Begin Again and Hot Roomies (groan, that name)

So, one guy is a dojo instructor. And the other
is a pastry chef/cafe owner...but it's not
the one you think it is. The buff looking
dude is the cafe owner...

Begin Again is a mobile game from Hanabi and I was really pleasantly surprised by it. You play a somewhere-around-college-aged woman who's football (soccer, for Americans) dreams were recently destroyed by a career-ending injury inflicted on her by a fellow player. She's moved to a new small town where her mother is to try and piece her life back together and figure out what she wants to do with her life now that she's not going to the Olympics.

The art is decent and there are some sections that have manga-esque illustrations and also bits where it's like you are texting with other characters. Other than that, it's very straightforward with the choices you are presented with (though some of the choices don't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the actual story -- like what you want for dinner).

So, in this new town you soon make some new friends (two girls, which was nice -- she actually makes friends that care about her that have nothing really to do with the romanceable characters other than to provide encouragement...and there's also her mom and her female coach...whoa, an otome that might meet the Bechdel test? I think it just might...) and meet two guys who have an impact on your life. One is a huge, buff dude who happens to run a cafe and loves to bake delicate pastries and name them cute names. And yeah, he's the beefcake one that can lift you up, no problem. And the other, the one that looks like the classic handsome dude in the picture? He's a martial artist and dojo instructor. They also happen to be childhood friends with each other and have a long history together.

It's a very straightforward story and both guys develop feelings for you and it's easy to tell generally which choice goes with which guy. No need for a walkthrough. Both stories are quite sweet and satisfying and it's nice to see that the MC shows real character growth in both of them. You can't really go wrong either way as both guys are great and the game is fairly short, so there's no reason not to playthrough both characters. That said, it doesn't have much re-playability as it is so short. Once you've done each guy's route, there's no reason to come back to it. I don't think there are even any bad endings (if there are, no idea how you get one).

There's also nothing to buy or collect and no dress up or princess lessons or any of the other normal game mechanics to move forward. In fact, the only reason to pay money is to turn off the ads (which costs you £6.99 in the UK app store or nearly $10)...but the ads weren't all that intrusive and the story wasn't that long, so I didn't even think about bothering with it. Which makes me wonder how they make any money off of the game at all other than from ad revenue? I like to support app developers if they've got a good product and this is one I'd consider spending some money on as it was nicely done and the story was pretty good -- but not $10 good. I can buy a full game from Steam for that with many, many more hours of play time. I'd have spent £1 or £2 pounds. Maybe up to £3. It's a pretty short game.

Aw, aren't they cute?

Anyway, definitely worth the time. Just ignore the ads. Another one from Hanabi with a very similar format is their Hot Roomies one. OMG is that a horrible name but the game itself is actually just as good. Just ignore the name. It conjures up images of a college party house or something and this isn't that at all.

In this one, you are a recent college grad and looking for a job. You run into an old childhood friend (of course you do...) and the two of you search for a good place to live. You find one -- in the home of a writer who happens to have written some books you loved as a child.

Again, both guys are great. There are no tsunderes or yanderes or sadistic bastards in these games. You can't really go wrong as far as picking one. There's also not a huge amount of angst either, though there's a small amount of tension/jealousy.

The childhood friend is a bit of a puppy dog and the writer is a bit older, but again, it's a short game with a quick playthrough, so no reason not to do both. I personally preferred the writer and his pet cat, but that's just me. They were both nice.

I suppose the only big quibble I could make for these two games is that it's not good for fans of a lot of drama or angst. It's very low on that scale. But definitely nice for an afternoon where you want to read through something casually that will make you feel good.