Why Are All the Black People Slaves?!: A Short Rant about Taarradhin

I was originally going to post this as part of my Melanin Monday segment, but, WordPress decided that my original post was a bit too radical and saw fit to DELETE EVERYTHING I WROTE! But, thankfully despite that I was able to salvage most of it with the help of WP’s nifty ‘History’ feature, so, it wasn’t a total loss…

I want to first clarify that this is not a review, but a critique of Cyanide Tea’s decision to create a game that featured characters of color, specifically Black and brown skinned characters, as slaves in a game that allows the player to romance said slaves. Let me say that again, THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF Taarradhin! I will write a proper review some time in the near future, but this post, is most certainly not a review, so if you are expecting a review, come back later. For everyone else, the opinions reflected in this post are my own, so, if you are uncomfortable with discussions of race or slavery, you might want to check out one of my other game reviews or discussion pieces

Before I start this rant, I want to give you guys a bit of background about Taarradhin.

Taarradhin is a Pay-What-You-Want original English language visual novel (OELVN) from Cyanide Tea (Lorelei and Auro-Cyanide). The game was created for NaNoReNo 2014 and features two potential love interests (GxG and GxB) with five endings. It’s a rather short game taking between 30 mins to an hour to complete.

Synopsis

A seven-year drought plagues the entire region surrounding the country of Nishtif, leading people to wonder if their goddess Scheknt has abandoned them. In contrast, young noblewoman Neqtia has lived a comfortable life insulated from hardship and suffering. One of the poorer surrounding countries, Djedi, sends their usual tribute of natural resources and livestock to Nishtif in exchange for the larger country’s aid and protection. Rumors that two attractive slaves are among the cargo intrigue Neqtia. What lies in store for her after the slaves are brought to live at her family estate…?

Official Description

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Thrifty Gaming: Games That Won’t Blow Your Budget #13

Hello all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers, sorry I’ve been AWOL but, it’s Thrifty Thursday and that means another Thrifty Gaming, the weekly post series where I spotlight three otome games/visual novels for gamers on a budget. Whatever your financial situation, I’m here to bring you affordable games that won’t break the bank!! All of the games on this list are $10 or less (does not include limited time offers and sale items), so no more weepy wallets!

This week’s post will include links to the games and a brief synopsis, but let me stress that these are not reviews, but recommendations… so your mileage may vary! Now that that’s out of the way lets get on to this week’s list!!

This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made by clicking on one of my affiliate links earns me a small commission that goes back towards keeping the site running. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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Melanin Monday: Otome Games/ Visual Novels Featuring Black & Brown Characters

Hey, hey all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers out there it’s Monday, and that means another Melanin Monday post!! For those of you just joining us, Melanin Monday is a  bi-weekly post series that I started for Black History Month, where I talk about Black and Brown skinned characters in anime, manga, video games, etc., but you guys loved it so much I decided to continue it!

Since this is an otome game blog, I figured at least one of these Melanin Monday posts should be about Black and brown characters in otome games/visual novels. So I compiled a list of games that featured characters with darker skin tones. This isn’t a comprehensive list of every game with dark skinned characters, but it does the trick for now. Also, most of these titles are English language visual novels since they tend to feature more characters of color than Japanese otome games… but, that’s a discussion for another day.

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Thrifty Gaming: Games That Won’t Blow Your Budget #1

Hello all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers, it’s the start of a new year and with it comes a brand new post series!! Yes, ladies and gents, you read that right… this post is the inaugural post in my brand new Thrifty Gamer series! What is the Thrifty Gamer series? Well, I’m glad you asked!! 😉

So, not too long ago, I was a poor college student, struggling to make ends meet, with the cost of books, my meager retail slave wages were barely enough for me to break even at the end of each month… Then, I discovered the wonderful world of otome games and that just blew my budget clean out of the window! I did what I could to balance my living expenses with the cost of maintaining my new hobby, but I still found myself in a bit of a pickle…

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This is one of the most relatable gifs I’ve ever seen…

Keeping up with otome games, well, games in general can put a strain on any budget, which is why I am a firm supporter of gaming on a budget! But, with all the flashy big name commercial releases dangling in front of our faces all of the time, some of the thriftier titles just fall through the cracks… So, I came up with an idea, it’s positively brilliant really, I’m surprised I never thought of it before… *ahem* Why not create a weekly list of recommended games for otome gamers on a budget?! A go to list of games, for folks that want to experience the wonderful world of otome games without breaking the bank, because if it’s a choice between food and games… food will always win!!

So every Thursday from now until it gets to be too much, I will spotlight three otome games/visual novels $10 or less (does not include limited time offers and sale items). Posts will include links to the games and a brief synopsis, but let me stress that these are not reviews, but recommendations… so your mileage may vary! Now that that’s out of the way lets get on to this week’s list!!

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Romance with Bite: Four Otome Games to Get You in the Mood for Halloween

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With Halloween less than a week away, I figured why not write a post about a few spooky fun otome games to get you all in the mood… Now, I will admit that not all of these are horror games, but each one has something Halloween-y about them. Maybe it’s a supernatural romance or maybe it takes place in a creepy fantasy realm or maybe the game takes place on Halloween, either way you’re in for a treat!

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