Tengoku Struggle is a good, but not outstanding, game. It plays with all manner of expectations, with some successes and missteps, resulting in an above-average experience. Its memorable high points don’t reach the same heights as other otome titles, so it doesn’t feel quite like a must-play game. But it’s a good enough experience for those interested in its core concepts, which feature a fun blend of lightheartedness and earnestness with modernity and tradition. Playing with expectations and mixing together unlike elements can have a great payoff when done right, but Tengoku Struggle -Strayside- falls just short of greatness. It doesn’t leave you disappointed so much as it leaves you wishing the story had followed its own inclinations a little more. If it had either balanced out the romance and action or went all-in on the romance, it could have risen above the sum of its parts. Despite its shortcomings, it’s still an enjoyable experience as unique as the disparate elements it tries to unify.

If you want to discover everything that this game has to offer, prepare to sit through some particularly ‘draggy’ sections that’ll have your finger hovering over the skip-all button. This may set you back 50-60 hours depending on how fast you can read. Generally, I’m a fan of visual novels, but this one defeated me. A mix, I believe, of slow pace, bad writing and unnecessary sexual and misogynistic language that just made me groan. For some people, I’m sure that’ll be right up their alley, but personally, Tengoku Struggle really struggled to elicit any joy from me at all.

Now I know Otome games can get steamy sometimes, but some of the dialogue and art for Tengoku Struggle Strayside had me giggling and kicking my legs like a teenager. That’s a good thing, trust me.