Sympathy Kiss Otome Game Review

Idea Factory’s lineup of more mature titles and primarily aimed at audience (like me) that has had enough of the school drama and just wants more spice on their reading list. SK’s, like CupiPara, setting is in a Japanese corporate environment, the protagonist, navigates through the companies challenging times while balancing both romance and work responses to get that man on his knees while saving the company from its demise.

Mitsuki Saotome

Saotome is a creative genius, but along with amazing talent comes a little arrogance. Even if you wanted to be his teammate, he usually works alone because these individuals don’t do well when others touch their work. Yes, the type of colleague. However, his path took a slightly strange detour when the main character, Akari, was bullied by the ladies at work but strangely comforted by the men, despite the allegations of Saotome’s misbehavior. At the beginning of his journey, he comes across as quite chilly, but as you put up with his oddities and leveled up with his attitude, he gradually warmed up to you. Pretty odd because in other male leads route, he really shows signs of interest of you on the get-go and was ready to throw hands at Rokuro’s route at the expense of his career. I expected a lot from him. Considering he was on the front cover, one may assume he took the least spicy approach.

Mori Tainaka

Finally! An actual moocher! I’ve been waiting for this moment! THE MOMENT I BECAME A LEGIT SUGARMOMMY ON AN OTOME GAME. Tainaka’s route may be borderline creepy if it happened in real life, thank your socks that its just fictional. This man shamelessly gaslit you in front of the police officers just so he can come live with you. But despite being a mooch, it turned out to be a great investment. As this man hides a talent for cooking and will be your primary source of income a good husband in the future. He was supposed to fill my dream SM storyline but then that happened. This man forced himself at you and tries to pretend it ain’t that deep hun the next day. The protagonist having a meltdown from this guy who can by all means leave at any time and find another SM to stay with. Well they do needed drama to get the story going, but the problem also lies on the protagonist for forcibly wanting Tainaka to do things he did not like. Like getting over depression. Duh.

Kohei Minato

If unhinged corporate response was a person, it is Minato. This man is brave enough to say “IDGAF if the corporate would say that were a family, I’m going home”. His route was my second favorite as his storyline was written well and his progress with the protagonist felt natural. He’s a TEASE when you get to know him better and you would really feel sorry for his backstory. This man is desperate to keep his family afloat financially but he never asked for financial help with the protagonist, which was pretty admirable. The spice scene was rewarding!

Yuji Kobase

Kobase is your boss who trusted you to work on the Estarci project as he sees potential in you. Or maybe more than that *cough*. When it came to expressing his affections for you, his path had no brakes. Even though you still have upgrades to do at your residence, you get to live in his lovely home. To be fair, this person is merely offering you assistance, and Akari just so happens to need it. Some people would view it as power play when compared to real-life scenarios. Not everyone will find his approach appealing, particularly those who are offended by sekuhara. In one scenario, the main character takes a bath and forgets to change, but Kobase arrives at the house and gives you a neck kiss and tells you that you should put your defenses up in a mans home. Yeah I’m all good with that, but not sure with the others. As a lonely working adult, i welcome this type of spicy fictional fanservice.

Rokuro Yoshioka

Prince Charming Rokuro’s storyline is a homage to asian office romance dramas (reminds me of k-dramas), where the son of the CEO gets forcibly betrothed with the daughter of another CEO but meets you by destiny. His first love and childhood memory. You get into a cat fight with the CEO’s daughter and the whole company sees the scandal unfold.

Shuya Usui

I like ossan routes.l I really do, I even liked Cafe Enchate’s Rindo. But Usui’s route, not so much. Akari used corporate funds to do research on this guys work while having ulterior motives. And I know Kobase would approve it because he really has a thing for her. Despite the absurdity of it all, I am okay with Usui (wholesome man), the problem lies with Akari’s weird decisions.

YOFY

The hidden male lead of SK. My top 1 in terms of favorite male lead. The crazy, childish, and broken man. The red flags has been raised. I, a connoisseurs of trashbandos, will declare him, “BEST BOY” of the entirety of the game.

Over-all thoughts

The protagonist, Akari, is speaking in the third person, which is the first thing you’ll notice. She has no POV lines. I was a little confused at first but I guess the way they set it up is that, the player will literally self insert themselves to her.

The game mechanics that set this game apart from previous Otome titles, is that there are non-destructive questions on preferences that the love interest would ask the player, and you can honestly say your own preferences and the male leads would simply adjust to it. I adore this idea since, unlike most otome games, it doesn’t require you to lie about your preferences or liking coffee in order to appease the male character. You also need to balance your responses with work and love responses to get the perfect end which makes perfect sense because being a fool of love would really hurt your career.

Because I bought the game blind, like i usually do whenever i buy game titles, I was fairly surprised that my work and in-real life experience overlaps with SK’s plot, and so it has a soft spot on my recommended lineup.

Corporate Romance setting is not without its flaws. Some players may find the pacing of the story to be less exciting compared to Fantasy Romance and there are some adult cues that characters do like borderline sekuhara that could trigger some audience. Despite these minor drawbacks, SK is a good title in the otome genre, offering a refreshing take on office romance within the context of Japanese corporate culture.

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

• Character Design -4/5 Really reminds me of Tokimeki Memorial Games and Shoujo manga in the early 20s. Obligatory male nipples present. But Im a bit distracted with the lip shade.
• Story – 4/5 Regular slice of life Japanese corporate theme setting done right.
• Spice Level – 3/5 Most of the routes have them only at the end
• Game Mechanics -5/5 Has skip read functionality, clear stats page, chapter page, and a unique non-destructive preferences answer selection
• Male lead selection – 4/5 A nice balance of red and green flag men

Sympathy Kiss is available at

Platform: Nintendo Switch International online shops: Amazon, Idea Factory US, Idea Factory UK, Idea Factory EU Philippine Online Shops: Datablitz, Shopee, Lazada