Game First Impression: Men of Yoshiwara Ohgiya

Deep in the center of an island lies the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Never does its beauty, nor bustling activity, wane in the slightest. Full of doubt and wonder, which courtesan will you have chosen by the end of a seemingly endless night?

Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya

What is it like to buy yourself a man? Travel back in time to Edo's red light district, Yoshiwara in this review of Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya. It's quite by coincidence that I discovered this game via Nintendo's e-shop but left it aside for a while as I wasn't sure if I should get it. That is until Steam's summer sales happened and I grabbed it immediately at only RM11.20 for the full game!

Filled with delectable, good-looking bachelors, Men of Yoshiwara Ohgiya is the second game to the series, the first being Men of Yoshiwara Kikuya. The significant improvement in their art and sprites is one of the reason I picked the second game in the series— honestly, just a sucker for nicely drawn 2D men.

*You don't have to play the first game to enjoy the second.

Ohgiya's storyline is based on an island where men were rarely born and even so, was forcibly sold to Yoshiwara- a pleasure district. For the sake of love or even producing an heir, the only method is to hire a courtesan. While these type of men have debts to pay, they are not allowed to leave Yoshiwara unless someone were to buy them or they have to successfully pay off their debts- which is almost an impossible feat.

Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya offers 5 very seductive and handsome bachelors to romance.

Gakuto was my first choice, mainly because he reminds me of Ikemen Sengoku's Date Masamune— a little mischievous, seductive and arrogant. The game is pretty linear, you start with the prologue introducing you to the world of courtesans then you'll be brought to the character selection.

Storyline

Linear. Starting from a prologue, it introduces you as the MC (main character) and the world you're living in, also an overview of your role as the MC before moving to a quick introduction to the bachelors. Each bachelor's backstory is pretty angst-y so MC is basically in a co-dependent relationship with the bachelor most of the time.

By the end of the story, you'll be presented with two endings; a happy ending or a super happy ending. Scrape the sad/bad endings because otome games are all for pleasure, why play something that wrenches your feelings?

Characters

I find the characters beautifully drawn, their sprites are an improvement from the first game. Each character is a general stereotype of 2D men. You'll get the playful flirt, older brother, cute first-timer and such.

The only one complain was that there is this amazingly cute character, Musashi, who's MC's bodyguard and a childhood friend whom is not romanceable. While most unromanceable character do not have much character built in them, Musashi is a huge, whole, perfectly crafted character with a solid back story. And he is painfully in love with the MC in every route, so why is he not one of the eligible bachelors?

Gameplay

Each character route has about 10 chapters and that is equivalent to almost 3-4 hours of gameplay with short chapters. Unlike more well-defined otome games, Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya is shorter, gets the point across faster and features easier comprehension with their selective wordings. I finished Gakuto's both endings in within 3 hours, the fastest I've ever completed an otome game route.

Language

Aside from some painfully obvious grammatical and spelling errors, the sentences are simple and straight to the point. No fancy schmancy words that'll have you raking through your dictionary to find out what they're saying. On that note, even their "steamy" contents seem to lack ornamental words to stimulate any red flushes on the cheeks, albeit a little visually descriptive, that's as far as it'll get for a M-rated otome game.

Game aesthetics

I love the background setting and character arts. Nice and appropriate designs that capture a feudal Japanese notion. The background music is one of the things I thoroughly enjoyed, something about modernized traditional music always ropes me in.

Would I recommend this game?

Maybe yes. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and its aesthetics. I love the character selection at the beginning of the game, seeing that I dislike replaying parts of the story just to lead to another bachelor. The story— though, not as solid or elaborated as other otome games, is fun for a quick play.

Rating

3/5

Transport yourself to Men of Yoshiwara Ohgiya and find out more on their delicious bachelors, all waiting to romance you.

To more game reviews,

Melody