Adventure stories involving past lives rarely present history as a peaceful catalyst for those who happen to recall it. This is most certainly the case for protagonist Futaba Saotome in Ayakashi: Romance Reborn Dawn Chapter & Twilight Chapter. Futaba is a young woman growing up with her father in turn of the century Japan sometime after the fall of the shogunate. Shelives a pretty uneventful life until a routine delivery task has her coming into contact with a thousand-year-old Kagura bell wand. Events spiral as a result, and Futaba learns of her past life as a powerful Onmyoji, a specialist in magic capable of using the Divine Arts to banish or purify malevolent Wraiths. These Wraiths begin appearing in the Capital along with an assortment of supernatural beings known as Ayakashi, most of whom have some connection to her past life, so Futaba embarks on a journey to protect the city from this looming threat.
It is important to note that the Switch port of Ayakashi: Romance Reborn is a different sort of beast from its mobile counterpart. The mobile release features gacha elements and card battle mechanics, both of which have been removed from this port. However, the Switch version provides you with a helpful story map, as well as an extremely useful skip text feature for story scenes and dialogue you’ve already read. With these additions, this iteration of Ayakashi: Romance Reborn is a rather solid and enjoyable fray into the kinetic otome visual novel genre.
As the name suggests, Ayakashi: Romance Reborn‘s Switch port is divided into two main segments. You play through the prologue of the game, after which you are prompted to pick between the Dawn Faction or the Twilight Faction for the first “common” route. This common route, aptly called Dawn or Twilight Book I -Bonds- (depending on your initial choice), sets up the basic premise behind each of the two factions’ storylines. Both of these routes end on rather tense cliffhangers to encourage players to quickly choose a respective faction bachelor to see where the plot goes from there. This shorter, character-focused route is called Book II -Lovers- as its main focus is on developing the romantic relationship between Futaba and whichever bachelor you’ve chosen. After completing Book II for any given character, three Switch-exclusive epilogue short stories unlock one at a time. Called Romance Sonnets (Out New Beginning, His Hidden Side, and Sweet Rewards), these little vignettes offer further insight into what life is like for Futaba and her chosen fella after the events of the main story conclude.
That is pretty much the gist of the gameplay for the Switch port. Save for those two choices — which faction plot you wish to follow and which subsequent character route you’d like to proceed with— there is no real interactivity to speak of in this version. Instead, players are treated to swathes of scrolling text broken up into smaller book chapter-like sections called “episodes.” Character art occasionally appears on screen along with the occasional CG once a particular scene has played. Ayakashi: Romance Reborn’s storyline is actually fairly decent, especially if you don’t mind a little romance to go along with it. Despite the lack of interactivity, I found it compelling enough to want to play through all of the differing routes. Still, it is essentially just like reading a novel and having pretty art to go along with it, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Both the Dawn and Twilight Factions are comprised of five characters each. Dawn features Koga, Kuya, Ginnojo, Aoi, and Yura, while Twilight delves more into Toichiro, Shizuki, Kuro, Oji, and Gaku. In other words, there are ten different routes and endings to collect. While this is actually a pretty decent amount, and all of the characters are surprisingly likable and well-developed, the mobile version of Ayakashi: Romance Reborn features an entire third faction and more character routes as well. This is especially noticeable in the game’s opening movie, which hasn’t changed from the mobile port version. The Switch port sets you up for disappointment, given the intro’s focus on the third faction in particular since they’re not even options on the console. One could easily argue you’re not getting the complete version of the game by getting the Switch version, which is also further worth mentioning due to the port’s hefty price tag.
You still get to see the characters from the faction you didn’t pick, such as the extremely helpful Nekomata Nachi or Futaba’s childhood friend Tatsuomi, but they merely have supportive roles in this version. No doubt that may be disappointing to those who like their characters and want them to have more importance. Other standout characters include the leader of the Onikiri forces, Kyonosuke Aizen, who plays a pivotal role in many of the different routes, along with the antagonistic Spider-woman Ayakashi Kagemaru.
Admittedly it is a bit of a shame that their routes are not included in this port given how fascinating they are. However, the ten characters whose story routes you do get to see in the Switch port are all interesting in differing ways, and seeing all of their endings still gives Ayakashi: Romance Reborn a hefty amount of replayability. Futaba is also a great heroine with believable reactions to the otherworldly events she suddenly finds herself in, and she gets a great amount of character growth throughout all of the various paths. And because this is a kinetic visual novel, you get an overall stronger sense of her personality than you might have otherwise.
This is also a visually eye-catching visual novel with great-looking backdrops and expressive character portraits. For more important characters, Ayakashi: Romance Reborn uses 2.5D animation, which shows the cast changing their body language and expressions whenever they appear on screen. This can be somewhat amusing and distracting in equal measure, though it does keep the dialogue progression from getting too stagnant. The worst thing about these animations is that more minor characters, such as Futaba’s father, simply have regular 2D character art, leading to visual discrepancies when they appear on screen. However, the artwork used for these portraits and the CG pictures is quite gorgeous and colorful.
There is partial voice acting throughout Ayakashi: Romance Reborn, with the game’s prologue being completely voiced. The Japanese voice actors are emotive and fit their characters well, but I do wish that they had more lines to voice after the prologue. The soundtrack is also very nice, with tracks that help capture the feel of a given scene in surprising ways. The localization is also quite well-done, with only a few odd errors at points that thankfully don’t diminish the story much.
Ayakashi: Romance Reborn Dawn Chapter & Twilight Chapter is a hard game to pin down for a review. On the one hand, it lacks content you can find in other versions of the game. On the other hand, it makes up for that by telling a concise story you don’t have to go through a ton of bells and whistles or gacha mechanics to see. The plot is enjoyable enough for what it is, and the characters are largely likable too, but it really doesn’t offer much player interactivity to speak of beyond your faction. Those who don’t mind a good story to read with some romantic undertones and pretty art will no doubt find something to enjoy, but those looking for more to do in even their VNs should probably look elsewhere. As it stands, Ayakashi: Romance Reborn is a solid kinetic otome visual novel for the Nintendo Switch.
