Celestia: Chain of Fate Otome Review – A Magical Adventure Awaits in this Charming Fantasy Otome

Celestia: Chain of Fate is a fantasy romance otome game developed by Indonesian studio Agate and published in English by PQube. Originally released as part of the Memories mobile story app, Celestia follows Aria a half angel, half demon hybrid who must enroll at the magical academy Celestia to uncover the truth behind her unique heritage.

Game Details

• Genre: Romance | Fantasy | Comedy
• Get the Game: Steam | Nintendo Switch
• Rating: T (Teen)
• Developer & Publisher: Agate & PQube
• Similar Games: Even if TEMPEST | Astoria Fate’s Kiss | The Radiants

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About Celestia: Chain of Fate

Celestia: Chain of Fate is a romance-fantasy visual novel that delivers a captivating player driven narrative.

The perfect life you’ve known as a daughter of a Duke is about to change forever. With the revelation of your new hybrid identity, as a descendant of Angelus and Daemon, you must learn to live in a new world.

Compelled to accept an invitation to the Academy of Celestia to explore the world of magic, you must set out on a fresh journey in a world filled with demons and angels.

Uncover the secrets of your family history and learn to control the magical abilities you hold. Along the way, you’ll have the chance to develop relationships with one of three romanceable characters, each with their own unique traits and personalities.

It’s down to you to hold your friendships and advance your love interests while also prioritizing your education. Remember not to neglect your studies as you’ll need to overcome a series of challenges to graduate!

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Characters

In Celestia Chain of Fate there are three love interests to pursue—Val, a hot-headed Daemon; Ash, the cool half-Angelus prince; and Luke, a sweet Angelus. Unlike most otome games that have individual routes for each love interest, Celestia: Chain of Fate has a linear story, and your choices determine who Aria spends her time with during key romantic scenes.

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Ash Winterlight | Half Angelus Prince

Ash Winterlight is a half-angelus human, with a special royal heritage. Close to his chest he holds the dark struggles of his kingdom, and a desperate wish he will only share with those closest to him.

A seemingly cold and standoffish disposition, Ash softens and melts in Aria’s presence. The one person who has managed to break through his defenses…

Cool ice prince types are usually my jam, but I just couldn’t get into Ash. He’s the typical cool, unapproachable kuudere who only lets his guard down when he’s with his crush. There were some cute moments between him and Aria where he opens up to her and becomes much more affectionate. Of the LIs Ash is the most horny, man is surprisingly physical, kissing and holding Aria when they’re alone. But, if I’m being 100% honest, Ash has more chemistry with Val—their constant bickering and sniping has the makings of a really compelling frenemies to lovers romance.

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Luke Alastair | Pureblood Angelus

Luke Alastair is an Angelus who, despite being of high-born lineage, bears the cross of a heavy fate.
He is gentle and kind, an enigmatic yet warm presence who is emotionally supportive, and honest with his feelings. He may be soft-natured, but anyone treating Aria badly will bring out his dark-side!

Luke is just a sweet cinnamon roll who deserves all the hugs and head pats. Not falling for Luke is kind of criminal, he’s supportive and kind and feels more like a background character in his own life. But, you know what they say about folks with big smiles… they’re hiding even bigger pain. Man drew the short end of the stick in life, but rather than letting that keep him down he is determined to put on a brave face and not burden anyone else with his problems. His romance with Aria is much more of a quiet affection, than a passionate affair, but it’s very sweet.

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Val De Lucifer | Pureblood Daemon

Val De Lucifer a Daemon, who just like his surname suggests, comes from a famous lineage. A dark cloud hangs heavily over him, a tragic loss weighing him down with sadness.

Despite this, Val is an energetic, charismatic presence. He may seem loud and rough around the edges at first, but breaking through his defenses reveals a sweet, hidden core.

I fully admit that Val had my heart from the start, a cute red-headed Daemon…say less! I fully expected Val to be a hot-headed guy, but he’s definitely more of a loveable jock. He isn’t one for studying or thinking things through, preferring to rush headfirst into situations (with mixed results). Also the way to his heart is through his stomach, feed him and baby boy will be yours for life! While he’s super confident and powerful he is quick to get flustered when teased—his blushing sprite is one of my faves! He is a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to let his feelings be known, which causes him to butt heads with the more reserved Ash. His scenes do get pretty steamy, which I loved.

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Celestia: Chain of Fate Review

Dive into the magical world of Angels and Demons in Celestia: Chain of Fate. Unlike many of the other otome localizations, this one is an Indonesian title that was originally released on mobile platforms. There isn’t a distinctive Indonesian flavor to Celestia, it reads pretty much the same as any other otome game. But, its localization does open up the mainstream fandom to stories from Asian creators outside of Japan and the chokehold Otomate has on the genre. So, it’s definitely a welcome treat for Western fans.

Part coming-of-age story, part epic fantasy, Celestia: Chain of Fate follows Aria, a half-Angelus, half-Daemon who discovers that she is not only magical, but the product of an illegal coupling between an Angel and a Demon. To protect her, she was hidden away in the Human realm until she comes of age and can take her place at the magical school, Celestia Academy.

If you think it has a lot in common with Harry Potter, you would be correct, that’s exactly the plot of Celestia: Chain of Fate. This is an otome game, so of course there’s more romance, but the comparison is pretty sound.

Alongside Aria, explore the rich fantasy world of Celestia and uncover the truth behind her hybrid heritage. Visit the different realms and learn about the history and culture of Daemon, Angelus, and Humans and the role magic plays within their societies. While magic is shared among all of the inhabitants of the world, each race has their own motivations and specialties. The Angelus value knowledge and wisdom. Daemon celebrate strength and power above all else. Humans function much the same as they do in the real world, with the added bonus of being able to use magic.

There is a tenuous harmony between the realms, albeit with a sprinkle of that fantasy racism we all know and love. There are inherent biases about each of the races in the games, something the more traditional (Pureblood) folks are quick to bring up. But, generally the different groups get along fairly well so long as Angelus and Daemon don’t mix too intimately.

So Aria’s existence is an oddity both within Celestia (the school) and the larger magical world. That’s not to say that mixing doesn’t happen, one of the love interests Ash is a half-Human, half-Angelus and there are several other students with mixed Human heritage. But, Aria alone is unique in being both Angelus and Daemon, and because she was raised as a Human most of her life she doesn’t harbor the same notions the others do. It gives players an untainted view of the world and its politics which makes the shortcomings of the world all the more apparent.

Thankfully the game doesn’t just dump the heavier stuff on you all at once, choosing to gradually reveal deeper plotlines as the story progresses.

Despite the heavier themes, Celestia has more of a lighthearted tone focusing on the everyday interactions between Aria and her friends at the Academy. Practicing magic, attending class, hanging out in town and the occasional date. Celestia has pretty full cast, from fellow students to teachers and even family members, there is a world outside of the romantic goings on between Aria and her harem. They all leave an impression and many are integral to the plot appearing often throughout the story.

But, y’all are here for the romance bits and yes, Celestia does come with romance options in the form of Aria’s teammates: charismatic and impulsive Daemon, Val; sweet and kind Angelus, Luke; and cool Ice Prince, Ash.

I absolutely set my sights on Val—sexy demon bae with a killer smile checks off all my boxes—but, I really came to love all the love interests. They each have their own conflicts and motivations and the story is pretty fair about giving all of them equal time in the spotlight. It kind of felt like I was building a harem because what you do with one love interest you do with all regardless of which character you’re actively pursuing. You can raise affection with all the LIs equally which can lead to Aria bouncing between romantic scenes with no consequences.

It kind of lessens the impact of the individual romantic moments when one minute you’re kissing Val only to turn around and do the exact same thing with Ash or Luke afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, the romance in the game is great, ranging from cute and wholesome to spicy. But, because the game is rated Teen, nothing explicit, the most you’ll get visually are the boys’ shirtless sprites and an intimate pre-smash CG in Val’s route. But, the writing during the steamy scenes gets pretty descriptive~

While Celestia: Chain of Fate is an otome there were some moments that teased at LGBTQ+ relationships. The boys have quite a few steamy scenes, mostly played for laughs, but with how great their chemistry is, I was already shipping the heck out of them anyway. Especially Ash and Val, the way those two bicker constantly reeks of belligerent sexual tension—they just need to bang one out…together.

There is one scene in particular where Val accidentally drinks and aphrodisiac and starts stripping Ash and Luke. Man definitely got to third base with both of them and everyone was pretty chill about it. Don’t worry, Aria also gets some action with the ladies too, there is one bad end where she dumps the guys and runs off with a super mega foxy hot lady (between you an me that is NOT a bad end).

Overall, the story of Celestia is more linear than your usual otome game, instead of picking a route or the story branching at a certain point for one of the LIs; the story follows a set narrative. There are only three main “endings” one for each of the love interests, but there are over 20 alternate ends that can be unlocked over the course of the story. The game lists them as “bad” ends and while some of them feature negative outcomes most of them are comedic, silly early game over scenarios.

This is probably a good time to mention that the game only covers Book 1 of the story, so there are a lot of plot points that aren’t resolved by the end of the game. Which given the length of the game and the number of choices you make, it’s frustrating to put all that work in for no set conclusion.

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Gameplay and Features

Celestia: Chain of Fate was originally conceived as an episodic mobile game with the usual freemium pay to play format. Now, this isn’t unusual, there are tons of mobile otome that have been re-released on other platforms. In recent years Voltage Inc has ported several of their most popular titles to the Switch. Of course porting a game requires a lot of behind the scenes updates to ensure that the experience is enjoyable across platforms. However, it doesn’t always feel like Celestia: Chain of Fate was fully optimized for the more traditional gameplay style of a Nintendo Switch otome game.

The art is stunning on level with a bigger budget title. Every background is full of gorgeous details and color that make them pop off the screen. The character designs are beautiful and I love that the characters actually change clothes switching between casual outfits, their uniforms, and even formal wear. There was this really sexy dress Aria wears during Val’s route that is to die for! The CGs are all stunning and come with fun in-game animations that enhance the magic of the experience.

BUT, that said, I did notice that the sprites for the main cast (Aria and the LIs) aren’t optimized the same way as some of the others. They look pixelated during closeups and it’s very jarring since these sprites are for the main cast! I expect wonky sprites for side characters, but for the heroine and the LIs this is unacceptable. It really takes you out of the scene when the sprite of the LIs looks like they’re still buffering…

I didn’t notice this issue when I played the demo on Steam, so this is an issue exclusive to the Switch version of the game. I really hope they do an update to fix it soon..

Another small gripe is that the story tends to drag in places. Celestia has over 350 choices and while I welcome freedom of choice in otome games, this was a bit excessive. Only a handful of choices raise affection with the love interests, while most are just flavor choices that establish Aria’s personality. And given the fact that there are three set endings, it doesn’t make sense to have all those choices. Especially when the game halts every three lines or so for a new choice it breaks up the flow of the story and makes for a long, grueling experience.

This has to be a carryover from the mobile version, since most freemium mobile games have lots of choices that stretch out the gameplay. While this works well when the gameplay is broken up into bite-sized chapters for daily play, it’s tedious AF when you’re playing the game in one sitting. I’m almost glad that the story is more linear, because Celestia‘s gameplay style does not lend itself well to wanting to replay it again and again.

But, gripes aside, there are a few features I did enjoy, like the fun side stories that delve deeper into the characters and their stories. Those were super cute additions that further expand on the world.

The localization of Celestia: Chain of Fate was pretty good. There were some very minor errors and odd phrasing, but they were few and far between. The overall tone of the story is pretty casual, these characters are in their teens and early 20s so I didn’t expect the text to be too rigid. It’s modern without feeling like it’ll be dated in a few years which gives the game a more timeless appeal.

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Is Celestia: Chain of Fate Worth Playing?

So I enjoyed Celestia: Chain of Fate, its a pretty solid fantasy romance otome with some interesting worldbuilding and twists and turns. But, the fact that there isn’t really a payoff for a lot of them in Book 1 really puts a damper on the experience.

I will admit that I feel more comfortable viewing Celestia on the same level as the Voltage Inc. title or even a Western indie otome. It doesn’t quite reach the caliber of the more mainstream otome release, but rather has a more approachable homegrown charm of an indie otome (which if you know my tastes is a pretty high compliment).

Celestia: Chain of Fate is a gorgeous game that clearly had a lot of love put into it, but there were a few issues that keep the game from being truly great. That said, I definitely enjoyed a lot about the game and feel pretty comfy recommending folks give it a try.

Thank you to PQube for providing a copy of Celestia: Chain of Fate for this review!

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