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In another world, 'Summon Night' might've become an RPG mainstay. Each entry nicely improves on its predecessor, the stories are always fun and filled with likeable characters, and even the spinoffs have remained surprisingly great. The franchise never really rose above niche status, and eventually, the developer of the franchise went bankrupt. That's why it feels like something of a small miracle that 'Summon Night 5' exists at all. Made by a new company containing many of the series' creators, Gaijinworks has taken the major risk of releasing a PSP game at the end of 2015.
In the years since Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom made its English debut in 2012, otome games have enjoyed a surge of popularity worldwide. The genre went from an unknown to one that received multiple releases on various platforms each year. Sony handhelds have long been a haven for such titles, with people who own a Vita enjoying the fruits of this bevy of releases.
As it turns out, once something has a little care devoted to its design that changes it from “fun extra” into “collectible”, which can be a bit of a problem if the post office has treated it like any other package.
Michibiku's Jenni Lada writes, "Otome games are great, but many of the titles getting localized are visual novels. While reading is also pretty amazing, sometimes you don’t want to spend your time reading thousands of words on route to romancing a digital dude. Sometimes, you want a little more stimulation while searching for the (virtual) one.
Fortunately for you, there are plenty of otome games out there that aren’t visual novels."
