Visual Novel Spotlight: Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star
The Hatoful Boyfriend cast returns in a Christmas tale of thievery, imagination and dreams with the holiday-themed sequel Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star. All eight birds and many more side-characters reappear in four chapters and five mini-stories that expands on the original Hatoful Boyfriend dating sim.
Christmas Eve is upon us, and what better way to prepare yourself for a wintry holiday with your family tomorrow than shutting yourself in your room and romancing a cast of eight pigeons? While the romance aspect takes a back seat (placed in a small bonus story) Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star allows you to play through a brief holiday with the entire cast once more. The game, split into four kind-of-connected chapters, sees Hiyoko Tohsaka (nameable) pursue the elusive Christmas tree thieves, accompany Anghel to the winter Comiket, and save her classmates from a nightmarish dream world. It should be said that while chaptered stories and Hiyoko not canonically being with anybirdie in the main story suggests Holiday Star is more of an side-story, it is very much a sequel and expands on some of the stories uncovered in the original game, not to mention it casually spoils many of the characters’ routes.
As with the first game, Holiday Star maintains its particular comedic tone, with frequent references to popular games and outrageous circumstances for the characters. As the game is more linear this time around, the serious undertones of genetic modification and such things are included more as references to the more serious, hidden route in Hatoful Boyfriend. Each chapter features a different set of prominent characters, so fans of the ever-quiet Nageki or ominous doctor Shuu can see their favourite birds in the spotlight. Not all characters are given large focus, but show up enough to feel like everyone is regularly involved.
The sequel, which continues to clutch the 2nd place sales ranking on DLsite in its sharp talons, looks and feels like a lot more time and resources have gone into making it. Not only are there more event graphics and characters, the last two chapters of the main story shows off a finely detailed set of backgrounds, characters and character features, illustrated by the game’s creator, Hato Moa. The illustrated (and sometimes animated) fantasy world of the final chapters is a lovely touch to those used to the 3D rendered stock backgrounds, but suffers from the game being in the same 640×480 resolution. On larger monitors, it can be hard to focus.
Holiday Star also has a number of bonuses in case you devour the main story too quickly. Five mini-stories are unlocked as you play through the game, each featuring a different bird or group of birds, the last one featuring an even shorter romantic scene with the bird of your choice. One mini-story, a New Years shrine trip with the pigeon of your choosing, even features an option to interact with the birds as you would in a normal dating sim, that is, each romantic interest is illustrated as human. As novelty as it is in the game, it adds to the overall quality boost that comes with the other new illustrated features. And, if you are still unsatisfied by the extra content the game has to offer, Holiday Star lets you unlock short radio segments where the cast answers questions about the game and the world as though they were on a talk show.
As mentioned above, the 640×480 resolution feels like it hinders the game, as it proves it’s no longer an amusing small project but a very popular and loved game. But with sequels comes some progress, and the almost-pointless stat raising system is gone, replaced with a more linear story and, sadly, no hidden routes. Bad endings crop up more frequently, and are seemingly arbitrary, but can be a little amusing and let you know about your wrong choice immediately. In essence, all the extra content and care makes the game just really nice. You heard me: really nice. And enjoyable.
Being one of the few translated visual novels with a Christmas story, Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star is a fine game to play if you’re looking to boost your Christmas spirit before the big day. It’s also a fine game to play any time of the year if you need a few laughs, and maybe a few tears. All but the game’s tiny resolution has been improved and polished, with the addition of detailed backgrounds and character illustrations a real charm point. If you loved Hatoful Boyfriend and want to play that exact game again but with a new story, Holiday Star is sitting here, waiting for you.
Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star is available for Windows and Mac via DLsite for €2.95 / $4.03.
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