Café Enchanté

 I finally did it and broke down and bought myself an otome on Nintendo Switch (since little dude has one). Actually, two, but who's counting? As I'd heard good things about this one and the setting sounded interesting, the first was Café Enchanté.

You play a young-ish (early 20s) girl who inherits her grandfather's home/business after he dies. It's a place she has fond memories of from when she was young and lived with him for a time, but it's been years since she's been there. She's glad at the chance because her life is a bit of a shambles; she hates her job and felt trapped in it. This could be just what she needs to escape her dreary life.

But when she gets there, she soon finds a hidden door/gate. Café Enchanté isn't any normal coffee shop; it's a gateway to other worlds. And a number of these other worldly denizens were friends of her grandfathers and, in fact, even lived in the rooms upstairs. They've been locked out since her grandfather died and are excited to return once she opens the door (not knowing what lay on the other side) though saddened to hear that their old friend had died.

There's Misyr, a demon king from a very caustic world -- he's fairly all-powerful--and the first one that she meets. His horns immediately clue her in that something isn't quite normal about him...

He's soon followed by a fully armoured knight (who is also headless) from a fairy world named Canus Espada (he's the equivalent to the Dullahan, the Fairy of Death). He's a gentleman through and through. And a beast-human from Bestia named Ignus. He's young and fiery--literally. You can tell he's the grumpy but heart of gold one. Then there's a fallen angel from a Heavenly world...who's also addicted to otome games (haha) named Il Fado de Rie. The last of the romance able characters you meet a bit later -- Kaoru Rindo. He's a government agent who heads up an agency responsible for tracking and watching otherworldly worlds and creatures. 

At first, Rindo is warning the MC about the "creatures" and I thought he was going to be sort of an antagonist in the story, but at this point (I'm at chapter 5), it seems like he's pretty friendly with them all, even if his agency is officially not. 

There seems to be quite a long common route. As I said, I'm at chapter 5 and nary a sign of what route I'm going down. That is one bad thing -- so far, there have been precious few decision points and no indication at all when you select one what effect it has had. So, I'll see. I'm playing through the first time without any kind of walkthrough or hints. 

So far, honestly, it's all been about the MC deciding to take over the cafe, learning a bit about how to run it (even though there are spells that protect it from random people wandering in since, you know, it's a gateway to crazy other worlds), doing a lot of paperwork, and getting a bit more familiar with the regulars. It's kind of nice, in a way, as you do get a good look into the MC's life/thoughts/challenges. She's a bit weak, but not terribly so and seems nice enough and ready to protect her new friends. She's not a spitfire by any means, but she's not a total shrinking violet either. Given the situation, she's dealing fairly well. 

In the last chapter, they all wound up visiting the knight's world where there's the first hint of some outside force causing havoc when the MC gets separated from the rest and it seems that some mysterious force caused it. I'm honestly not sure if this visit to his world is *always* at this point in the route or if it was because I'd selected him as the one to help in the decision point before this. Though they specifically say his world is a good first visit as it is the least dangerous. 

So I don't know if I'm headed towards his route or just along for the ride still. There really haven't been many decision points and the choices were fairly innocuous. I'll have to update after another few chapters to see. I *think* that it might be chapter 8 where you find out what route you are in.

As for the LI's, all of them seem decent so far. Age-wise, it's a bit of a weird thing as Misyr is supposed to be centuries old, Il and Canus hundreds of years, Ignis around the MC's age, and Rindo in his 40's. But, hey, I guess you gotta just roll with it as it's fantasy, right? If I had to say I was leaning towards one in particular, it might be Canus or Misyr at this point, but I'm not particularly fussed. 

The headless knight...who actually has a face, you just can't see it or feel it...and he...glows.
Like a mood ring, changing colour as his feelings change. 

The CGs are quite lovely. The MC's art is good too. I'd say I'm enjoying it so far, though I'd also say that it hasn't blown me away. That might be the slow pace, though little dude had a point--at this price point, you want a game that takes some time. If it was quick, you wouldn't feel like you were getting your money's worth. And I am used to mobile games. This is a proper otome. I'll see how I'm feeling after I get farther in. It is fun to play it on the Switch. I don't know why, but it does make it feel more like a "thing" than when you're just tapping away on your phone. 

One of the reasons I picked this one was that it's said to not be too dark. And considering the real world I'm playing to escape, that's what I was looking for.