For Valentine’s Day last Saturday, I finally pulled Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling out of my backlog.
Back in 2022, I played and absolutely loved Cupid Parasite, an otome game in which the main character is literally Cupid and takes human form to prove she can help humans find love without her powers.
It is one of the funniest otome games I’ve ever played, and I loved the characters. I was thrilled when the fandisc, Sweet & Spicy Darling, was confirmed for localization.
(As a reminder, a fandisc is sort of like a sequel, but with lower stakes. I usually view it as a game to let the characters enjoy their happy endings.)
So, how does the fandisc hold up?
It’s not as funny as the main Cupid Parasite, but it’s still a wild ride with a lot of amusing and outrageous moments. Each of the six love interests has a story that takes place after his route from the original game, with various new conflicts the couples experience now that they’re together. Meanwhile, instead of standard good/bad endings, this fandisc uses a gimmick that’s in the title: each character has a sweet ending, a spicy ending, and a sweet & spicy ending, along with a couple others for certain characters.
The sweet & spicy endings are basically the best endings, the sweet endings are self-explanatory from the name (with the exception of Allan’s, whose sweet ending I found to be pretty sad), and the spicy endings are… insane.
Some were tamer than others, but most of the spicy endings had me once again asking, just like I did with the original Cupid Parasite, “Are you allowed to do this in a T-rated game?” One character even had an additional “bad spicy end” that’s actually locked behind multiple warnings before you’re allowed to see it. I’ve gotten the impression that some fans dislike how wild the spicy endings can get, but I found it to be fun. You really never know what might happen.
In addition to these six routes, there’s also a new love interest with a route of his own, one mini-route for a supporting character, and a small tease of what a route with the first game’s main antagonist could be like.
I found the new love interest to be quite likeable, a fine addition to the cast, and the mini-routes just left me hoping we actually do get a second fandisc that expands them into full routes. The biggest surprise for me was that I didn’t enjoy Allan’s route as much as I expected it to, mainly because it had more angst than I usually expect from a fandisc but also because Lynette’s attitude felt a little weird in this route at times.
Click for Sweet & Spicy Darling Allan Route spoilers
Lynette has become a demon so she can be with her incubus husband… and this is the route where she’s going to worry that sex doesn’t have value if they can’t have children? I understand the idea coming up because they’re not human, but it felt bizarrely out of place with the incubus context.
Overall, however, I enjoyed all the routes, even those of my less-preferred characters.
Some parts of Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling are pretty wild, but I enjoyed playing it, and I’d love to see a second fandisc someday. It was a perfect game for Valentine’s Day.
If you’ve played Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling, what did you think of it?
A few days after last week’s tease, Idea Factory International confirmed an otome announcement live stream for this morning.
