Another title from the guys who brought Hakuoki on the PSP comes their next translated title on both the PSP and Playstation Vita, Sweet Fuse At Your Side. An original title that doesn’t play like most other otome games, offering a strange but interesting story and some new unexpected gameplay mechanics. My review will go in depth into the pros and cons of this title, focusing on story, characters and gameplay. At the end I tally up my overall score on it with my final thoughts. So Let’s get into the review!
The Introduction & Story
The game thrusts you into its story within the first 10 minutes. It doesn’t beat around the bush, you’re playing for life or death (and you can get GameOver!). It has a sort of 999 feel to it as you have to play through games that the terrorist Count Hogstein has created, and if you fail you and everyone playing the game will die. Also like 999 it is text heavy as it is a visual novel first and foremost. This game however is much shorter than 999 as you can finish a story-arc in about 5/6 hours.
It’s set in a theme park centered around video games! How could it not when its host and park designer is Keiji Inafune? So it features some awesome backgrounds while paying homage to titles like Mario Kart, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil etc. The setting is fun and the story is kooky and mysterious enough to make you want more out of the game. The mystery won’t be completely solved after one playthrough, so you have to go through different story-arcs to fully flesh out the mystery behind the Count Hogstein and his treacherous plot. Each story-arc feels meaningful as you get to know the past of different characters as well as their motivations. Each playthrough feels like a genuinely new experience which is unheard of in most otome games, and you have to give Sweet Fuse credit for that.
Sweet Fuse’s story gets an 9.0 out of 10. It’s extensive, mysterious and fascinating as it’s just weird enough to keep you guessing! The story will surprise you as it isn’t clear cut, so even on new playthroughs it throws you more curveballs. Each story-arc changes the story and perspective completely as you gain the affection of the different characters. It was very enjoyable despite it being text heavy (and you can skip through already read text with the square button so the introductions fly by quickly).
