You tend to expect console otome games to feel a bit different and distinct from mobile ones. With Sympathy Kiss, I sort of feel like the lines blur a bit. I appreciate the setting and execution, not to mention the art direction is often amazing, but the absence of a present protagonist, decision to go with a blank face avatar in CGs, and other elements keep me from truly falling in love with it.
Sympathy Kiss has an amazing, identifiable concept. You’re one of the newer employees at a company that works on apps, and you’re not quite sure of your place there. You’re content, but not really happy. After a performance review, you find yourself moved to a project to potentially revive the flagship news app Estarci. But there are also concerns that news media is dying, the app is unpopular, there’s not much drive to invest in its proper revival, and a concern that failure means layoffs. Along with a small team of eligible men, you get a chance to take actions that either will potentially revive the app or provide a chance at love with a coworker.
While there are some different elements in Sympathy Kiss to shake things up, it really feels like a traditional visual novel. At certain points, you’re asked to make choices that influence your personal or professional relationship with someone. This leads you to a “work” or “love” ending. For most replies, there are two “work” and two “love” answers, indicated by blue or pink “love catch” icons. Sometimes you’ll respond to a text message, at which point there will be about one or two brief responses. The emotion system is also mentioned as being a new element, but really you select one or two emotions and it affects the guy’s reply, but not the work or love gauges. So it feels like many other Idea Factory International Otomate titles.
Unlike the majority of Idea Factory International Otomate games, Sympathy Kiss is a Switch otome in which the main character isn’t really a character. Instead of seeing a portrait and spoken lines attributed to your avatar, there is a lot of description saying “I did this” or “I explained that.” It really detracted from the experience for me. The lack of actual dialogue on “our” part made things feel really flat to me, and it was as though the love interests were speaking at me instead of to me. As a result, I didn’t really feel like the romance developed in the same way as it does in the company’s other titles, as there’s this disconnect. Part of what gets me invested in love interests is the banter and conversations between the avatar and them, and that’s completely absent here. It’s also a trait I tend to identify with mobile otome games, rather than console ones, so it caught me off-guard.
It also kept me from completely adoring the Sympathy Kiss art. Which is a shame, because this is an absolutely gorgeous game. The love interests look fantastic both in their standard portraits and CGs. There’s extra attention and detail to them, so if there are certain movements dictated by actions in the story or you’re seeing them outside of work, they will have different outfits. The ideas and settings for the different CGs are great. In theory, I love them. But again, it pulls the same sort of thing mobile otome games (and older titles like Vampire Knight DS) do and makes the heroine this faceless, eyeless being. It distracts me from otherwise great scenes when there’s suddenly somehow an excuse for her head to be down, her back to be turned, or even worse her face is just erased.
I kind of feel like the length of Sympathy Kiss also ends up making it feel like a mobile otome game, as it’s more similar in length to Paradigm Paradox than Lover Pretend. However, this is mostly because of the whole concept, which I genuinely enjoyed. So I honestly think the length is absolutely fine. You’re picking between your personal or professional life with your responses, so since the route you’re on for a love interest is going to be divided by the choices you make as a result, there’s going to be that happening. There’s also story justification for that, given there’s a limited time frame for Estarci’s possible revival.
Finally, the level of maturity and progression of the relationship also made me think of mobile otome games. Again, this is more of a good comparison. Though there are some console otome games that pursue darker themes, we don’t always see things like characters knockin’ boots in non-explicit or adult ways. You know, implying things happen. There are ones from Idea Factory International and Aksys that bring it up, but it isn’t always that often, but it does happen in Sympathy Kiss. The only element of this inclusion that gave be pause is that in one route I felt like the guy’s was completely behaving out of character compared to how he did in the rest of the story, and then he immediately went back to his normal personality when they were out of bed.
I really think if Sympathy Kiss had given us an actual protagonist, instead of a blank slate (literally) with no lines (or face), we’d be kicking off 2024 with possibly my pick for Best Otome Game of the Year. I really like the premise. The characters are good and look amazing. The idea of picking between love or your job is novel as well. But I had trouble connecting with it, and I suspect others might too.
Sympathy Kiss will come to the Nintendo Switch on February 27, 2024.
