Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly

Had some free time last night, so I fired up Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly from Otomate. I picked it up in one of the Steam sales quite a while ago. It looks like it was ported to PC from PS Vita and, so far, that's my only quibble with it. The port was very clunky and you're just dropped into the game without knowing or being shown what any of the keys are to get to menus or to save or anything. By experimenting with the keyboard, I figured out that W takes you to one menu and O to another. But, annoying. I did try Googling too, but most everything I found was for the original on the handheld, which didn't help. It's most noticeable in a mini game (more on that in a minute) where it lags significantly.

But, let's talk about the actual game! I knew absolutely nothing about this going in, other than that I'd seen it on recommended lists (and I bought it for pretty cheap in the sale) and that it was from Otomate, so it'd likely be of decent quality. 

Apparently, it's one of the kidnapped / amnesia plots. The MC wakes up in a strange, elaborate mansion with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She's soon attacked by terrifying monsters but is saved by a "man with two moles." As they hide, they realise that they are in the same situation. He also has no idea how he got there. The only thing they have in their pockets are strange mobile phones with an anonymous message each. After a bit, they discover more people -- additional LIs (though romance definitely is in the backseat in this game; it's more about survival so far), plus a strange man in a fox mask and a young girl in a rabbit mask. 

They also soon discover that white butterflies = safety and black butterflies = danger. When they do kill monsters, they disappear and the essence leftover goes into something they are wearing. In the MC's case, it's a butterfly hair pin.

Right now, I'm just starting on Chapter 2 in what I believe is the Common Route.

As they don't remember their names or who they are, they take on the names they find attached to the rooms in a safe part of the mansion:

Beniyuri -- the name the MC takes on. After she/you regains her first memory after passing the first "test" from whoever has placed them in the strange, unescapable mansion, you know she has a father and a younger sister and a dead mother.

Hikage -- the first man she meets, with dark hair. He's gruff and probably the most practical of the bunch and not super trusting, but so far he also seems to be the first to follow after our MC if she gets herself in danger.

Kagiha -- the kind eyed man, and the second one they meet. He had arrived a few days before and found the safe place. He feels like he knows the MC and definitely has an interest in her, though there's some reticence that's unexplained. If I had to guess, at this point, maybe he's the unknown not-boyfriend friend in the flashback?

Karasuba -- the slightly flirty one who's a bit loud but doesn't seem particularly bad. Definitely the most flighty character with a blonde avatar. Interestingly, when they regain their first memory back, he was shaken by it. No idea what it was, but since he's the "cheerful" one, that was interesting.

Yamato -- the always grumpy, kinda angry one that is most likely to be impatient and go off half-cocked. He's got white/grey hair. He can't wait to get out of there. I mean, none of them can, but he's very anxious.

They do find out, partly from Usagi (bunny girl) that they have been tasked with finding the pieces to put together a kaleidoscope thing. I say thing, because once they start putting it together, it doesn't really seem like a kaleidoscope. Part of that process will be to kill the monsters as they hold shards that are part of it. They have no idea why and, as escape otherwise seems impossible (windows are unbreakable, front door unmovable, strange fog outside as far as they can see), they don't seem to have a choice. They do learn that they can make weapons from their imagination, though it doesn't always work for Beniyuri, even though she was the first one to do it (by accident).

So far, I'd say I'm liking it. The MC, while understandably terrified and scared, isn't a wallflower and she participates in all the planning and fighting. The LIs are all interesting enough. I'm sure the Fox Guy will figure in as well -- is he the master? Is he like them? Who knows at this point. 

The story is fairly engaging, the art is nice. A wee bit dated, perhaps, but good. The voice acting is good and you can even have the voice on for the MC (or toggle it off), which is nice. A lot of games don't do the VA for the MC for self insertion reasons, but I have always thought it felt a little odd when everyone else speaks.

I don't love the mini game thing you have to do (shooting black butterflies), but that's partly because it doesn't really work quite right on the PC as it freezes up. But you have to do it to unlock the side stories -- and the side stories seem useful, so I suppose I'll slog through it.

I think I'm still in the Common Route and not sure when/where it will diverge, so will report back. At this point, you know more about Hikage and Kagiha than the other two, so it's hard to have a sense of them. At any rate, promising so far! But dark! And not super romantic. But that's okay.

Edit: I played a bit more today and this is going to sound odd (maybe it's because I left the BGM on? All the clicking?) but it was making me tired. Or, maybe I just need more sleep. I did get a little farther and unlocked a bunch of the side story things.