This Is What It Sounds Like When Doves Cry

Are you bored with Visual Novels (VN) today? Do you ever finish a VN feeling unenthused with its lack of feathers and dark romances? Does senpai STILL not notice you? If you find yourself asking these questions, then look no further than Hatoful Boyfriend!

Hatoful Boyfriend is Mediatonic’s high definition remake of the PigeoNation Inc. 2011 game, Hatoful Boyfriend: A School of Hope and White Wings, that can be played (both in Japanese and English) on the PC, PlayStation Vita, and the PlayStation 4. The protagonist, a human female, aims to win the love of her “pigeon senpai” over the course of a year at the prestigious St. PigeoNation’s academy. The protagonist must overcome the obstacles of being the only human in a school full of birds, as well as raging teenage hormones, wacky hijinks from various bird characters, and the ever-present bird puns presented within the dialogue.

On the surface, Hatoful Boyfriend seems like a ridiculous VN concept (well, MORE ridiculous than usual Japanese VN concepts) that aims for shock and comedic value to grasp people’s attentions to a world where humans and bird coexist intellectually and romantically. However, as players invest more time into the game’s story they find that Hatoful Boyfriend is actually more insightful and critical than was previously expected.

In traditional Japanese VN-style, the protagonist makes decisions throughout the course of the story that will impact her future. In this case, her decisions decide which bird she will pursue romantically. Each bird is given a specific, if not cliched, identity to represent different personalities throughout the game (and even include a human profile to complete senpai potential!). What is typically a formulaic gameplay gets turned on its head when players are surprised with various plot twists, character introductions, and even other romance stories that run parallel to the protagonist’s. All of which becomes infinitely more interesting when one fact is introduced: Everyone is a bird.

However, player’s presumed low expectations between predictions of the game quickly change when they become immersed in it’s story. There are several tracks the protagonist can take, and each one is more unexpected than the last. A game that was originally perceived to be light-hearted and silly can turn dark and sardonic on a dime, a critique of the high school and romance setting the game takes place in. Players will be left with a range of emotions varying from surprise, sadness, amusement, anger, hilarity, and, most likely, confusion. The only downside is that the stories in Hatoful Boyfriend are somewhat short, and can become repetitive in the beginning introduction.

Much like other VNs, the look for Hatoful Boyfriend uses about a dozen backdrops with characters and text boxes inserted into them. However, UNLIKE other VNs who usually create an animated image of a character, royalty-free stock images of birds are used to represent characters (with the exception of the human portrayals of the bird characters), which only adds to the humor of the game. The progression of the game is straightforward and simplistic, making the story easy to follow in terms of gameplay despite being a beginner or an experienced gamer. Because of the simplicity of the gameplay, the platform that players wish to play on is irrelevant and is based upon whether players want to click a mouse or press “X” on their controller.

The Verdict: 8.8 out of 10

This game was probably the best purchase I’ve made since Destiny last Spring. Surprisingly, the game was a lot less moronic than I expected, and I was pleasantly astonished that it provided a lot of depth and plot twists (especially when players reach BBL mode) that turns an overused romance story arc into a more fleshed-out sci-fi fantasy story that I would buy the novel and movie rights for. Also, it’s reminiscent of great VNs that portray human (or, in this case, bird) flaws, like Katawa Shoujo. The downsides are that, despite the immersive story, the game is rather short and repetitive when you have to play the same introduction a dozen times. Simply put, Hatoful Boyfriend is well worth the $10 on the PlayStation Store and provides hilarious and entertaining content for all types of players.

For more information on what the score means, check out our official review scale.

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Audrey Lips is one of MONG’s Associate Writers and is a recent college graduate with 100+ hours of Netflix experience. You can follow her TMI posts on Twitter.