I backed the Kickstarter campaign for the English localization of Volontés, which we discussed near the end of the campaign.

I actually thought I might play it as my Valentine’s Day game… until I learned that even backers needed to wait until March 26 to get the English translation, despite already having our copies of the game.

So when the translation came, I decided to give it a try and see how this dark fantasy otome is.

You play as a young woman named Fiena, who is adopted into a family in a small village and lives more or less peacefully there until knights suddenly slaughter everyone. She manages to escape and is taken to a magical, isolated kingdom, where she’s declared to be a divine messenger known as the Moon Witch.

To start with, I just want to say that Volontés has beautiful art and music. It’s really a gorgeous game.

Now, getting into the story, your choices in the common route determine whose route you end up on. There are four total routes, with two being unlocked at the start and two more being unlocked as you progress. Each deals with different plot events and revelations, but they all feel cohesive and make sense together, with details in some routes aligning nicely with things you learn in others.

I enjoyed the story in each route, but the romance sometimes felt rushed. Ismail’s route had the best romantic pacing, in my opinion, followed by Mel’s. Both Emmanuel and Olivier’s routes suffered from the romance feeling like it came out of nowhere.

(It’s especially a shame because I love kuudere characters, so Emmanuel seeming coldhearted and ruthless until you get to know him has all the makings of a route I’d enjoy… but it was one of the weakest because of the lack of natural romantic progression.)

Volontés is a pretty short game, so I wish they had slowed down the routes with an additional chapter or two in each to build up the relationships better. I also wish the choices had a little more substance to them, as many of the options feel basically the same aside from whether they raise affection or not.

Choices during the routes determine which ending you get for that route: the good ending, the bad ending, or the “plunder” ending.

The “plunder” endings are similar to what Mistonia did with its “astray” endings – Fiena becomes involved with a different character instead of the one whose route it is, usually the villain of the route. I enjoyed it in Mistonia, and I enjoyed how it worked here, too.

Anyway, I enjoyed playing Volontés despite my gripes about the romantic progression, although I should mention again that it’s short. It took me 8 hours to get every ending, so even if we assume I went through it twice as fast as the average like I do sometimes, that’s still short for a full-fledged otome game. Just keep that in mind.

So if the game sounds interesting and you don’t mind the short runtime, Volontés is available now digitally, with a physical import also available.

About a year ago, I backed a Kickstarter campaign for a dark fantasy otome game called Volontés.

I don’t back crowd-funding campaigns quite as often as I did for a while there, but every now and then there’s still one that catches my eye enough for me to back it. This was one of those games.

Unfortunately, the campaign failed, so although the developers were still able to refocus their efforts and release the game in Japan, English localization wasn’t possible.

Now it’s out in Japan, and there’s a new Kickstarter campaign for its localization. It’s a Switch game, although there is a potential Steam port if the campaign makes its stretch goal.

Volontés is about a young woman whose village is attacked and destroyed, but she’s rescued by a mysterious figure who proclaims her to be the Moon Witch. It sounds like an intriguing story, and the art is also beautiful.

I haven’t seen too many reviews of it since it’s only out in Japan, but what I have seen is positive. I really like the looks of it, and I hope it can get localized. At the time that I’m writing this post, the campaign is almost at 80% of its funding goal, with 6 days left to go. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Update: It looks like they got an extension, so there’s now an additional week to reach the goal!

So if a dark fantasy otome game sounds interesting to you, head over to the Volontés Kickstarter page and take a look!