It’s showtime! Radiant Tale is a colorful and vibrant fantasy visual novel of the otome variety, but does it leave a lasting impression? Yes, I realized as I quickly became immersed in its plot filled with likable and surprisingly relatable characters. Radiant Tale is a dazzling otome game by developers Design Factory and Otomate, with English localization by publisher Aksys Games.
The story for Radiant Tale takes place in the land of Escholtia. Life in the kingdom is relatively peaceful, signified in part by the presence of magical flowers called Chloris that especially bloom to signify happiness. However, a tragedy once struck Escholtia following a rare monster attack, resulting in the heir to the throne freezing his heart and becoming an emotionless husk of his former self. Radiant Tale’s main character Tifalia lives a peaceful life in the capital city, helping her adopted family consisting of a tavern and inn owner named Spirea and a talkative furry fluffball of a Fey Beast named Radie. Like all residents of the capital, they collect Chloris blooms to give to the palace, hoping that the magic flowers will help thaw the prince’s frozen heart.
Tifalia encounters a group of colorful characters in short order one day: Vilio, a dragon excited by everything he sees in the human realm; Paschalia, a human contracted to a powerful water spirit; Zafora, a snarky information broker entertaining people as a clown; and Ion, a taciturn young man with an imposing physique hiding a gentle nature. Together with their leader, the flamboyant noble Jinnia, these eccentric characters make up the performing troupe of CIRCUS. Their goal is to travel around the realm while putting on shows at each of Escholtia’s five great cities to make a more vital type of Chloris, called Flora, bloom with the hope that the energy from several Flora will help the prince. Unfortunately, none of the group knows how to put on a good show, so Jinnia hires Tifalia to help devise performances that appeal to each city’s unique audiences. With help from Radie, can Tifalia get the rest of CIRCUS to put on successful shows, thus ultimately saving the prince?
Radiant Tale plays much the same as any other traditional VN. You take on the role of Tifalia as she investigates both the cities and her coworkers, scrolling through lines of text and dialogue until reaching a player decision point that affects the story’s direction. There are also points in the game where a map of the current city gets presented, and you must choose to visit a particular city area to encounter a character there. Otherwise, it’s a relatively straightforward VN affair, though certain scenes change depending on the map location and character you visit beforehand.
Eventually, after the standard route’s five chapters, you open up the character route of whichever love interest you have the highest affection rating for, depending on your earlier decisions. You can use the chapter load menu on the title screen to replay any chapters and character scenes you previously unlocked, and you can also helpfully peruse unlocked CG illustrations, dictionary terms, music, and movies in the provided extras menu. That’s all there is to Radiant Tale’s gameplay, beyond the wisely-implemented option to skip the decision-less prologue section when you replay the game. Combined with the auto-skip feature for already-seen text, this helps you efficiently speed through repeat playthroughs! Anyone familiar with VN set-ups should be able to pick up Radiant Tale quickly.
What stands out most about Radiant Tale is its story and the characters who help shape it. The fantasy world of Escholtia lacks some of the more detailed worldbuilding found in VN otome titles such as Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ or Steam Prison, with most narrative occurrences explained by “Magic did it!” But the game adequately explores the different cultures of Escholtia’s five cities, and the individual character routes help further flesh things out.
I adore the five love interests as all are likable and see excellent character development regardless of the romance route chosen. The relationships Tifalia can develop with all of them are surprisingly believable and well-developed. Tifalia grows into a capable heroine in each route once she starts living more for herself. Supporting cast members all help to round out the cast, such as the tough-yet-caring Spirea, the flirtatious Liyan, the hardworking orphan Luna, the timid prince Colivus, and especially Jinnia with his hidden depth. The story even offers a surprising amount of insight into the antagonists thanks to the narration’s switching perspectives. The characters are the heart and soul of Radiant Tale, and they shine brilliantly!
Visually, Radiant Tale is gorgeous. The backdrops of each city are varied and colorful, with eye-catching character designs that visually match the fantasy aesthetics. Though you can tell there were different character designers, they mostly meshed well together despite a few tonal discrepancies. The CG illustrations are also beautiful. My most significant complaint with the game’s visual presentation is that the UI is too busy. There’s a lot of information to keep track of on any given screen, and it can border on distracting in several instances. Even the status screen, with its multi-layered flower imagery that fills with color based on your decisions in-game, is pointlessly busy. The menus use many different fonts, and the muted highlight choice color for selections is hard to discern. You also don’t get to see too much art of Tifalia aside from CG illustrations, which is a shame since her design is lovely.
The script is nicely localized, with hardly any typographical errors. The soundtrack fits the setting and scenes wonderfully, and I especially love the opening theme and the more intense music pieces that play during action sequences. The phenomenal voice work is all in Japanese, with incredibly dynamic deliveries.
Radiant Tale presents an admirable and enjoyable fantasy romance narrative. It might not be original, but the game does what it sets out to do, both successfully and entertainingly. Radiant Tale is another top-quality otome title on the Nintendo Switch, sure to put a smile on the faces of genre enthusiasts. Without further ado, let’s get on with the show!
