Paradise Boys Love Game Review – Sun, Sand, and Murder?!

Paradise is a survival thriller Boys Love visual novel developed by PIL/SLASH and LOVE&DESTROY and published in English by JAST BLUE. The story follows a group of men who go on holiday on a deserted island. When things begin to go wrong, they realize to their horror that they are stranded. Turns out that’s only the start of their problems.

Game Details

• Genre: Boys Love | Psychological | Thriller
• Developer & Publisher: PIL/SLASH & JAST BLUE
• Get the Game: Steam (Censored) | JAST BLUE (Full Version)
• Similar Games: Room No 9 | No Thank You!!!

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About Paradise

Azuma thinks luck is finally on his side when he wins a holiday to a deserted island. He meets the other vacationers and settles in for a relaxing time. But when the boat with their food supplies doesn’t show up, and the radio stops working, things begin to go downhill fast. Can Azuma survive the deadly perils of this paradise? 

Official Synopsis

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Characters and Routes of Paradise

Paradise has three “romance” routes, each with their own unique endings—this game is big on bad ends so there are several per route. Mitsugi and Matsuda’s routes are playable from the start of the game, but Takara only unlocks after you achieve the best ends for the previous two love interests. Trust me when I say, Takara is locked for a reason. His route feels like one big info dump of exposition. If I had to give a play order I recommend Mitsugi > Matsuda > Takara. My favorite route was Mitsugi, he’s an ass with a heart of gold! Matsuda is a tragedy… and Takara is interesting.

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Paradise Review

When average joe, Azuma wins the trip of a lifetime for a dream vacation on a deserted island, he thinks his luck has finally taken a turn for the better. For five-nights and six-days he gets to leave behind the monotony of his life for a relaxing island getaway. Expecting an all inclusive resort, Azuma is a smidge disappointed to learn that the trip is more of the rustic adventure camp variety. Instead of sipping Mai Tais by the pool, participants get to stay in cozy log cabins and rough it in the wilderness for a week.

But, for Azuma that’s still better than working his crappy dead-end job at a convenience store. Joining him on the trip is an eclectic group of men all looking to soak up some sun and explore all the island paradise has to offer. The outdoorsy office worker, Matsuda is looking to spend his week fishing; haughty (read: asshole) architect, Mitsugi is looking to pick up design ideas from the rustic scenery, bright and bubbly college student Takara is there to have fun; Shimada, the friendly photographer wants to document the wonders of the island; and the gentlemanly tour guide, Hongou is there to ensure everyone has a good time during their stay.

And the trip goes off without a hitch, for the most part everyone gets along and the group settles in for a week of bro bonding, barbeques, and nature hikes. On one of their excursions they discover an abandoned village deep in the forest and while it’s creepy AF, there really isn’t anything to kill the vibe on the island. That is, until the supply ship with their food doesn’t show up on the scheduled date.

As days pass with no contact from the mainland and food supplies dwindle, it becomes clear that something more sinister may be at play. A series of unexplained accidents and rising tensions among the once peaceful group quickly turn their paradise into a prison. But the crisis doesn’t end with the threat of starvation, not long after they become stranded members of the group start to meet grisly ends. Something or someone is picking off survivors and it’s a race against the clock to get off the island before they all meet their end.

Set against the backdrop of a beautiful island full of pristine white sand beaches, lush verdant forests, and the quaint rustic accommodations—everything about Paradise is specially crafted to ease you into a false sense of security. A relaxing island getaway to break up the monotony of everyday life, what’s the worse that could happen? Everything.

Crisis can reveal a person’s true nature and what that looks like for each character is vastly different. Some are called to leadership in an effort to cope with the stress of their situation. Others lash out violently to ease their frustrations.

As a seasoned Nitro+chiral fan I thought I was ready for whatever this game had to throw at me, but PIL/SLASH’s infamous dark and twisted storytelling gave me a run for my money. Paradise gets dark. Each route has several bad ends where death is usually the tamest outcome. Even the “good” ends have their fair share of mindfuckery; they really make you work for those happy ends. And even when you do get a happy outcome, you wonder at what cost your happiness came.

I’m being vague on purpose, because this is absolutely a game that you want to into blind, because some of these twists are intense. But, once Paradise goes off the rails, that’s it, there’s no going back. This game commits to the madness.

But, if you want to avoid some of the bloodier ends, Paradise does have an easy mode option that shows you which choices correspond with each love interest—to give you a fighting chance at the best ends.

Paradise doesn’t hold back its punches, delving into the very real threat of starvation and death the group faces once shit hits the fan. Which horrific enough on its own is made all the more terrifying when coupled with the slow breakdown of law and order among the group. When faced with your own mortality, folks are quick to shed their inhibitions and give in to their basal natures.

Of course, the boys have needs and they absolutely give in to their carnal desires while on the island. Though, given the darker themes of Paradise, the sexual encounters aren’t always consensual. In fact, most of the sex in the game lands somewhere between dubious consent and straight up rape, so don’t expect soft cuddles and post nut declarations of love. There’s only one route that’s actually romantic and believe me when I say it’s not who you’d expect.

I’ve seen a lot of sexual content over the years in my boys love, but some of these scenes were hard to get through. Azuma’s ass gets put through it by the love interests, but he’s surprising pretty down for most things. He gives power bottom Aoba from Dramatical Murder a run for his money. One of the love interests even tells Azuma he was “meant to be a bottom” and the man was not wrong. Azuma goes from zero to a hundred real quick, man gives omega in heat energy. And as an added bonus, all the peen are uncensored for our viewing pleasure.

JAST Blue has gotten some flack for the quality of their localizations in the past, most recently folks were up in arms about the licenses taken with Slow Damage. Localization is an art, not a science, each translator takes liberties with the adaptation to bring out the spirit of the original text and there were some choices made in Paradise. There was a lot of “boomer” and “zoomer” use and Azuma gets called a nympho a lot. But, I like the direction of the translation—this is a modern story and they did a good job of capturing that vibe with the localization. Is it perfect, no, but it’s entertaining as hell; especially the “dirty talk” during the sex scenes!

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Is Paradise Worth Playing?

This is my first ever PIL/SLASH game, but much like Nitro+chiral, their reputation proceeds them. The publisher is infamous for their dark, twisted stories and trust, Paradise is no exception. This game is not for everyone, there are some content warnings that had me doing a double take. But, if you can stomach some of the darker elements, Paradise is a really interesting play. I was invested in the mystery and thriller elements and the finale was…something I will never forget. Insane. But, memorable.

Paradise has two fan discs that expand on the story and explore some new elements, and I pray to the BL gods that JAST localizes them too! Edit: On April 18th, 2025 JAST Blue announced Paradise: Musubi will be coming out in English soon!

Thanks to JAST BLUE for sending me a copy of Paradise for this review!

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