PlayStation Vita Critic Reviews

If I were to offer a film critic style soundbite, I would say that Collar X Malice is a slick, stylish, and sexy thriller. The story and characters held my interest and the sense of danger kept me on the edge of my seat. It had its tropey "because anime" moments, but no more so than your garden variety summer blockbuster. If you enjoy visual novels, definitely check out Collar X Malice.

There is a reason that Aksys website for this game doesn’t stress that this is an otome as the story is engaging for visual novel fans of all types. Collar X Malice is a well-crafted title that leans hard on its mystery and creates a sense of foreboding while keeping it from becoming too much. Idea Factory walked a fine line here and ended up with a cool, stylish experience for anyone that just wants to chill in an easy chair with a cool story.

Collar X Malice is a great visual novel that happens to also be an otome. The story is dark, stressful, and creates an atmosphere that forces the player to want to continue. True, there are many wrong paths, but once you see the end in sight you will understand what makes this game so good. I enjoyed my time with Collar X Malice and I’m eager to experience the remaining routes and endings that I missed, which could easily take 40 hours of accumulative playtime.

Collar x Malice is one of the best otome visual novels I’ve played with lots of things to shake up the formula for the better but some typos in the text sour the experience.

While the writing leaves a lot to be desired in some regards, the story told is a compelling one, and earning the trust of the icy suitors was a more nuanced and sweet process than I expected.

Collar X Malice is a well-crafted visual novel, with thoughtful aesthetics and elaborated plot. The story itself is deep with lot of possible interpretations. But this game also features all limits of its genre: dialogues are often too long and there are design limits that are not common to the contemporary audience. Those will be able to overcome these flaws will discover a deep story with great replayability.

For that matter, I don’t know that I’d quibble too hard with anyone who looked at the damsel-in-distress and the obnoxious characters, shrugged, and wanted to play anyway. The game practically asks the question, What if Danganronpa were a romance novel? — and if you’ve ever wanted to see how that plays out, Collar x Malice offers an intriguing answer.