A Dash of Black Girl Magic in Every Review
Indie games
Two and a Half Studios just launched their Kickstarter to raise funding for A Date with Death – Beyond the Bet, which will add extra DLC content for their chat sim romance game, A Date with Death. Babygirl Grim is back and now with more content–additional days, extra convos, and…
Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi Tsuzuri (Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino) is a fantasy visual novel, that was released on PC in Japan in 2011 by doujin group, HaccaWorks* and published in English by Dramatic Create. A modern Japanese-style fantasy story involving Yue, a young boy born and raised at…
Crushed is an indie slice-of-life boys love visual novel developed by Hummingbird Games for Amare Game Festival 2023 and Black Visual Novel Jam. Corey’s winter break gets a lot more interesting when the love of his life, ahem, his newest crush moves to Thomastown. Can he convince the new kid…
Without a Voice is a dark fairy tale yuri visual novel developed by L³ and published by Studio Élan’s publishing branch, Bellhouse, on March 20th 2020. It follows an exiled princess, Cassidy, who meets a mysterious beauty in the forest she calls home, ensnaring her in a tragedy. To celebrate its 4th…
Y Press Games is back again with another steamy boys love visual novel, Oni Onsen! Set in feudal Japan, follow disgraced ronin, Asano as he gets revenge and gets frisky with four handsome oni. While you can romance one of the four oni love interests, Oni Onsen has five game…
Grand rising on this most glorious Black History Month! Here on Blerdy Otome I celebrate diverse stories and characters all year, but throughout the month of February I want to go extra hard for games featuring Black and brown experiences! While scrolling through Tumblr (remember that?) I stumbled upon Kabus…
HeartCoreDev is back with a sequel to their steamy sci-fi boys love visual novel, The Symbiant. Take a deep dive into Danya’s and Brahve’s heat and romance in The Symbiant Re:Union. The events take place after two Endings of The Symbiant’s main game. Game Details
The Symbiant is a story-rich and erotic (18+) sci fi BL/yaoi adult visual novel about two adult men, both from vastly different worlds, embracing their sexuality and their newfound romance. It is also a tale of interstellar friendship and being gay in space! Game Details
Where the Two Flowers Meet is a psychological mystery in the vein of Nitro+chiral’s Slow Damage and Kenkou Land’s MAMIYA, that will leave players with a mix of complex emotions. Told across two separate time periods, WTTFM follows the tumultuous relationship between Aran Yun and Caleb Ashton. After a tragedy…
Heartfelt and Queer Narrative Weaved with Roguelite Mechanics DDmeow Games, a wife-wife game dev team, announces the release of the “Cyber Paradise Demo” on January 19th. This neon-drenched 2D action roguelite revolves around the digital revival of Mini the Dog. Players will engage in frenetic combats on a quest to uncover Mini’s memories, and…
At first blush, Ayacat Games‘s Billionaire Lovers gives the impression of a simple otome game about a poor MC romancing a harem of affluent suitors. But, there is more to this game than meets the eye. Much like the infamous bait and switch that is Doki Doki Literature Club and…
Happy Monday and Happy New Year! Let’s kick off 2024 with some melanin friendly games! As a Black woman and a gamer, I love seeing characters that look like me in the games I play. But, a lot of the time, finding representation in games can be a daunting task.…
Every Saturday over on my Twitch channel I play Stardew Valley—and let’s just say things get a bit chaotic. Because of that, my chat has taken to calling it Outta Pocket Valley. During last week’s stream, I finally kicked Alex to the curb to be with my first love, Shane.…
On December 6th Wholesome Games team hosted a fun-size version of their Wholesome Direct, Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition 2023. The showcase featured premiers, demos, and game announcements for a whole host of cozy games! As one of the official co-streamers for the event I reacted live to all the announcements over on…
Groundhog Day meets Doki Doki Literature Club in the Replay Boys, a visual novel from indie studio, Split Narrative where you have to wrangle the members of an up and coming boy band. I went in expecting to navigate boy band blow outs over music and crazed fangirls vying for…
An Otome romance game where you pursue love with Japanese animal gods. Exciting news from the indie games space, Loca Games announced a month ago that their fantasy otome, Yukar of the Abyss would be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Early this morning the team announced that Yukar of the…
Indie studio Nochi Studios launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for a planned PC update for Sifting Thyme. Originally released in 2020 for mobile, Sifting Thyme was the studio’s first release–check out the full review for more details. Take on the role of the newest transfer student at…
Twofold is a romance visual novel that focuses on relationships and family. It’s been in development since 2012 by Salty Salty Studios with the help of Studio Coattails and Studio Élan, being published through Studio Élan’s publishing wing Bellhouse. Studio Élan is most known for its previous yuri and women-focused romance titles such…
Spooky season is still in full swing, so I’ve been playing some creepy games over on Twitch and boy did I find a good one. From brain eating parasites that wanna wife you up and now your beautiful girlfriend is burying you alive… it’s been an interesting time all around.…
Your choices and behaviors will lead you down very different paths in this twisty social thriller If you love Danganronpa and the Zero Escape series, you’re gonna love Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue! Aksys Games and Dreamloop Games announced today that the narrative adventure Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue is…
It’s spooky season, so here is my playthrough of Night Asobu’s psychological horror/romance visual novel, Parasite in Love! The game was developed for Spooktober VN Jam 2022 and follows the “romance” between you and a brain eating parasite that has infected your brain. Will you be able to convince the…
At long last, Brittany based indie studio, Träumendes Mädchen released their fairytale inspired visual novel, Chronotopia: Second Skin. The project was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2016, but due to various circumstances spent years in development limbo. But, the developer has been working on the game and now it is finally…
Indie studio Two and a Half Studios is making their own chat sim, A Date With Death! Flirt like your life depends on it…literally. A Date with Death is a supernatural romance chat simulator visual novel about the week long bet you enter against the Grim Reaper to attempt to…
Grow from childhood to adulthood with your two neighbors and experience a one of a kind life in this customizable, choice-heavy story🍂 At long last indie studio, GB Patch launched the Kickstarter campaign for the much anticipated second installment to the nostalgic, Our Life series—Our Life Now and Forever. Grow…
Indie game developer, GSE Studios just launched the Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming dark fantasy amare visual novel, Keepers of Astraela. The team debuted with the game Heart & Soul, a Greek mythology otome visual novel that follows the myth of Psyche and Eros. Their latest project Keepers of Astraela…
Hong Kong based indie developer, Ricelovecoffee launched the Kickstarter for their upcoming yandere otome mystery game, Heart Cage on September 15th. So I had to check out the demo for the game and y’all it was a wild ride! A few weeks ago, I played through the demo over on my Twitch channel…
This past Sunday, yuri game development team, Studio Élan announced some exciting upcoming Sapphic visual novels during Élan Festival 2023 hosted by their adorable mascot, Melanie (voiced by Madeline Dorroh)! This is an annual showcase current and upcoming projects from Élan and their publishing wing Bellhouse and trust there is…
Publisher Fruitbat Factory announced last week that they will be releasing Kenkou Land’s dark mystery visual novel, MAMIYA: DoomsDay Dreams on Steam on November 21, 2023! This will serve as the final chapter of 2021’s MAMIYA – A Shared Illusion of the World’s End, bringing the dramatic tale to a close.…
Indie developer Sundew Studios announced earlier this week that their cozy witchy life sim is coming to Nintendo Switch and XBOX on October 19th! First released on PC in 2022, this hilarious, cozy game will now be available for gamers on console! Don’t get kicked out of training in this…
Every Saturday over on my Twitch channel I play Stardew Valley—and let’s just say things get a bit chaotic. Because of that, my chat has taken to calling it Outta Pocket Valley. During last week’s stream, I may have accidentally cheated on my husband, Alex with my first love, Shane.…
