Reviews from

in the past


I won't do the Helvetica route, but it was nice. I want to play the sequel but they won't realease a translation

This review contains spoilers

I loved the LIs, I loved the side characters, but I didn't love Teuta. I didn't like some of the things that she said about immigrants/how the game handled that part of the story. I would've loved the game a lot more if I didn't have to spend the whole time with her/they handled the important topics they were trying to cover better :c

The characters were ok and this is one of the few games where we see women friendship interactions for the better, but we never get a reason why the Heroine has this power, and there is a very rushed twist of like "suprise your dead brother isnt dead" or something that was so bad I blocked it from my memory

I have a few complaints with its story feeling like it's lacking something important-- it's not too bad but it's underwhelming at some important parts. Other than that, I enjoyed it. I love the mc and the LIs, their relationships, humor and general vibe. And kitty. My beloved.

A game I enjoyed but couldn't help but feel that the routes were too... short? Abrupt? Difficult to explain. The cast is incredibly silly and charming and Teuta is a standout heroine who bounces off everyone in such a fun way, though I felt her dynamics with Shu and Crow were the best. I just can't help but feel the routes needed a little bit more time in the oven to really make the most of the incredibly fun cast. The final scenes are an incredibly unexpected gutpunch, too; I just sat there staring at my screen for a while after those last cgs hit. Expect some flaws, but if you approach it on its level Bustafellows has a lot to enjoy.


shu's route made this one of my favorite otome games ive ever played

mozu's waif-ish gaze and autistic behavior has bewitched me body and soul (this game is not steamy at all but it's fun)

game is divided into getting each characters ending, which all were good, however the true ending just felt "meh". How to get the different characters ending did not feel natural (got same character ending twice despite different actions), and not so fun to have a guide for a novel game.

WOWZA this one really surprised me!!! I LOVED it. I have a quite a few small gripes with it (mostly about the story structure/writing, localization/language barrier issues, and the lackluster extra content), but those aren’t enough to take away from the fact that this game seriously has the BEST characters. First, the voice acting is incredible. This game gave me some serious laughs and awwwwws, AND it gets extra points cause it’s the first Otome game to ever make me cry!!! And I mean CRY, not just tear up. It was towards the end of Mozu’s route which for me was extremely personal, and I think that’s one of the great things about this game is that I think most people can find something they relate to in at least one of the routes. This game tackles SO many issues: past regrets, revenge, being unsure of one’s identity, the importance of family, body image, shame, drug addiction and recovery, death of loved ones, trauma, deception, you name it. With that said, I would definitely offer a trigger warning if you are highly sensitive to any of these topics, particularly violence. I also have to give a lot of credit to the devs and writers for the protagonist, Teuta. She is seriously one of the best protagonists I’ve encountered so far. First of all, she’s VOICED!! Which is amazing, I didn’t know how much a voiced protagonist REALLY ups the immersion and I really hope that becomes the norm in the future. But more importantly, this woman is no pushover. To me she’s the epitome of a “modern” 21st century woman. She knows what she wants for the most part, she views herself as equal to men, and she’s confident, silly, and perfectly imperfect. I loved her.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a great Otome game without great romance. I do think that BUSTAFELLOWS intentionally leans more into story than romance, but the romance it did have was really nice and felt VERY natural. This game was also a first for me in that I actually liked ALL of the routes. Normally there’s at least one I don’t like or am at least indifferent to; not the case here, they really were all great. My #1 ended up being Shu which shocked me cause he’s definitely not your typical sweetheart. However, I think he really made me fall for him because he is probably one of the most straightforward LIs I’ve ever seen in Japanese media, and if you know anything about [romantic] Japanese media, you know these types of guys are one in a million, or more like a billion lmao. It was so refreshing and just straight up satisfying. Like, “I love you, you love me, let’s kiss and date, also yes I’d like to have sex with you eventually” chef’s kiss
ALSO REAL QUICK: The music in this game absolutely SLAPS

haxce un año no m suicidé porque la ruta de crow me salvó la vida. cine. q localicen la secuela ya

a game more into its overall plot than its romance, but the plot isnt very good :/

weirdly paced at times and feels underdeveloped. the setup is interesting enough and the cast has a fun dynamic when all together, but i cant help but feel disappointed by this one in the end, shrug.

Bustafellows is an excellent game, for longtime otome game players and people who had to google what an otome game is before reading the rest of this review.

You get an intense thriller, a heart melting romance, and an easy breezy slice of life all in one game!

The love interests are extremely endearing, even in routes besides their own, and their deep bonds with each other permeate the entire game. It's ruminations on grief, justice, and the nature of a true self are deeply compelling. It gets surprisingly dark and violent, for anyone who likes their romances with a little more stakes.

There is some issues. Such as the noticeable typos through out every route, text going outside of the textbox a few times, the game not wanting to decide how to spell a couple names (Zora/Zola for example) and the lack of subtitles for the videos is kind of an egregious oversight. There's also some pacing issues, as the common route is extremely long and a lot of the big endgame twists and turns are run through as fast as possible. But even with all of that, it's not enough to make me hate this game.

I think everyone who is even mildly interested should give it a try. And, the more money they get for the first one, the more likely they'll be to localize the sequel!

真のエンディングは淡々としていた。