Otome games are one of my favourite sub genres of the humble visual novel, and it’s mainly because I love a good romcom. These games traditionally aimed towards a female audience in Japan are also perfect for the gays, as long as you don’t mind stepping into the shoes of the maiden of the week anyway. Most of the Otome games I’ve played are just fun campy romps, with a colourful cast of hunks to date and unique settings. Not all Otome games are quite so easy-going though, which Homura: The Crimson Warriors shows with its historical fiction twist.
I’m going to start this next section of the review with a disclosure. I have almost no knowledge of Japanese history, and everything I do know has been cherry picked from various videogames. There’s a good chance that the names I think I know are entirely wrong, and so because of this I’m going to try and refer exclusively to what Homura says in its handy codex. If any historical slipups happen then feel free to berate me on social media if you must, I can take it.
Homura: The Crimson Warriors takes place in the aftermath of the Battle of Sekigahara, which in the year 1600 sent shockwaves across Japan. The Tokugawa clan have displaced the once powerful Toyotomi clan, and are in the process of eliminating the leftovers. During the great battle, mighty warrior Nobushige Sanada was on the losing side. Then after the fighting he was forced to live in the mountains in shame, waiting for a moment of redemption. A rising up of the Toyotomi may bring this sooner rather than later, and you’ll be a key part of this.
You’ll be playing as Muzumi Mochizuki (unless you change the default name I suppose), a young woman who lost her father to an evil clan of ninjas. Hellbent of revenge she learns the ninja arts herself, and after lots of training and some serious dedication her master tells her to seek out Sanada. When you arrive though it’s clear you aren’t skilled enough to keep up with his men, and end up doing a lot of cooking instead.
Muzumi isn’t particularly happy with this, and tries her best to find ways she can be of use to the Sanada clan. This means honing her skills and learning from the other warriors, and maybe making some connections along the way. If you pick the right options you might just help the clan get through this tough time, and maybe even fall in love.
Homura: The Crimson Warriors is an incredibly traditional visual novel, with no clever adventure game elements or little mini games to distract. The only interaction you have with the game is to choose between two options when the story prompts you. Some of these will determine your bonds with the various ninjas (hands off the hunky gunslinger, he’s mine) whereas others could dictate your very survival in dangerous situations.
As with any good visual novel, there’s a status screen you can use to check on all your potential love interests. You’ll be able to see how close you are to them here, as well as look at their ring aura which becomes important later on in the game. After a few chapters the story will change entirely based on the guy you have the closest relationship with, and you’ll have to go on multiple playthroughs if you want to see everything the game has to offer.
There are thankfully tools that make replaying easy, from the ninja scrolls that allow you jump around the timeline to the auto advancing text which can speed you through previously experienced scenes. It’s all fairly standard stuff for the genre, but it’s handled well at least.
I enjoyed the story and characters of Homura: The Crimson Warriors, but there’s a lot of historical text dumping especially in the early hours, which I found hard to really get invested in when I had no knowledge of the key players and characters surrounding it. I also wasn’t prepared for how much I’d need to save regularly in case of sudden brutal endings, which caused me to lose a ton of progress. It’d also be nice if there were a few more character models in the game, because it doesn’t feel like every ninja grunt should look identical.
Homura: The Crimson Warriors is a touch less charming than my usual go to Otome games, but I can’t deny the story and love interests are well worth pursuing. You might need to get through a history lesson to make it to them, but for some that’ll be exactly what they’re looking for.
