Preview: Clover Days

 

Created by Alcot and produced by NykoNyan Clover Days is slated to be released sometime in 2021. No official release date has been made but the project is currently undergoing its final phase of 'Quality Check' prior to its release. With multiple titles slated to come out this year by NekoNyan, a time frame is hard to set but usually, it won't take long to perform a quality check.

Clover Days like other Visual Novels produced by NykoNyan may have 18+ content available at launch or via DLC depending on if you get the game through Neko or through Steam. Based on some of the pictures I have seen I would like to think that some H-Scenes will be added to the finished product but if not I can accept that, though it would be a bit of a bummer.

Clover Days places you as the protag Yuuto who was abandoned as a child and raised in an orphanage in Britain. While still young you were adopted by a businessman Takakura Yoshiomi, who then took you back to his country of Japan. Despite not being well versed in Japanese culture or the language young Yuuto was supported by his sisters Anzu and Anri.

Anzu is described to be cheerful, emotionally expressive, and easy to get along with. She tends to be a bit shy and reserved, however. 

Anri is described to be a cool, mild-natured person, and acts mature and sensible at all times...even though she's still a child at heart. She can be a bit abrasive when not meaning to be.

As a child Yuuto and his sisters played with Tsubame, Isumi, and the twin sisters Hekiru and Hikaru. It is during their childhood that the information released points to the usual heartwarming story of young friendship and those hidden feelings of interest in Yuuto as something more than just a friend though none would admit it.

Though all children grow up and the past tends to fade into time and words, promises, and secrets tend to be forgotten. It is described that at some point that the sisters end up leaving and time passes. All that changes though as Yuuto and the others are in High School and the sisters return.

Tsubame has always been in the same class as Yuuto and they have always been very close friends. She is very timid and has a lack of self-confidence. It is my personal belief they may try to swing Tsubame as 'best girl' in this visual novel but while I believe that is possible I also think they may try a different tactic based on other information.

Yuuto also has a rival of sorts though it is for the sake of argument most likely just a Tsundere thing. Izumi is Tsubame's best friend and as the bio of her states, she's cute on the outside but her personality unfortunately is anything but.

Izumi is rowdy and ostentatious but always hides her true feelings. She is also very weak-willed and always clings to others for help. Despite declaring herself Yuuto's rival, many believe it is really just her way of flirting with him.

The description of Clover Days describes that as the twin sisters return it is at this time that things between Yuuto and the other girls began to change and that the twins have some connection to Yuuto that no one really understands. It is a mysterious twist that builds the story and adds some new twists. 

Hekiru is a childhood friend of Yuuto and is described as a beautiful and gifted artist. She speaks with a monotone voice and tends to march to the beat of her own drum. When asked what brought her to Japan her response is simply...'Yuuto's virginity?!'

Hikaru is the twin sister of Hekiru and boasts that she is Hekiru's "mirror" twin (with full bilateral symmetry). She is a popular model with a slight boyish appeal, she is calculated and glib and tends to handle things flawlessly in a matter-of-fact fashion.

Hikaru however is a noted Misandrist who holds affection towards her sister Hekiru that transcends both sisterly and sexual boundaries. Because of her hatred of men in general she is often old and unforgiving to Yuuto.

While the game seems to be straightforward about the fact that there are going to be multiple endings based on which of the love interest you choose there is one piece of the puzzle that I withheld until now. And while there is no actual note about it there is something I noted while going through the different characters in the Visual Novel.

There is a character that apparently only Yuuto can see and interact with and while this may not lead to anything it does develop Yuuto to be either mentally unstable or establishes a backstory that he may be able to see spirits or something. I'm spitballing ideas with the 'only he can see' character at this point.

All in all the graphics look good, the music from the video sounds nice, and the Japanese voices went well with the characters in my opinion. I think this game will be a nice Visual Novel to add to the collection. Though if you are like me you probably have way more in that collection than you like to admit to.

Preview: Sugar Style

 

Sugar Style is currently under development and is expected to hit the market at the end of the month or the start of May 2021. It is being produced by NekoNyan and will most likely be launching on Steam the same day that it is due to hit the digital marketplace. 

Sugar Style places you as a protag that has had a sordid life up until the moment he enrolls into a Vocational School. From the snippet the game gives, the protag's parents got scammed into debt by a con artist and ended up having to leave their hometown behind and live on the run. That was until a family member stepped up and helped him get into a vocational school where he could learn a trade to make his life better. The only thing that made life better though was the fact his dorm was full of hot girls and he was the only man there.

Currently, it shows that there are 4 possible girls that you could end up with, each girl has their own personality and quirks that make them fun and interesting. That said they are united in one thing, they don't trust the protag and they seem to view him with quiet distrustful gazes. But he is determined to change that and to eventually find love with one of them.

According to the post by NekoNyan Sugar Style sports, a couple of interesting concepts with character development and how the game adapts to your choices within it. The game starts with you having to earn the trust of each of the girls which will lead you to more choices and eventually a path of friendship and love. This is different from most where you have some connection to maybe one of the girls at the start of the Novel.

There is also a job system that will alter how you interact with the girls and alter the story as well. From the posts by NekoNyan, there are currently four jobs: Housework, Carpenter, Entertainer, and Security. Each one has its own unique mini-scenarios and life in the dorm will change based on what you choose.

Another system they are adding is a 'room rummaging system that will allow you to rummage through the room of the girl that you have chosen to spend the most time with and to woo. It allows you to enter their room after they 'trust' you enough and you can view a variety of items that they may not care you finding...or maybe they don't want you to find?

With the limited information that NykoNyan is currently putting out due to how close it is at launch, it isn't stated if the game will have an 18+ patch at launch or if this will come later in the form of a DLC. Though as it has currently been doing with most of its games when dealing with Steam's weird rules of adult content it usually launches the full game complete with adult content on its shop. Later it will drop the 18+ Patch DLC on its site for free downloads if you get the game off Steam.

If NykoNyan plays its cards right on this the new systems I think will propel the game further than several of its earlier titles though I know many including myself are still waiting and seeing when NekoPara Vol. 5 will be released. That said I am looking forward to this game and seeing what these new systems have that could propel Visual Novels into the next stage.

 Riddle Joker: Nanami's Story

Riddle Joker Nanami's Story follows the events happening after you have made the choice to have Nanami as your romantic interest. While it has been a while since I last posted about anything with regards to Riddle Joker, I think it is about time to make this post as Nanami was one of the ones that I did enjoy playing through.

Nanami plays as the protag's field support agent and uses her unique Astral ability to provide healing support for you and other field agents when the time comes. She is extremely smart when it comes to communications, computers, and many other forms of electronics. She is also the protags adoptive sister with no blood relations. She like the protag was taken in by your father after she was rescued from her abusive parents. 

She is smart, shy, and a bit of a shut-in at times. She however hangs very closely to the protag and is very diligent in her work. She is not equipped to handle direct confrontation between herself and possible targets as she lacks combat training or any sense of combat sense. This makes the protag very protective of her as she is not only his partner but also family.

But what good Visual Novel of this genre wouldn't be complete without the somewhat incest-like relationship between siblings? Now let's make it clear that we have done established they are not blood-related. The only relation they share is on paper by both being adopted by the same male parent. As time passed and they grew up living in the same home, Nanami grew to love her brother for more than a sibling, but she had decided to keep those feelings to herself knowing that such feelings would be seen badly by others around them and most likely their own father.

Nanami showed signs of being an Astral at an early age and growing up to parents that didn't like Astral's she became the target of their rage and misunderstanding. Attempting to seek some sort of love, she started to dabble in her father's field of computers and programming. She was able to read technical manuals and programming guides and soon was able to write her own programs and much more.

Her father seeing her potential started using her abilities to do his work for him, then he was able to get in good with some shady underworld people and groups where he used his daughter's skills to amass wealth. Because of her young age, she associated working and bringing home money as a means to obtain love. This created an awkward girl that due to being removed from society and not knowing how to interact with people she did what she was told and garnished affection by handing her money to her parents.

It wasn't until she was saved and taken in by Satoru's father and adopted that she later learned about the concept of being a 'child' and that money doesn't buy love or affection. It took years of work, but she finally grew out of most of the damage done to her.

Eventually, time passes as Satoru and Nanami are sent to the school to deal with the situation there. While there their relationship continues to increase until the point that those around them know full well what is going on. This continues for some time but it isn't until a mission comes up that puts Satoru in danger that Nanami finally decides it's time to speak up. Well, that and she thinks that he's got a thing for another girl and it finally turns to jealousy. 

Between the two though she finally decides to admit to herself and to him that she has fallen in love with him. At first, he is taken aback by this revelation, but after some time he realizes that he himself has also fallen for her as well and that he has no problem with being with her even if she is technically his sister through their father's adoption. 

Later they tell their father which leads to some pretty funny dialogue between the three but you will have to play the game to see what that exchange was like.

Nanami's path is shorter than some of the other girls, but it is still well done.

Lonely Catgirl: Is the Purrfect Pussy

 Lonely Catgirl is the purrfect pussy, is a straight-up hentai-based Visual Novel that focuses on a micro-story between the protag and a catgirl spirit named Rin. The story is extremely light and just to be upfront this entire Visual Novel was designed strictly for the H-Scenes. 

That is one of the things you can expect from the company that produced this Visual Novel called KissCherry. They are heavy hentai-focused visual novel creators and publications that publish visual novels directly from their Japanese counterparts. 

The visual novel starts with you creating a name for your character which you can customize as you wish. I went with my usual Japanese playing name of Kage. Kage is your average working-class Japanese citizen, he wakes up and goes to work to return to a single man life where he then heads to bed and does it all over again. On one particular day when returning home from work, he stops by a small shop and gets him some food for his dinner that night. When he leaves he runs into a rain shower and while making his way through he comes to a girl laying in the road naked. 

The girl has ears and twin tails which makes him think at first that she's a cosplayer. However, upon further inspection, he realizes that she's not a cosplayer and that the tails are real and attached along with the cat-like ears. 

Rin's story is a bit sad, from what little she tells the protag she's basically the runt of the litter so to speak and she has been forced out of her home and forced out on her own. She at first wanted to rely on humans for help but soon found out that humans either wanted nothing to do with her or to mistreat her so she eventually ran further and further away from home until she ended up with the protag.

She was starving, cold, and had no clothes or anything else to her name. The protag takes her in and after feeding her and helping her warm up with a bath, leading to an H-Scene (like most things in this visual novel) the two grow close quickly. 

The story progresses through different events that happen between them, including a lot of H-Scenes, and as time goes by they get closer and closer with each finally admitting they love one another and they admit to wanting to make a family with one another. 

Rin and the protag eventually decide to get married as well as to have children together. There is a couple of scenes when Rin is pregnant that they continue to have sexual intercourse. The two eventually are stated as having many children and making a family as a married couple. But not much more is really stated when it comes to going further in the story.

As I have said before CherryKiss games are good for the H-scenes but many lack any real sense of in-depth storytelling. This is not to say they are without merit or they are bad in any way. I find these stories quick and light, which allows you to focus on the h-scenes more, which is what these particular Visual Novels are all about. 

I recommend this if you are looking for a time killer and some sex scenes between a protag and a Neko. I enjoy Neko's personally and wolf girls, so this visual novel wasn't bad. I do enjoy more story and character development, but sometimes a good hentai-based visual novel is a nice change of pace.