Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

The lack of innovation and new concepts in otome games.

moçoroca de abacate

moçoroca de abacate

New member
Jun 21, 2026
72
78
I was recently looking for an otome game to play after finishing Tokimeki , but the premises always seem to be the same: the LIs include a sweet and gentle guy, a serious one, a "dark" and reclusive one, a childhood friend, and a super-energetic, loud one... All of this set in a workplace, a school, or a kingdom.

I admit I really crave something more "innovative" and "risky" in new otome games. Like a romance with a priest, or something like that (no judgment, please 😭)... They've even written about incest in some older titles (Kuro to Kin and Chou no Doku), but I've never seen a romance with a priest or anything of the sort!

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I've been attracted to priests since childhood (an attraction that persists into my adult life) and I can never find games or visual novels that depict or satisfy my desire to see the MC get involved with a priest🤔.

I just want a clergyman grappling with religious guilt; is that too much to ask?😔 Bonus points if he's a serious, hard-to-crack priest who takes a long time to outwardly yield to his feelings for the MC, even though he's freaking out on the inside! But I don't want shy, easily embarrassed priests (I'm not into LIs who blush and stutter at everything).

What about you? Is there a concept you'd love to see in a game but never do? Or a concept/theme you've encountered in a game – or a select few –, but remains rare to find?

1000316928.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: starlight7, aquil_aleo, fr4pp3cinn and 1 other person
there is still incest in otome games!!!!! folie fatale came out just two and a half years ago!!!!! the catch though is that its indie, so i guess if you want to see devs breaking the mold(?), you should look into indie otome games. there are quite a few that are being developed right now, you can check them out under the #スーパーゲ制デー tag on twitter!
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: aquil_aleo, mitsumitsu, fr4pp3cinn and 1 other person
ninnikuryona said:
there is still incest in otome games!!!!! folie fatale came out just two and a half years ago!!!!! the catch though is that its indie, so i guess if you want to see devs breaking the mold(?), you should look into indie otome games. there are quite a few that are being developed right now, you can check them out under the #スーパーゲ制デー tag on twitter!
Click to expand...
Wow, I didn't know Folie Fatale featured incest! I'd heard there was a route involving the protagonist and her brother, but I assumed it was a platonic/sibling-bond type of route since I never saw anyone mention incest when I looked up reviews and comments about the game...

I'll check out that tag right now! Maybe I'll even get lucky and find an indie otome with a priest as a love interest🤔 and THANK YOU SO MUCH!
 
moçoroca de abacate said:
It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I've been attracted to priests since childhood (an attraction that persists into my adult life) and I can never find games or visual novels that depict or satisfy my desire to see the MC get involved with a priest
Click to expand...
There is a game called Obscura, that has a priest LI in it! But he has zero religious guilt and more of a naughty sm-style type of priest :wink:
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: aquil_aleo and moçoroca de abacate
moçoroca de abacate said:
Wow, I didn't know Folie Fatale featured incest! I'd heard there was a route involving the protagonist and her brother, but I assumed it was a platonic/sibling-bond type of route since I never saw anyone mention incest when I looked up reviews and comments about the game...
Click to expand...
apparently they used the ending cg with pregnancy as a promo material, so uhh yeah very much NOT platonic love LMAO
also not to act like a broken record or anything, but ogamika no himegoto also features father/daughter incest:) its slightly older though. also theres wakudeki, but its stepcest. i definitely gotta look into newer otome games with incest..... hmmm..........

oh and if you want priests, there is a situational voice drama with a priest man and a demon girl!
 
  • Love
Reactions: moçoroca de abacate
I believe the commercial otome scene has been very conventional for a long time, to be honest. Although the early 2000s had interesting titles with uncommon concepts, VNs as a whole were more "experimental" at the time, coming from the pre-Windows era and all, and I feel like doujin titles got the spotlight more often then

That doesn't mean that nowadays you can't find games for a specific niche! Even itch.io has surprised me more than once; if you're looking for Japanese otoge, I can't recommend Freem! enough, haha! DLsite is amazing too, specially for taboo topics ;b (coming from a onii-chan route defender). As for priests, I feel like joseimuke works usually feature them as pervs or haraguro types, not so much religious guilt; I've encountered "secretly-pervert", flirty, manipulative priest characters more than once in doujinshi and situational audio lol

The closer I can think of is Lost in Secular Love, that features monks as LIs. I think Steam Prison has a priest character, but I haven't played it, so I wouldn't know how he is depicted ;b
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: moçoroca de abacate, mitsumitsu and ninnikuryona
hey we recently had a game with a priest Neon Clash! But then again it doesn't really get addressed much throughout the game outside of common route iirc? And the game isn't exactly heavy on romance either to feel the "omg priest romance" kind of fuzzy feeling.
One game that I'm really eyeing that has priest li's is Kami-sama to Koigokoro. I can't really say anything about it since I haven't played it yet though but I assume it's more on the whimsy/all ages spectrum to feel much >.<
But I do agree that themes these days by big companies(otomate monopolized market pretty much) are quite tame and aren't as experimental before. Doujin games are a great place to find more experimental themes like everyone here says! Time for me to shamelessly promote one of my favorite indies Hebi no Cinderella.
 
  • Love
Reactions: moçoroca de abacate and ninnikuryona
The issue is that most of the big otomes nowadays are by the same few companies, with the same writers, using a tried-and-true format that they know will sell well. It's not all that surprising; the gaming industry as a whole has had this issue for years now, but it's still annoying,

I'd like to see another otome company come onto the field, that might spice things up. Others here are right in that indies are your best bet ATP; companies just aren't going to try if it could reduce their profits.

I've seen one or two drug addict LIs, but I'd like to see an LI who's actually a semi-realistic representation of addiction and what happens to you in the depths of it.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: RedLipsSourApples and ninnikuryona
mitsumitsu said:
hey we recently had a game with a priest Neon Clash! But then again it doesn't really get addressed much throughout the game outside of common route iirc? And the game isn't exactly heavy on romance either to feel the "omg priest romance" kind of fuzzy feeling.
One game that I'm really eyeing that has priest li's is Kami-sama to Koigokoro. I can't really say anything about it since I haven't played it yet though but I assume it's more on the whimsy/all ages spectrum to feel much >.<
But I do agree that themes these days by big companies(otomate monopolized market pretty much) are quite tame and aren't as experimental before. Doujin games are a great place to find more experimental themes like everyone here says! Time for me to shamelessly promote one of my favorite indies Hebi no Cinderella.
Click to expand...
Ah, I'll check out those games soon, thanks for the recommendations! Even though it's not exactly heavy on romance, I'll look for that first game.

Ah, finally I found someone talking about Hebi no Cinderella😭 I played that game recently and was so excited to find out more about it, but unfortunately I never saw anyone commenting about it online... but perhaps I looked in the wrong places, and that's why I never saw anyone comment on it, apart from two foreign reviews.
 
  • Love
Reactions: ninnikuryona
ninnikuryona said:
which ones o_0
Click to expand...
Touri from Folie Fatale is a drug addict, but I think it's not done very well (or explored very much - but the routes are short) and Kazumi from voltage's old mobile game 'Liar! Uncover the Truth' is bait and switched as one, but is the 2nd one i thought of anyway. I sent the reply too early . . . My apologies.
 
  • Love
Reactions: ninnikuryona
fr4pp3cinn said:
I believe the commercial otome scene has been very conventional for a long time, to be honest. Although the early 2000s had interesting titles with uncommon concepts, VNs as a whole were more "experimental" at the time, coming from the pre-Windows era and all, and I feel like doujin titles got the spotlight more often then

That doesn't mean that nowadays you can't find games for a specific niche! Even itch.io has surprised me more than once; if you're looking for Japanese otoge, I can't recommend Freem! enough, haha! DLsite is amazing too, specially for taboo topics ;b (coming from a onii-chan route defender). As for priests, I feel like joseimuke works usually feature them as pervs or haraguro types, not so much religious guilt; I've encountered "secretly-pervert", flirty, manipulative priest characters more than once in doujinshi and situational audio lol
Click to expand...
Thank you for the recommendation! I'll look for some games on Freem! I think the fear that game profits won't compensate for the risk of a "daring" concept ultimately causes companies to back away from ideas for more "obscure" and "wrong" otome games, opting instead to follow the same old formula for stories, MCs, and LIs.
[COLOR=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.87)]
But at least small/indie companies tend to take risks without hesitation and always receive support while doing so, and this somewhat compensates for the lack of boldness of large companies.[/COLOR]

Could you recommend some of the works, doujinshi and audio that you know/remember?🥺 I'm saving all the recommendations I can!
 
heishoumao said:
Touri from Folie Fatale is a drug addict, but I think it's not done very well (or explored very much - but the routes are short) and Kazumi from voltage's old mobile game 'Liar! Uncover the Truth' is bait and switched as one, but is the 2nd one i thought of anyway. I sent the reply too early . . . My apologies.
Click to expand...
oh of course one of the games is folie fatale LMAO (not derogatory i just thought the game is dark enough to feature something like that)
thank you for the answer:) very interested....!!
 
  • Love
Reactions: heishoumao
I agree! but I can understand why they try not to take any radical creative liberties. Otome is a very niche genre afterall. Indies are our best bet for any unique concepts, sadly indie games are limited by their budget
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back