A good place to start with otome is the kind of story you already like. These romance visual novels give you different reasons to get to know the characters: solving a city crime, recovering lost memories, searching a small town or following a group of swordsmen through a dangerous time.

Most of the playing here is reading dialogue and choosing replies. A character “route” means the path that follows a particular relationship and its part of the story. Different choices can lead to different endings, so you can return to a game to see another romance or learn more about its mystery.

Choose the setting that interests you, and keep in mind that all five games can become dark. The character art does not mean every relationship is safe or every ending is happy.

Pick a story you want to spend time with

  • A modern crime story and a close group: BUSTAFELLOWS.
  • Lost memories and uncertain relationships: Amnesia: Memories.
  • A missing brother and a strange small town: 7’scarlet.
  • A threatening fantasy mansion: Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly.
  • Historical romance with swordsmen: Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds.

1. BUSTAFELLOWS — for a city crime story

Limbo leans back beside a pizza with his feet on a desk in BUSTAFELLOWS.
BUSTAFELLOWS introduces a group with different skills and secrets.

In BUSTAFELLOWS, journalist Teuta can briefly travel back in time by entering another person’s body. Trying to save a lawyer brings her into a group that includes a hitman, a plastic surgeon, an autopsy specialist and a hacker.

Choose it if you want the romance to grow around dangerous cases and friendships in a modern city. The group gives you several people to become attached to, while the crime story gives them reasons to work together. Expect violence and strong language alongside the warm moments.

Start with this game before BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2. The follow-up continues relationships that the first game introduces, so it is a better next step once you know the group.

2. Amnesia: Memories — for a missing-memory mystery

A conversation with Shin offers four drink choices in Amnesia: Memories.
Small replies become part of a relationship when the heroine has lost her memories.

Amnesia: Memories starts with a heroine who has forgotten her life. Orion, a spirit, helps her work out what happened, but she still has to speak to people who know her without admitting how much she has lost.

Choose it if getting to know a romance character while questioning an existing relationship sounds interesting. The uncertainty is part of the appeal: someone may act familiar, and you have to decide how to respond. Relationship parameters show things such as trust and affection, giving you something to check as you explore a character path.

It can become dangerous and upsetting. Pick it for the mystery around those relationships, rather than expecting a simple sequence of pleasant dates.

3. 7’scarlet — for a small-town mystery

Sosuke speaks on a forest path in 7’scarlet.
The people of Okunezato become part of the search for a missing brother.

In 7’scarlet, a young woman and her childhood friend visit Okunezato to look for her missing brother. The remote town has its own legends, and the people she meets draw her further into its secrets.

Choose it if you like mysteries that make you wonder what a place is hiding. The romances share a larger question, so another character path can reveal something you did not understand the first time. That makes it worth considering if you enjoy returning to a story to see how its pieces fit together. The quiet setting still contains danger and unsettling events.

4. Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly — for a strange fantasy setting

A staircase and stained-glass windows inside the mansion in Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly.
Black Butterfly begins in a mansion where the characters are trapped.

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly puts a young woman with missing memories in an unfamiliar mansion. Other people are trapped there too, and monsters make their situation threatening from the start.

Choose it if you want romance inside a fantasy mystery with an uneasy setting. A butterfly-shooting minigame gives you something to do between stretches of reading and helps open extra story sections. If a wintry town and a heroine hiding her identity appeal to you more, look at Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk as another setting in the series.

5. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds — for historical romance

Three members of the group sit together indoors in Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds.
Kyoto Winds introduces Chizuru and the Shinsengumi.

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds follows Chizuru’s search for her father in Kyoto, where she becomes involved with the Shinsengumi. It combines a historical setting with romance, sword fights and supernatural secrets.

Choose it if you want to get to know a larger group over a story about loyalty and conflict. It is the first half of a pair, so keep Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms in mind as the continuation. Our Hakuoki play-order guide explains how to follow one relationship through both. This is also a darker choice, with blood, violence and strong language.

Before choosing, decide how much reading and how much danger you want in your next romance story. These games are useful starting choices when a mystery or a conflict interests you as much as meeting the characters.