By Eu
Series Info
RE:VICE [D], PS Vita
Otomate
Yahuu~! I finally got the time to play RE:VICE [D]- Otomate’s first PS Vita (otome) game! On a side note, it is such a pain to write this game’s title lol. Also, I don’t get the meaning of the title at all. Even the [d]. There is an ending named REBIRTH[D]. And I just don’t have any idea of its meaning or if it means anything at all! If you know, please do enlighten me. Ww
Basically, the Dark Lord dies in a battle so the four guardians have to find another one. The heroine, Aika, is one of them. They all come to the Human World to search for a candidate. Each guardian has to find a human candidate. Through various tests, Aika and co will assess if any of them suits to be the next Dark Lord.
This game is pretty underrated and not-so-popular among other otoge players. I’ve seen, like, a handful of them. But all of them agree that this is a good game and deserves more attention than it gets. RE:VICE[D] is 4 years old, so expect the system to be a little so-so but the story – gosh the story! I never expected to like it. Whenever I come across a review gushing about this, the contrarian in me goes “nope nope nope. This is going to disappoint me. Don’t raise your expectations.”
To be clear, some routes did disappoint me. But it doesn’t have to do with how the story developed. It lies in the character development and personal preference which you will see below. I’m not even complaining about the barely there romance. It goes well with the fast-paced story which I liked.
It felt like there was so much that you had to get while playing. For instance, picking the right choice for your chosen route and then for the right end. Then you will have to complete the seven fragments to unlock the bonus voices and SS. (Side comment: I’m quite confused. Does SS mean side stories? Or short stories? Or neither? Lol I often come across this term and either of the two suits the contextual meaning.)
Also, during the selection process, you’d have to click on the drawings to get a scene between a character and a guardian. I didn’t know about this at first. Mind you, I even used a guide. But when I saw that I had to choose, say a paw print, I thought it was a scene selection which I obviously didn’t find. I thought, “hey maybe on my 2nd playthrough?” but none appeared because it was one of those tiny drawings across the board. If you’re going for Platinum, be sure not to miss them. To be safe, use a guide.
Perhaps, one of the reasons why others steer clear of this game is because of the art. The design differs from other otome games. It didn’t grab my attention at first, but eventually, I got interested. The character designs look so funky and edgy. Over the course of the game, it somehow grew on me. Another plus is the backgrounds! The game has lovely set of bgs.
Being released back in 2014, I guess Otomate was still fumbling through the controls of PS Vita. While you can use the touchscreen to pick a choice, you’d have to use the joystick during the selection process. And you can’t move on to the next dialogue unless you push the circle button or tap on the dialogue box. Those are pretty much the only use of the touchscreen.
Let’s move on to the characters/routes!
Characters
Aika
Aika is the Ice Queen of the Guardians in the Demon World. In her human form, she is an average high school girl.
For the most part, Aika is fantastic! She is cool (no pun intended), badass, and straightforward. Not just on fight scenes, but for romance as well. Except in Yukine’s route where she goes all naive and “why do I feel like this when I’m near him?!?!?!?!”. Whatever happened to the Aika, who wears the pants in Hinatsu’s route? Or the Aika, who stood as Iroha’s equal? Or better yet, the Aika, who slaps (figuratively) Ryouga and Kuroda back to their senses?
But all in all, I love this MC! Her sarcasm is A++.
Hinatsu
Hinatsu is a hikikomori and Shinku’s candidate.
I feel like I’ve played a shoujo manga with Hinatsu as the heroine www. He resembles a shoujo protagonist, blushing every single time Aika does something for him. And there’s a lot of things she does for him. He is the damsel-in-distress and Aika is the dashing cool, calm, and collected prince.
Iroha
Iroha is Aika’s schoolmate and Akatsuki’s chosen candidate.
I was so sure I wouldn’t like Iroha. Well, 1) he is a tsundere, and 2) a massive tsundere at that www. He looks and treats everything as if the world is a waste of his time. But underneath all that, he really is just misunderstood.
It turns out, I loved how tsundere he is. I love it every time he blushes! Or just about every time he reacts when Aika teases him because each scene is golden!
While he is one of the youngest one in the game, he is far more mature than say, Ryouga. So I’ve mentioned how detached he is in life, but for Aika, he is willing to do whatever it takes to bring peace in her world.
This route has my favorite moment in all of RE:VICE [D]. There is this part where both Iroha and Aika decide to save the other in their own way at their own expense. That thought alone is very sweet. But once I got to that scene, it is tragic, sweet, and oh-so-brave. It caught me off guard that I decided right then and there that I’m in love with this game. I salute those two for that.
Meanwhile, it is a little unnerving to see Suiu being all kind and helpful towards Aika here. After all that he has done in the common and Hinatsu’s route (after finishing the game, he is basically a jerk through and through).
Ryouga
I was soooo excited to get to this route because I liked Ryouga the most among the candidates. He looks bright and manly, but he is just sooo hetare www. Also, he has a not-so-subtle crush to Aika right off the bat.
Ryouga works as a host, together with Suiu, in Club MAOH (www). His main reason for going through this career is because he wants to work on his charm. Apparently, since long time ago, girls and animals stay away from him. Which is a good decision in my opinion. I would too www.
Little did everyone know, Ryouga has a dark side – a yandere side. He is so obsessed with Aika that he did not want her to leave him or for her to think of another person. Okay, so all these times where people left him might have caused a complex. But it freaks me out when his switch is flipped. That makes the route painful for me to go through. Even the SS.
Thank god, Aika comes to the rescue by being the kickass heroine and slapping Ryouga back to his senses. But by this time, all I want is for this route to be over. ;_;
Also, Ryouga’s bad ends don’t make sense. I’m all, “wtf just happened??” like in one end where he kills all the 3 guardians and erases (??) everyone’s memories. How the hell did he do that?! He may have the highest demon powers among the candidates, but I doubt that is enough to manipulate people’s memories, let alone overpower the 3 guardians.
Just like everybody else, there is an end with a guardian and an accompanying CG. So there’s an end with Suiu, sort of. After Aika rejects Ryouga, she becomes Suiu’s slave. Suiu’s all high and mighty with this whole thing being the jerk that he is. Otomate just found a way to further destroy this route for me.
Yukine
Yukine babbuuuu. TT______TT
Yukine’s so mysterious, I thought he’d be the villain ww. But he isn’t. He is so much more than all the other 3 candidates combined. So much that it is as if his route doesn’t give him justice.
Yukine appears out of nowhere and gives Aika a stuffed toy. I find that suspicious at first. But once everything is explained, I felt so bad for him. Like in every epilogue, he just disappears. At first, I find that unlikely and so not him. Even if Aika ends up with another guy, I feel like Yukine’s the type to hang around since he is so attached with Aika and he’s BFF with the other guys. But when I figured out the reason why he disappears, I just… /bawls
Then there’s a scene in Maou’s route where the Knight wants to use Yukine’s power against Aika. He refuses, saying his power isn’t meant to destroy her, but only to protect her. It feels like my heart is being ripped into pieces. This poor being. T_T as if Yukine isn’t meant to have a happy ending aside from his.
Maou
I put Maou instead of the character’s name as my lame attempt to avoid spoiling his true self. Though, I was spoiled. I was looking at the guide and saw his name and I go “why is he a hidden character??”
I thought there’s nothing more Re:vice[d] can reveal after Yukine’s route. But there are still some twists and turns here that I didn’t see coming. But anyway, Maou is <33333 especially the SS, where he is so deredere when it comes to Aika.
If I’ll rate my fave characters, it will go like this: Yukine = Iroha = Maou>>Hinatsu>>>>>>>>>Ryouga. I was really disappointed in him www.
Re:vice[d] is a fast-paced, medium length game that I’m sure you guys would enjoy.