the ever growing presence of the West, the eventual destruction of the daimyo/samurai system, and the shifting political dynamics. It also focused on the internal political conflicts that the Shinsengumi faced whether it was discontent among the members as the organization changed or how the Shinsengumi had to survive as an entity by paying loyalty to far more powerful groups at the time.

In turn, it tied these events/issues to each of the guys' personal lives, feelings, and thoughts. I was pleasantly surprised by how in-depth and thought out each route was. I never found myself tired by the sequence of events and was invested as to how each guy would deal with their said strife regardless of how many times I played it. And I enjoyed how it managed to connect the whole demon aspect into game without making it feel like an afterthought. It was there for the fanservice, but it was also interwoven pretty well into the main plot.

I deeply apologise for the long comment ^^; I look forward to finishing the game once again with all of the new extra content XP