[Otome Game Review] How To Fool A Liar King

How To Fool A Liar King is the spiritual successor to RoseVeRte’s 2015 otome game, How To Take Off Your Mask, and while both games are set in the same universe, HTFLK is not a sequel. This game features a brand new heroine and a new love interest (though fans of the first game will recognize lover boy from HTTOYM) and of course a few familiar faces from the first game appear in supporting roles!

Game Details

Genre: Fantasy | Romance
Rating: ESRB T
Developer & Publisher: Roseverte Games
Where to Get the Game: itch.io | Steam

Story

“The story starts after the ending of How to Take Off Your Mask.
Regina, our heroine, magically appears in Eroolia.
She has no idea how she ended up in Eroolia where she meets Juli and his companions, whom she ends up joining on their journey to Laarz, a country of cat people.
Will she be able to get back home? Is there a special reason why she was transported to Eroolia?”
–Synopsis (RoseVeRte)

Like their previous Eroolia title, there is only one love interest, Juli, so if you were hoping to romance your own harem of bishies, you’re plum out of luck. But, for what it’s worth, Juli is a well rounded love interest that more than makes up for the lack of romance options. I will admit this now, I am biased towards megane characters, so I honestly wasn’t too bothered by the game not having additional love interests, because a megane in the hand is worth two non-glasses wearing bishies in the bush (okay, I’ll admit that sounded loads better in my head, but you get what I mean).

Characters of How To Fool A Liar King

Juli

The Love Interest

The writers did a great job of fleshing out Juli’s character, yeah he’s your run of the mill otome pretty boy, but there’s a depth to him that goes beyond his dashing good looks. Like the game’s title suggests, there is more to Juli than meets the eye, he keeps his cards close at hand and he isn’t above using people to suit his needs, but that doesn’t mean he’s all bad. Though I will admit that his “lies” and half truths were a bit frustrating at times since it was frickin obvious who he was! There’s a method to his madness and with the responsibilities he has to deal with, it makes sense why he is the way he is… I’m not going to spoil it for you guys, but it’s kind of obvious what his secret is early on and if you played How To Take Off Your Mask, you already know what it is. Deep down Juli is a complicated man with the weight of the world on his shoulders so he has a hard time trusting those around him, it isn’t until our heroine, literally falls into his life that he learn how to take off his mask and show his vulnerable side. It’s not a concept uncommon in otome games, but I was cool with it because the fun, dynamic cast of characters managed to add a fresh spin on an often overused premise.

Regina

The Heroine

So, otome heroines are known for their non existing “personalities”, thankfully, How To Fool A Liar King’s Regina is not one of those paper thin female leads! Of course that doesn’t mean she isn’t without her faults, which I’ll mention a little later, but overall, I was pleased with the way she was portrayed throughout the game.

Regina is a young woman that after running away from home, finds herself magically transported to Eroolia where she takes up with Juli and his envoy. While she is a bit confused at first, she takes everything in stride, easily acclimating to life in Eroolia. Over the course of the story she learns more about Juli and develops feelings for the mysterious young man. Despite his best intentions, Regina is the only person that is able to see through all of his bullshit, yeah, I said it, *ahem* a fact that piques Juli’s interest in her. Over the course of the story, she worms her way in to the lonely guy’s heart to the point that he can’t imagine his life without her and of course the challenge of breaking down his walls leads Regina to reciprocate those feelings. Again, this isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but, what really made this work was Regina.

She doesn’t immediately fall head over heels for Juli, she hates his guts at the start of the game, and for good reason. So she spends the first half of the game either avoiding him or knocking his lights out… Oh, did I forget to mention, she’s formidable fighter? Oh, silly me, must have slipped my mind… Which brings me to my biggest complaint about the game, her “absentmindedness”. Regina is a intelligent, strong-willed young woman that has been trained in martial arts since she was just a child. Some of you might be wondering why I’m complaining, this is the kind of otome heroine, Western audiences have been begging for, but here me out.

I don’t know whether to call it a quirk or what, but every time Regina does something “shocking” (read: not feminine) she feels the need to justify it, by saying something the long the lines of, “Oops, I forgot to mention that I can ‘do X'”. Perhaps it’s just me being nitpicky, but it comes up alot and after the fifth time I realized it was just one of her moe quirks, like her love of cute cat themed merchandise, so I got used to it…. but, that doesn’t mean I particularly liked it. Other than that, Regina was a girl after my own heart and I sincerely hope we get more badass heroines in the future, this really needs to be the norm!

How To Fool A Liar King Review

Alright, I’m going to keep this brief, since this is an otome game and the gameplay isn’t all that different from all the other otome games out there: The player makes choices throughout the game that change the course of the story and ultimately effect the fate of Regina and Juli, it’s pretty self explanatory. Though I do want to note that there are two types of Affection Points players can gain, depending on the choices you make you can either earn points for Regina or Juli. Raising Juli affection points usually requires choosing options that have Regina being tolerant towards him, while the more antagonistic/ overtly “rude” choices raise the Regina stats, which I called the strong independent woman choices.

The Juli-centric choices unlock special POV interludes after each chapter that give insight into his thoughts and feelings in the preceding chapter. Most games completely ignore the love interest’s thoughts, so this was a welcome addition to the story, especially early on when Regina and the player are stuck trying to figure out if Juli is lying about something or not, which is often.

There are also a couple of in game movies/music videos that pop up from time to time, which I thought were pretty cool. The music in the game was light and airy, but the two vocal songs that play during the opening and the “music video” segment mid game were really nice! Honestly, I don’t really pay much attention to the music in games (I’m working on it), but I quite enjoyed all the tracks in the game, mostly light pop fare or instrumentals, but it fit the lighthearted tone of the game and did a fantastic job of setting the mood for some of the “heavier scenes”.

The art is what I expected from RoseVeRte, clean character designs and backgrounds, bright, vibrant colors, A+ work all around. Each sprite had multiple expressions and the main cast came with various poses and alternate wardrobe options to suite the needs of the story. There was this interesting comic book like technique used when characters were giving asides or monologues, which I liked, it put more emphasis on the character that was speaking, so the player could better see the changes in their facial expressions. Also there were some really fun extra animations, like bishie sparkles for Juli whenever he did something especially “dazzling”. Overall, the design of the game was top notch and the menus were clean and easy to maneuver, so win win!

So the final verdict: This is a fun, lighthearted game that is sure to win the hearts of fans of How To Take Off Your Mask and new fans, discovering the Eroolia series for the first time. While it isn’t without it’s shortcomings, it’s hard to hate such a cute game. How To Fool A Liar King perfectly combines the great storytelling we’ve come to expect from RoseVeRte with a dynamic cast of characters that players will immediately fall in love with!

I definitely recommend giving this game a try if you have the chance, it’s a short, sweet game, with a whole lot of heart!!

Thanks to the Roseverte team for sending a copy of How To Fool A Liar King for this review.