Cafè Enchantè - Review

Hello everyone, today I bring you another otome game review. This time we will be talking about Cafè Enchantè for Nintendo Switch by Aksys Games, one of the otome games localized in 2020. It features a long common route and 5 pretty unique love interests. The theme of this game is loving someone despite their weirdness or differences from oneself, and all the routes manage to convey that feeling pretty well. There is also one sentence that represents this theme, and is repeated through the game, which is "Je t'aime juste comme tu es". It means "I love you the way you are" in French. The other themes are fantasy worlds, as almost all the bachelors are humanoid non-humans, and cafes and coffee, as the heroine owns a cafe for non-humans.

My Gaming Recap - 2020

Hi folks! 2020 is finally over. It hasn't been a good year for everyone, but surely there were good memories, and they will remain forever and give meaning to this troubled year. Gaming wise, I've played a lot of great games this year, and I cannot wait to shortly review them for you. What games were worth it, in my opinion? What games weren't? You will see. 

January

It all started with me finishing Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Nintendo Switch. The storyline of this game wasn't the most unique, but the characters were interesting (especially Balthier) and the gameplay was a bit unexpected: it relies on (optional) automation, as you basically write down a detailed strategy for your characters to follow, and they do their job really well. Almost always :). You can always jump in to fix things, of course. It makes battling less tedious. You also had the option to toggle 4x speed with the press of a button. It doesn't affect cutscenes, just walking and battling.

My beloved character!

Then I started and finished Saints Row IV Reelected on PS4, which my good friend had just gifted me for Christmas. I didn't play DLCs. I really enjoyed it, surely more than Saints Row The Third. I know it was exaggerated, with aliens and simulations, but that's Saints Row's charm: pure fun. I loved jumping and gliding, especially with the eighties and nineties' music in the background. 

I also started my first Visual Novel, 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors on PS Vita. 

February 

I finished 999 and got most of the endings. I'll surely come back to the others eventually. It was a really intriguing game: the puzzles were difficult but solvable, and the plot delved into many real-life mysteries, I would love to look into them a bit more.

The best restaurant in Kamurocho! :)

Then I played my first Otome game on console, Hakuoki Kyoto Winds on PS Vita. I just played Saito's route, though. This game made me want to play more Otome games, as I thought they weren't good games. I was incredibly wrong. 

I started and finished Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS4, along with Majima's Saga. It was a really good game, surely better than Kiwami. I really loved Majima's Saga, because it covers some events that Yakuza 0 fans will love. 

I also started my most unexpectedly good game of the year, Judgment on PS4.

March

My house at the beginning of the game

In this month I mostly played Judgment, then started playing Animal Crossing New Horizons on Nintendo Switch and created my island called KeyLevante. This game was really astonishing because it solved many issues I had with the previous game while adding many new exciting features! If they add back all the things they removed, it will be the best Animal Crossing game ever. Luckily they're doing that, so we'll just wait. My dream address is DA-6370-1230-8005. I'll probably make a blog about it soon. 

April

I took a short pause from Animal Crossing New Horizons in order to finish Judgment, which is now among my favorite games ever, dubbed Luchadores (a gang in Saints Row The Third) because they are 5 like its members. I loved many things about this game, especially the characters and the rich and intriguing storyline. My favorite character is Takayuki Yagami, played (both in motion capture and voice acting) by Takuya Kimura, a really popular Japanese actor and singer. This made me want to know more about his other roles, and I found Jdrama thanks to him. He's my favorite male actor. 

Tak sightseeing

I started Yakuza 3 Remastered on PS4. I also started Saito's route in Hakuoki Edo Blossoms on PS Vita. 

I also completed the first playthrough of Nier Automata. I didn't really enjoy it, and I don't think I'll continue to play it anytime soon. The only things I really enjoyed were the character 9S and the soundtrack. I still listen to Nier Automata lofi mixes, you should look them up, they're great.

May

My precious Saito

I finished Yakuza 3 and Saito's route. Yakuza 3 had a great storyline and Rikiya is surely one of the best Yakuza characters. The gameplay was less developed than the other games but it's the first mainline Yakuza game on PS3 so we can forgive it, can't we?

Saito's route was undeniably cute and it was worth playing it. I'd like to read it again eventually. Maybe one part after the other 👀. 

I started Persona 4 Golden on PS Vita but I had some problems with it so I had to put it down for a while. So, in the meantime, I started Code Realize: Guardian of Rebirth on PS Vita. This time I played all the routes.

June

I finished all the routes of Code Realize: Guardian of Rebirth. I was really astonished by the complexity and quality of the storylines, I would definitely read them again and maybe see the bad endings too. I'm also looking forward to the 2 fandiscs (they're sequels, and as far as I have understood, a fandisc is a sequel that is not mandatory to read to understand the main basic plot of the game but serves as an addition).

One of my first aesthetic pictures

I started Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires on PS4. Then I played Hijikata's and Kazama's routes in both the Hakuoki games on PS Vita. I played Journey on PS4. It was part of the games given away for free during the quarantine. It was really interesting as you meet real players during your playthrough that help you, but you wouldn't guess they're real players. It doesn't need ps plus for internet features, so everyone can enjoy it.

I finished my first playthrough of Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires with a character called Méi Hei. I loved this game. I tend to get bored after a while in Dynasty Warriors games, but this one puts you in charge of the decisions, which makes it far more exciting. Plus you can create your character and that's something I extremely enjoy in games.

July

I started and finished Our World Is Ended on Nintendo Switch and got all the endings. At first, I thought it was another random visual novel, but I was mistaken. First of all, it's probably one of the best visual novels visually wise. All the art is vibrant and stunning. The storyline is written pretty well, and the characters are all really enjoyable. They do make many boob jokes, but they can be endured. The endings aren't really different from each other, but the secret one is really twisted and you'll surely love it. It's a bit off but it makes sense.

My dad wasn't sure about what I
wanted to do with his remote :)

I also started Yakuza 4 Remastered on PS4. In the meantime, I solved the problems with Persona 4 Golden and I managed to finish it. This one is also sitting among the Luchadores. This game is incredibly amazing for many reasons, and a full review would be more suitable for it. Everything is unforgettable about this game, even if you'll surely spend too many hours finishing it. My favorite characters are Naoto, Marie, Yosuke, and Adachi. 

I started Nightshade on PC, Goemon's route. I also started Persona 2 Innocent Sin on PS Vita (played through backwards compatibility). 

August

I finished Persona 2 Innocent Sin and started Astral Chain on Nintendo Switch. Persona 2 was really cool, but the ending is too... Fast. This is because you have to play the sequel too, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment. I didn't play so much this month, sadly.

September 

Also available as a profile background
on Steam

I finished Astral Chain and started Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker on Nintendo 3DS. Astral Chain was an interesting game. The plot was really good, and the gameplay was interesting too because you could swap your ally (a being called legion) with a few other different kinds that allowed you to play how you wanted. Plus it's cyberpunk!

I also finished Goemon's route in Nightshade. I didn't really 100% enjoy it, it was cute though. I started Ace Attorney 1 on Nintendo Switch.

October

I finished Yakuza 4. Another unforgettable game! My favorite character was Tanimura. Too bad he's only in this game. I finished Ace Attorney 1. I really loved it, especially because I love legal and courtroom related stuff. I'm looking forward to the sequels.

I really love this picture

I started Piofiore Fated Memories on Nintendo Switch and 100% completed it. Now, this is an amazing otome! The mafia setting caught my eye, and the storyline immensely pleased me. You can find my review on this site.

I started playing Genshin Impact on PS4. I mostly play it with my friend EmeraldDM8, who is always more powerful than me because he plays a lot more than me. At least he helps me out with dealing with bosses. :)

November 

I started Café Enchanté on Nintendo Switch but played only Canus's route. I started Ignis's route but I haven't finished it yet. The common route was nice but the characters' routes I played up to this point aren't so great, to be honest. Too bad. 

I really like soundtrack CDs,
I should get more of them

I finished Daichi's route in Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker. The story here was so deep, I loved how there wasn't a good or bad guy, but it was your actions that changed how the characters behave. I'll surely play more routes soon. 

I started The World Ends With You Final Remix on Nintendo Switch. I started Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army on PS2. 

December

I finished The World Ends With You Final Remix. It's now in my Luchadores. At first, I thought this game wasn't interesting enough, but I was so wrong! You can find my review on this site. 

Lucky me I kept that candy cane :)

I started Saints Row The Third Remastered on PS4, but it's giving me a few problems (not always wanting to start up, character creator issues, and so on). I also started, after a long wait, Cyberpunk 2077. I'm currently trapped in a room because of a bug so I'll have to be patient. I started Persona 2 Eternal Punishment on PS Vita thanks to its backwards compatibility. I also tried Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix on PS4 but lost interest. I started playing Saints Row IV Reelected DLCs. I started Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4. I also started Yakuza 5 Remastered. You could say it wasn't a completely lucky month gaming-wise :).

Overall

Overall, I really enjoyed my gaming year. I was able to play many gems and continue with my Yakuza series journey. I found a new special series, Persona or Shin Megami Tensei. Not everything went well, but if everything did that would be so boring.

In 2021, I'd like to finish the currently available mainline Yakuza games and some spin-offs, along with many otome games and everything that catches my eye in between.

I hope you had a good gaming year too! Tell me about it in the comments. And don't forget to subscribe to the blog to receive a notification when I post something new!