Yay or Nay: Kings of Paradise (Otome Game)

So a couple weeks ago, Voltage released the first route of a game called “Kings of Paradise” offering the first five episodes free. This was the route of Taki Kozami, a real-estate tycoon love interest in the game. Being the interested person I am, I’m always looking for new mobile games in the otome field to play, I gave it a shot. I’ve now finished it, and I have some mixed feelings.

 So basically, this game takes on the role of you playing the MC, a woman who’s husband, Tomohiro, has had an affair with another woman, and basically treats you like shit. You find this out at a birthday party for Taki at a lavish apartment building (called Pandora) which your friend Ryoko, lives at and which you have been invited to by a mysterious man for helping him out. At the party you meet Taki and three other men (his friends), Shun, Yosuke (who gave you the invitation), and Kiyohito who live in the limelight. They’re rich, famous, and in most cases, mysterious. For their position in society, they live on the “Paradiso” floor of the apartment, and aptly given the name the “Kings of Paradise”. Once again, after a mishap with wine, these men whisk you away as apology to do your makeup, shoes, and put you in a lovely dress. 

But, you’re married to an asshole, and despite you being the “belle” of the room, Tomohiro admits he’s having an affair with another woman, and in an amazing twist of backbone (no sarcasm intended I was flabbergasted an MC here actually could take care of herself), tells him to go to hell. Good for you MC, I’m proud to say you’ve mastered having a personality and a spine. So now you’re broke, living in a motel room and trying to find a job to support yourself after a four-year employment gap in your resume. (Sighs), Yeah, I guess MC decided to be a housewife for that amount of time because why the hell not? I mean, being a caretaker of a home is hard, but they didn’t have any children, so MC was basically a fifties housewife for the remainder of her first marriage. Not a great life choice, and Tomohiro, as we’ll find out, is a salesman for high-priced clients. Like…our love interest, Taki. So he definitely operates in the higher corporate business world. Why our MC, with her numerous abilities such as cooking, or other things couldn’t have some light form of employment, I have no clue. There’s definitely a lot of improvements in both writing and story, as well as the MC herself (more on that later), but this was something that seemed to forgo an update. Because…story? 

BUT I DIGRESS. (*Goddammit I’m already ranting about the things that bothered me in this game). 

So, I’m a little biased about the initial premise of the story. Of course, if this game was based in reality, it would suck. Reality sucks, and the point of visual novels are to pretend for a tiny moment that this is plausible in itself. Reality wouldn’t even let MC through the door of that party, or if it did, it would not happen the way it did. But okay, fine, I can imagine the world they’ve created. So, to finish my earlier rant, what if MC was offered the job as a housekeeper by love-interest, Taki Kozaki, the cold and elusive real-estate tycoon. What if he could make your heart love and trust again? Could he?

SPOILERS (Like seriously, don’t read if you don’t want to hear giant plot-threads of information) AHEAD

Well, of course he could. I wouldn’t be writing this if I wasn’t. But, let’s examine this. I bought the route in full, as you’ve probably already guessed, with the idea that this game would be the first step in a whole new release of awesome new Voltage games. Better writing! Better (and more) stories! Better MCs and Love-Interests! Better CGs! After all, that’s what I’ve been receiving recently, and Voltage, even in “Kings of Paradise”, has not let down on that promise. Voltage definitely has tried to make the experience more interactive for it’s readers. For example, in some instances of Taki’s story, when the MC opens and closes her eyes, you get that effect on screen. In others, when Taki leans in close, or away from you, that effect also happens, so it’s as if you’re there. That’s some small details, but still really good. The initial premise, that is, learning to trust in love again, and learn how to live single and freely is also new for a Voltage story. Also spoiler, but Taki is totally the tsundere, and canon route of the game. He's not an...asshole, but he's the abominable snowman in terms of personality for the first bit of the game. His redeeming quality? He's got a pet crocodile named Sydney. I liked that. 

As for the MC, an already married (now divorced, and kinda bitter, but not really). That, and the growing and obvious subplot of MC knowing Taki (or suspecting) that Taki is her old high-school ex is pretty interesting. 

There’s a mystery surrounding why Taki has become the way he is. And spoiler, it has a lot to do with MC. She apparently was caught kissing another guy at a festival in their hometown, and because Taki caught them, he stood her up and then mysteriously disappeared afterward. This is all discovered within the first five-six chapters, where Taki is trying to keep his distance, control MC, and try to teach her how to take care of herself (in the most ridiculous way possible). One of the ways he does this is by taking her and the other “kings” to Macao, where she’s given $100, 000 and instructed to spend it, and then gets berating for thinking within her means, budgeting (i.e. thinking like a “poor person” as it’s put).

Yeah, I’m not quite sure what scenes like this were trying to achieve. Sure, it’s important to not splurge and live a little, even on a budget, but like, if the idea of the task was to help her get back on her feet, she should retain that mindset. Like, it’s clear to me, outside of MC not having a job for four years that she actually has experience living day-to-day normally. She can budget, handle money, and take care of herself. Her only problem is that she picks shitty men, and I think that professionally, the best thing she would need is space, not more messy relationships. Of course, this situation is different, and to Voltage’s credit, they do address it. One of the big issues the story gets to is that MC struggles with letting herself get into another relationship so quickly after a divorce. Will Taki love her still knowing she’s divorced? Can she trust him? Can she trust the whims of her ex-husband (who plays a HUGE role in the story, relatively speaking). 

This felt overall like a drama, but a good one. Albeit before, some games did not have this feel, but this one did. It felt more mature (the MC and Taki do have some sexy times, but without really being in a “relationship” officially as is the usual case with most games, somewhat real situations, and overall good CGs and art).

I liked the changes I did see as a result. The maturity of the game, one step in reality, one step out, has a nice tune. The art is fabulous as usual, and I think the writing has even improved greatly. There’s clearly lots of effort in this game, and it potentially could be among the ranks of Voltage’s headliners in the future. Of course one thing I will harp on relentlessly is the lack of agency MC has. She does have some fiery spirit, but in Taki’s route, where it starts out as her kind of learning to get a backbone that she clearly doesn’t have, it’s quickly overshadowed by Taki’s controlling nature, or the romance plot. In this regard, it severely impacts any power or independence that the game intends the MC to have. I got the feeling that they tried to give her a more dominant and leading role (like I and many others have asked for), because the MC at least attempts to take control of her own situation towards the end. I won’t spoil, but drama, and MC realizes that maybe a romance isn’t what she needs right now (a realistic option), and tries to get by. But because story, that doesn’t happen. Her initial personality is simply overshadowed and outbalanced by Taki. However, other routes might have more grace when doing this, and for that, I sincerely hope that’s true. 

So, my rating? I’m not sure how to rate this, because I know further routes are still yet to be made, as well as sequels and mini-stories. So as of now, my rating is this: 

⭐⭐⭐1/2

It’s three stars for now. It’s at the bar, but it has room to grow, both story and character-wise. As it’s still in development and adding new character routes right now, it definitely has some potential. So while you can still read the five free episodes, I would take advantage of that. Let that be your deciding factor on whether the game is for you, because right now, I wouldn’t hardcore recommend buying the route, but a quick sampling is definitely recommended!

~Meghan