Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 29/Jan 00:01

Genso Manège – Review

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from visual novels like Amnesia or B-PROJECT RYUSEI*FANTASIA, it’s that we’re not part of the target audience for these titles. They are so-called otome visual novels, stories where a female lead works towards building a romantic relationship with a partner of her choice from a set of archetype male characters. So, why did we take an interest in Genso Manège if this isn’t a visual novel that would necessarily appeal to us? Well, apart from the fact that we like to broaden our horizons through reviews, this specific title was co-developed by MAGES, who also worked on the fantastic Famicom Detective Club series. An otome is a big departure from murder mysteries, so we were curious to see what the end result was like. Let’s dive in. Story Our story takes place in France, or more specifically, at La Foire du Rêve, a traveling amusement fair with a circus. The obligatory female lead in Genso Manège is Emma, an orphan suffering from amnesia. The young girl is trying to regain her memories. A memento from her father brings her to the fair, where she bonds with the carnival staff. Emma quickly discovers that there is more to La Foire du Rêve than meets the eye: the young men who run the traveling fair are magically bound to it. It turns out that, unbeknownst to herself, Emma is actually a witch. She would be capable of breaking the spell that binds the workers to the fair, if only she could remember her powers! Emma’s quest to restore her mind is now tied to more than her own interests, but if she is to bring this to a good end, she’ll have to dive deep into the past and unlock dark memories and painful secrets. We’ll refrain from spoiling any more details here, but we can tell you that we did enjoy the overarching plot’s darker twists more than the romantic subplots. The six most prominent staff of La Foire du Rêve make up Emma’s love interests. While they are well-written characters within the tropes they embody, Genso Manège doesn’t veer off-script and sticks to the expected archetypes. Well, except for Lyon, an anthropomorphic rabbit, although his personality embodies being kind-hearted. The other love interests include optimistic-but-ditsy Hugo, tsundere Crier, lone wolf Luciole, distant Serge, and finally, Emma’s former childhood friend Arnaud. It’s a varied set of boys, and Genso Manège caters to all sorts of fans of the genre. Graphics The pastel-toned color scheme and soft-featured character designs imbue Genso Manège with a dream-like quality, befitting the overall atmosphere of the story. That’s not to say that the game is a constant show of whites, pinks, and purples, as the color palette also shifts in accordance with what happens on screen. When a performance happens on screen, warm and vivid tones underline the exciting atmosphere, for example, and things occasionally get dark and creepy. Animations are understandably very limited, as this is still a visual novel, but the mostly static art looks great. Genso Manège also isn’t too taxing on the hardware, of course. Sound For a visual novel, Genso Manège boasts a surprisingly elaborate soundscape. Much of the game’s music ties into the carnival theme, of course, with circus-inspired tunes taking center stage. In parts of the story where the fair isn’t the focal point, the soundtrack isn’t afraid to shift towards more dramatic tunes. The game’s ambient sound effects also add to the overall atmosphere, with cheering crowds or the fwoosh when a fire-breather does his tricks. There is also Japanese voice acting here, but it is limited to short snippets. This does what it needs to do but we would have preferred more. Gameplay Just like Universe for Sale, which we recently reviewed, Genso Manège’s gameplay has more to offer than what you’d expect from a visual novel. We don’t want to oversell these aspects of the game, because the vast majority of what’s on offer here is exactly what you’d expect from an otome visual novel. That said, Genso Manège does put you in charge of running the carnival, in the form of a management simulation game of sorts. You’ll have to assign tasks to the carnival staff, schedule performances, and make sure to optimize the individual talents of each staff member. This in turn generates revenue and increases the reputation of the fair, which in turn lets you expand things and hire new magical attractions like fairies and sorcerers. You’ll also need to keep an eye on staff morale, making sure they have proper accommodations, train their skills, and rest once in a while. The success rate of the fair directly ties into the flow of the story, which encourages Genso Manège’s replay value. As if that wasn’t enough, Genso Manège also has an adventure mode built into its story, adding further variety beyond reading through the story. In this mode, you set out into your surroundings in search of more exotic performers to join the fair. This involves puzzle-solving and even basic turn-based battles. While either of these modes lacks the depth of full-fledged management sims or RPGs, they did provide a very welcome change of pace and were a pleasant surprise. The extra work that went into these modes also massively helps with justifying Genso Manège’s €39.99 price tag. Had this been just a pure visual novel, we’d have felt it was overpriced, but these added features put the game in line with the aforementioned Famicom Detective Club games, even if the gameplay is completely different. Conclusion We were pleasantly surprised by Genso Manège. This was never the game that was going to turn us into hardcore otome visual novel fans, but that’s more because the genre by definition doesn’t cater to us. Genso Manège stands out because it differs from the norm, both with its intriguing overarching story as well as the additional gameplay mechanics. Granted, those mechanics only take up around 20% of what Genso Manège sets out to achieve. It speaks volumes that there was enough here to keep us interested beyond Genso Manège’s main selling point, romancing pretty anime boys. We’re not going to recommend this one to anyone with no interest in otome titles, but within the genre, this one is definitely a highlight.