Top 5 Otome Games I’m Excited For

Mitchell Lineham
4 min readJul 9, 2023

2023 has been a fantastic year for Otome games, and the year just keeps on giving! I mostly play on Switch, but there might be a title or two on PC I’m quite excited for…

Hopefully I’ll be able to update my Upcoming English Otome Games Guide list again soon, but right now these are the top 5 that have most caught my eye.

Radiant Tale

This one comes out SOON! 27th July can’t come soon enough, if you ask me. I was enamoured by this one the moment I saw that it was circus themed. I love the showsmanship vibe and colour of it all, and getting to learn more about the woeful misfit members of the group as they attempt to put on a good show for their audience sounds like it’ll be exciting.

My favourite Otome genre could possibly be “preparing for a performance”, you know. There’s something about working hard and seeing the culmination of those efforts that’s incredibly exciting and heart-warming to me.

Sympathy Kiss

Actual adults in MY Otome? A real-life work setting? Characters ranging from 20s to 40s? Must I go on? I’m very excited for an office-based setting and everything that comes with it, and being able to perhaps relate to a lot of it on a personal level. It’s even in an industry I have experience with. I’m beyond excited for this one, although I’ll have to wait until early 2024 for it…

I loved Lover Pretend too, so it’s great to see both the director and artist back on-board to spearhead this one. Based on my experience with that game, and how much I love the concept for this new game, Sympathy Kiss might shoot up high on my favourites list with ease.

Peachleaf Valley

Grettel of The Great Gretuski Games is a friend of mine, who I spoke to here on my blog before, and if you haven’t played Love Spell: Written in the Stars then know it just recently got some big updates and is more than worth your time!

We’ve all been through some rough times, I’m sure, so when our MC loses her job and home without notice, she’s understandably at a loss. It twists my stomach a little just thinking about it! She’s given fresh hope when she visits her local farmer’s market, and decides to leave her life behind to begin anew in the distant valley in the countryside that one of the farmers tells her about.

I backed Peachleaf Valley when it went live on Kickstarter, mostly due to the studio’s previous work, but also because of the art and the fact that it’s a farming-inspired Otome. We don’t really get those, so this feels like it’ll be a breath of fresh air, and I’m excited to see what they’ll do with this unique setting. All I can say is is that it’s shaping up really well!

VIRCHE EVERMORE — ERROR: SALVATION —

This one’s shaping up to be a dark tale. On a cursed island where people die before they reach 23, your options are to die, or to be fortunate enough to have your body and memories cloned. Is that really good, though? Hmm…

As a girl, known as the “God of Death” is about to end her own life, she is approached by the “Watchman of Death” to find out the truth about the island’s curse, and see what lies at the root of it all. I’m hoping that this one doesn’t feel too edgy or despairing for the sake of it, as I enjoy a darker tale when the emotional weight and plot allow for it to stand strong.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
— Pirates of the Disturbance —

Maybe someone can release the anime on Blu-ray in the UK now, huh? At least we have the novels. I’ve always loved the concept of this IP, so it’s a no-brainer that it’ll have an Otome game based on it. I’m curious to see how it plays out given that it’s part of a larger and existing IP, but I already know this is going to be a fun one.

I’m excited for pretty much every Switch Otome game announced at the moment, but these are the 5 that have caught my eye the most right now. I imagine we won’t have many, if any, more announcements for Otome games to then also release this year, but what a great year it has shaped up to be.

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Mitchell Lineham

Writing "The Presence of Eve", repped by Tiger Lily Publishing Co. | Hang around for Otome and Games | Mostly active here, Instagram, Letterboxd and Goodreads