Birushana: Winds of Fate follows the otome visual novel Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei, a title highly regarded by our very own Niki Fakhoori. Winds of Fate begins by delivering epilogues for the original’s five character routes and introducing four new story routes set in the same period. Does it honor its predecessor or tarnish its legacy? For the most part, Winds of Fate is a worthy successor.
The four new character routes of Birushana: Winds of Fate are set in the same post-Heiji Rebellion time period as the original game. Players take on the role of Shanao, the youngest surviving heir to the once-powerful Genji clan, raised as a man by her temple caretaker to both strengthen and protect the bloodline. Initially hidden from the now quickly stirring embers of conflict threatening to engulf the country, it isn’t long before Shanao is embroiled in the spreading turmoil. Wanting to assist her brother by walking the path of a samurai, she goes to battle with a loyal and colorful contingent of vassals, but what awaits Shanao in the turbulent times of war to come?
The original Birushana explores themes of gender and identity in a nuanced way, alongside its stories of duty, conflict, and love. I’m happy to say Birushana: Winds of Fate‘s four main routes continue that trend, perhaps even more strongly than its predecessor. I won’t go into specific differences here to avoid spoilers. I greatly enjoyed all four routes for different reasons. My personal favorite is Shigehira Taira’s, for the realistic progression from enemies to friends to lovers and the associated character development. The routes for the two Sato brothers, Tsugunobu and Tadanobu, as well as for Takatsuna, are also heartfelt delights. While I enjoyed much of the original game’s storytelling, I didn’t get much out of certain character routes, so it’s impressive that I enjoyed all of the main story routes here!
When playing Winds of Fate for the first time, you arrive at a route selection screen. It’s divided between the epilogue content and the main story routes. From here, you pick which one you want to experience first. I won’t go into the epilogue content because it would spoil the first game’s individual routes. Ultimately, each epilogue offers a heartfelt, sweet look at life for Shanao and the other characters after the first game ends. Fans of the original game’s routes will likely be satisfied with the epilogues as well-written conclusions. However, the lack of player choice in these continuation routes might disappoint those hoping for more interactivity.
It’s the four new story routes where Birushana: Winds of Fate truly blooms. Not only are all lengthy affairs in their own right once you select one, but you also have an affection meter and dialogue choices to consider. Throughout each of the significantly chunked five-story chapters in the main story route, you come across a trio of dialogue choices/responses at certain points. One of these choices has no impact on the affection meter, but two of them will raise the affection gauge, depicted visually as a flower blossom blooming. The larger/fuller the bloom, the more affection gained. How high or low your affection meter is by a route’s end significantly impacts the type of ending you unlock. Again, I won’t say much about the route endings, but if you’re a fan of the four new character arcs, there are satisfactory conclusions awaiting you depending on your choices.
That said, the affection meter is more streamlined than Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei’s, which may disappoint returning players who liked its complexity. Still, it serves its purpose. The main routes remain the highlight of Winds of Fate—they’re strong and well-written. However, returning players are best able to appreciate the narrative ties. The epilogues may seem out of place if you’re not already familiar with the original game’s routes.
Birushana: Winds of Fate is a gorgeous VN in regard to its important character designs and the CG illustrations sprinkled throughout its many routes. I love how colorful the character designs are, as well as how the character art moves across the screen during fight scenes to cleverly denote animated movement. The UI is equally striking, and I appreciate how Shanao’s artwork features prominently compared to other otome protagonists. She has a great design and is wonderfully expressive. The only real issue I have with the artwork is regarding tertiary characters: either they weren’t provided any character designs, or several repeat designs were used onscreen for them. Be prepared for a lot of identical triplets and quadruplets of random villagers and soldiers! It just makes that visual aspect feel less budgeted, especially since the backgrounds are sparse yet artistically impressive in their design, coloring, and lighting.
I have to give the voice actors major props. Their performances are excellent and wonderfully emotive throughout, or even pointedly devoid of emotion in several scenes, as befitting one character in particular. Honestly, I think the worst thing about the voice acting is that Shanao doesn’t have one; I could imagine several different voice actresses who could do a fantastic job with her versatile range in the story, depending on what’s going on in a given situation, but this situation seems more the norm for the genre than anything else. The music is excellent, too. Not only do the vocal tracks (such as the opening) get easily stuck in your head, but the BGMs throughout the routes are phenomenal and really set the stage for the narrative when they play. Sound effects are used to great effect, whether it’s the sound of a falling tree or the chaotic clanging of blades during the frenzied heat of battle. The script localization is incredible, too, with hardly an error to be found.
Birushana: Winds of Fate is a strong visual novel follow-up to an excellent otome. Its strength lies in letting returning players see what happened after the credits rolled in the first title through five epilogue stories. Players can also experience the main story again from four wholly different, yet fully fleshed out, new character arcs. All are immensely enjoyable in their own ways. Shanao is a nuanced main character with a captivating personal quest, and her tale features many interesting and memorable characters. Revisiting them is wonderful, making Birushana: Winds of Fate a follow-up with quite the strong wind behind its sails. It’s a must-buy for established fans, and even newcomers might find charm in the new story routes.
