Give Me More Variety in my Fandisks

It’s officially December, which means I’m going to be spending my spare time sitting in a blanket, drinking chai lattes and playing some of my favourite games. At the moment, it’s Baldur’s Gate 3!

I may have mentioned this before, but as a huge otome fan I have had a yearly tradition of playing a specific game during the Christmas period, and that is the Code: Realize fandisk Wintertide Miracles. With its Christmas tree shaped UI and charming holiday stories, it’s the perfect game for relaxing with on those long winter nights with a mug of hot chocolate. Even writing about it makes me want to play it right now…

As I was approaching my yearly replay of my favourite routes in Wintertide Miracles, I started thinking about otome fandisks, and the lack of themed fandisks available in English. I love that Wintertide Miracles is the perfect Christmas game for me. Some people have favourite Christmas rom-coms, but I have Code: Realize. However, the vast majority of fandisks, especially ones coming out more recently, only act as sequels to the main story and maybe add in a route or two for some popular side characters. Which is fine, but I want some variety!

*Taisho X Alice’s fandisk, Heads and Tails, also plays around with the dynamics between characters in a way that’s refreshing and new, not just by adding new routes! . Source: Primula*

Wintertide Miracles is the stand-out of Code Realize’s two fandisks; like many sequel style fandisks, I found Future Blessings to be pretty forgettable. I wrote a review on one of the more recent fandisks I played, Sweet and Spicy Darling, which I also found frustrating and dull at times: two of the worst emotions to be feeling in a game devoted to fanservice! I liked that Wintertide Miracles had a different approach, showing an alternate universe where MC falls in love during the Christmas period specifically and under much more wholesome circumstances as the conflict with her brother is solved. I wish more fandisks would try AU routes, rather than just continuing on the story we’ve already seen. As I found with Sweet and Spicy Darling, continuing the story in the fandisk from the original route risks treading the same ground over and over again.

Taisho X Alice has a nice themed AU section in its fandisk, Heads and Tails. This time, it’s a high school AU where each of the love interests play a different role. Strange age-gapping aside (I promise it makes sense in the context of the game), it was a breath of fresh air and really suited TaiAli‘s brand of humour and storytelling. Of course, I like seeing where the characters ended up after their specific routes, but I also love a change of pace with the characters I know and love, without just adding in new routes for side characters.

It feels like now, especially with more recent localised fandisks, we don’t see anywhere near as much bravery in playing with the characters and putting them in different scenarios. I would be much more interested in upcoming fandisk releases if we got some more alternate universe content, or just anything to play with the structure we’ve come to know and love. Now, I’m off for my yearly replay of Wintertide Miracles!