 |
|
|---|---|
| Title | Over RequiemZ |
| Developer | Kogado Studio, Idea Factory |
| Publisher | Aksys Games |
| Release Date | August 20th, 2026 |
| Genre | Otome, Visual Novel |
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Age Rating | Teen |
| Official Website | |
Once again, I’ve found myself anxious to get my hands on and play yet another otome, this time Over RequiemZ. I can’t seem to get enough of these games lately. I never know much about them until they’re finally announced for localization, but just based on the trailer showing off the opening, Over RequiemZ seemed like it might be another really good one. It feels like recently I’ve been reviewing a lot of cheesier titles. Well maybe cheesy isn’t the right term. I simply mean that some of the most recently localized otome in the last year were quite light on the romance elements and had a lot more overall plot stuff going on instead. They haven’t been as exciting as some of the older Switch otome releases. I was a little worried that maybe it had recently become unlikely to localize more mature titles. Anyway, I was quite happy to finally get my hands on this one a few weeks ago now.
The main heroine in Over RequiemZ is Yuhiru, a young high school girl from Japan. She’s been whisked away by a tornado and brought to the land of Oz. She ends up at the top of a particular tower that happens to be a forbidden place. It doesn’t help that she also has black eyes and hair, which in this world are seen as some kind of bad omen. And thus, she’s jailed and given a death sentence. However, death row inmates are given one chance to be pardoned. If they travel to an allocated ruin, successfully kill the monsters at whichever ruin they visit and return safely, they’ll once again be free citizens. These ruins are extremely dangerous, so it’s unlikely for death row inmates to actually make it back. Nonetheless, Yuhiru is sent off with four other death row inmates and a guide to lead them.
Being that this is an otome, of course Yuhiru’s traveling companions are potential love interests. There’s Kaize Ozma, the second prince of Oz who’s said to have killed his father, the king. There’s also Claude Grain, a man said to have wiped out a whole village of people. Molly Woodland, who was caught killing some traveling merchants. Noil Bestia, a military lieutenant who killed his whole platoon of fellow knights. And finally your guide, Dorothy, the Witch of the North. Initially, you go through a few chapters of the common route, where Yuhiru first travels to Oz and then is jailed. Obviously, you’re then sent off on your way and you learn a little bit of info about your traveling companions. Then eventually, this game lets you outright pick whichever love interest’s route you want to play first.
As I’ve been doing recently when playing any otome, I yet again looked up a recommended order. More specifically, I played through each route in the order I listed off the characters above, first Kaize, then Claude, Molly and so on. I do like to play my otome completely blind, with no prior info or advice. But seeing as it helps avoid major plot spoilers early on, I find it best to at least look up and follow a suggested order. Typically otome are out in Japan for a number of years before they come to the West, so I often can find some kind of optimal order online.
As you go through the common route in Over RequiemZ, you’ll soon learn from a mini tutorial that it’s a bit of a unique one. You don’t get your bad ends from answering questions wrong and having a poor relationship with the guy whose route you’re on. The regular blue bubble choices won’t affect the story in the long run. Certain red bubble choices, if answered correctly, will unlock special voice lines for each love interest that you can enjoy in the game’s menu, outside of the story. And then, during each route there are also these much larger button choices that will lead you to either the Fact or Dark routes, and then eventually lead you to one of two endings as well.
The Dark routes are unique, each one takes you down a storyline where things don’t go quite right and you’ll experience a very dark twisted version of each love interest’s story. These are honestly very unhinged routes and yet, at times exciting to go through. It’s ideal to do the Dark routes first because the reason these stories tend to be unhinged, is usually due to certain secrets that haven’t been revealed yet. Then in the Fact routes, various secrets will be revealed and you’ll experience a more normal otome route.
Both the Dark and Fact routes have two endings, which gives you four endings for every guy. And every single ending leads up to a final CG and a little quote from the LI that’s featured with it. I found myself thinking these could’ve been made into cool little collectible cards. I don’t know if they did anything like that when the game originally released in Japan, but it would’ve been nice to have that as an extra with the localization. And speaking of extras, there aren’t many to look forward to unlocking. It’s simply those special voice lines you unlock for each LI, and then there’s a place to listen to the game’s soundtrack like always, a gallery to see every CG image you’ve unlocked, and a video menu to rewatch the opening and different end credits for each character’s routes. Oh and I can’t forget there’s also the flowchart to revisit certain parts of the story and change your choices to unlock other routes and endings.
I really enjoyed the music of Over RequiemZ, and this time I have a definite favorite love interest as well. Noil was absolutely perfect for me. I truly adore him and honestly, one of his less ideal endings I didn’t think would be so bad really. If it was for Noil, I think I could accept such an end. But I’ll keep that ending as my own little secret. Despite Noil being my ultimate favorite, I truly enjoyed every character in this game. I don’t think there was anyone I hated or didn’t like. Those Dark routes though, they really do go off the deep end. This will not be a game for you if you don’t like a lot of red flags in your otome, or related dark events.
In the end, I had a lot of fun with Over RequiemZ. Overall, playing through every single route and unlocking all the endings, took me about 55 hours. Plus, I hardly ran into any grammar mistakes this time, they were very minor and rare. I would absolutely recommend this one if you want a more mature otome and don’t mind plenty of twisted, darker content.
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Overall |   |
