Enjoy the perfect Valentine’s day with these amare and otome titles

Valentine’s Day is finally here, and to celebrate it with style, I’m recommending a couple of amare and otome games you should get to playing today — the time is ripe for it, after all!

I can probably safely assume that we’re all familiar with otome games as visual novels aimed at female players, usually with the main goal being romancing a male character. Amare, however, is a more recently coined term to separate and distinguish visual novels aimed at covering a variety of different relationship types — not just the usual romantic, but also platonic, polyamorous and other ways of people interacting with and being close to one another. Amare titles place a particular emphasis on being inclusive and diverse, which makes them ideal for those interested in enjoying stories that involve characters with a variety of different sexualities and gender identities, or those who cover a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.

That’s the basics of it for now, but be sure to check out VN Game Den’s interview with the team behind the term’s creation for more information. Let’s take a look at some examples of it here to kick things off.

For anyone and everyone

First Bite

First Bite has been available on itch.io since November of last year, and is thankfully seeing a more wide-reaching release on Steam just in time for Valentine’s Day! What a way to make an entrance on our list, right? With three very different love interests and a core concept of the main character attempting to escape alive from an encounter with the starring homicidal vampires, First Bite offers both an exciting and steamy time where the survival and erotica genres meet.

The game was developed by a newly formed team consisting of Dani Dee (Lore City: Alkahest), Souha Al-Samkari (Akash: Path of the Five), Aenne Schumann (Arcade Spirits), and Kris Wise (When The Night Comes). First Bite caters to every kind of player, with a customisable main character and selectable pronouns, and the promise of a variety of different relationship types with the vampires — including endings based on friendship and polygamy as well as the expected romance ones. The title is a dark comedy that manages to balance risqué content with uplifting themes and substantial characters, and it’s impressive how well the game pulls this off with such a small development team.

There are plenty of entertaining bad endings to explore that cater to both horror fans and those looking for more explicit experiences in their dating sims. Additionally, its love interests are all partially voiced by well recognised talents — Alejandro Saab voices the himbo Ilyas, Jalen Cassell playes the mysteriously charismatic Laurel and Marie Westbrook is the spoilt but headstrong Valeria.

The three routes cater to different kinks which are all up to your own preferences, and each requires you to give consent before anything plays out. Into handcuffs and BDSM? Valeria’s your girl — or are you perhaps into the good old yandere archetype instead? Laurel is here to please and appease then.

With 26 endings to discover and a more than generous offering of choices to help you project yourself onto the main character, First Bite features excellent dialogue that is the very definition of relatable. You’ll be more than happy to step into the main character’s shoes — but that’s likely already a given considering the premise alone. Plus the game’s Death Tally may well encourage you to clear all the bad ends — plus I highly doubt any of us are complaining about the prospect of receiving bite marks from these particular love interests.

When The Night Comes

When The Night Comes is a fantastic indie visual novel. Its writing for both its world and characters is masterful, whilst its narrative is extremely intriguing — so much so that each chapter will keep you guessing what the next revelations will be, and theorising just what secrets will be uncovered. It’s one of the most inclusive games that I have personally experienced, with plenty of different and distinctive characters, each having their own very well-presented and explored identity, origins and motivations.

The premise behind When The Night Comes is that you play as a Hunter of supernatural entities, and you’re challenged to investigate a series of unexplained, apparently supernatural murders in the town of Lunaris. Along the way, you’ll encounter a variety of creatures of the night — but are they the ones you should really be afraid of?

The game has a similar presentation to some of my favourite “soothing” video games that I turn to when I feel like I need a boost in my mental health. Even with its narrative setup, When The Night Comes offers a comforting world where players are welcomed and treated patiently and with care by the cast of characters, no matter how you respond to them.

Some characters may sound critical at times — especially during the beginning stages of their relationship with the player character, since there is an understandable degree of initial mistrust due to the concept of the game. But each one grows to truly care and appreciate the player character without fault, and shows this in their own individual ways.

While it is undeniably an extremely linear experience, things do veer off the path briefly during character interactions according to your choices. Options clearly indicated with a heart icon allow you to kickstart a romantic relationship with a character — and these romantic segments are simply splendid. The writing, scenarios and well-intentioned characters bring us a variety of wonderful scenes that are absolutely perfect to snuggle up to on Valentine’s Day!

The whole thing is a gratifying experience that eases players into this mysteriously ominous world, with many suspicious individuals who may be friend or foe. Along with all the loveable characters that you’re able to bond with and form relationships with on your own terms, there’s a satisfying and layered mystery to solve, too. Do yourself a favour and head on over to Steam (or itch.io) now for it!

For the otome player

Boku no Shokora

As far as otome recommendations go for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to highlight two otomes that are too obscure for their own good — and that each have a run time perfect for fitting into a single day’s worth of gaming time!

Boku no Shokora, or My Chocolate as translated, is a free doujin game that was first released on Valentine’s Day back in 2011. Created by BabyClan and translated by Ouiratsuike, a White Day Patch was released a year after it originally came out, and as of 2022, it remains as a long-forgotten, small otome experience that manages to be many things over the course of its short run. Expect plenty of laughs, an adorable dynamic, and a rather questionable premise.

The set-up is quite farfetched, involving heroine Komachi’s brother being kidnapped and the ransom being nothing more than her homemade chocolates. But perpetrator Takaomi only has one thing in mind when executing these mindboggling tactics: to confess his love for Komachi.

The game’s characters are extremely endearing in the short time we get to spend with them, with Komachi being a fairly typical tsundere despite obviously crushing on Takaomi; Takaomi, meanwhile, as a foreigner, is blunt to a fault and, as his tactics clearly indicate, somewhat lacking in social skills.

The game is very short, but by clearing its four endings you’ll see the relationship between the central pair taken to different levels including platonic and romantic. For comedic effect, you can even unlock an NVL-format prologue that covers the beginning of the story and paint a full picture of the entire package.

No matter what vibes it gives you, Boku no Shokora is an effortlessly entertaining time, and is the ideal Valentine’s Day otome if you can get your hands on it. The sites that originally hosted the translations have been down for years now, but the downloaded files are still obtainable via various means!

Chocolate Cage

Chocolate Cage, on the other hand, is an entirely different experience. It also has a very short playthrough time — just half an hour or so this time — and covers a fluffy story in a high-school setting starring just two characters and an unseen “best friend” supporting character.

As the only title developed by a group called Spic@ (independently known as Kojima Nonoka), Chocolate Cage first released in 2015 and was subsequently translated by Twin Project. It’s free, and it absolutely delivers on a cute premise with a charming design with an unexpected turn and development.

The story follows our heroine Hana, whose name you can change if you wish. Hana is a shy and ditzy third-year who is encouraged by her best friend Riko to cook up some chocolates and give them to someone before her final year closes out. After that, she might never get the chance to experience White Day ever again!

Her “target” is the only male acquaintance she knows and has a bond with: Toma, who also attends the library committee. There are three CGs, two endings, and several Special Extras to unlock — the latter of which hide the very best elements of this little gem.

While it initially appears as much less creepy than Boku no Shokora haphazard and setup, Chocolate Cage will be sure to surprise you. The cute dialogue and charmingly sweet art really pulls the wool over your eyes — then the After Story goes on and reveals so much more of the hidden details and background information behind this seemingly innocent scenario. It’s quite the experience, and offers something different for the genre this Valentine’s Day. I can’t recommend it enough.

Some other bits worth mentioning

To close out the article, we cannot miss out mentioning two exciting pieces of news related announcements relevant to Valentine’s Day or, more specifically, otomes. GB Patch Games recently released the Cove Wedding DLC for Our Life: Beginnings & Always, making for quite possibly the absolute best activity to spend today doing. Mostly because Cove deserves the happiest of all endings, and you do too!

On a final note, be sure to put in those orders for Idea Factory’s Cupid Parasite merchandise that releases today!

Editor’s note: At this point, Lilia suddenly evaporated into a puff of pink, loved-up smoke. I think she’ll be okay, though; she seems to be in good company!

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