[Otome Game Review] Cupid [16+]

Just in time for Valentines day, a visual novel about that mischievous angel of love! This game doesn't SHOW any details of body parts, but it's still very much not safe for work, so I'll be warning for that ahead of time. It also have very bloody disturbing parts, and pretty much anything people find unnerving is in here somewhere (mentions of rape, abuse, suicide, etc) What a lovely game to play on Valentines Day, right? Also, this game isn't really something I'd consider too much of an otome. Romance is there, yes, but it feels like it's in it's own category or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass

The interesting thing about this game is that you, the player, do not take the role of the main character. Instead, you take the role of a voice inside her head called 'Mother' That guides her by either being a super abusive bitch or a slightly less abusive mother that actually shows a semblance of caring for her daughter.

The game centers around 18th century France with a girl named Rosa and her voice in her head (This sounds familiar...) Rosa's obviously had some traumatic experience that you get immediately at the start of the game. It's implied many times that she was raped and killed the men that touched her.  She winds up hurting herself with a giant cross in the church she was staying, making one of her eyes useless and scarred, always hiding it behind her hair. Her own 'Mother' died years ago, but the memory of her mother stays with her and guides her every moment of her life. I think it's up to the players interpretation whether Mother is a figment of Rosa's mind or if it really is her Mothers spirit talking to her. Personally, I find it to be the former.

Rosa lives as a flower vender, and often finds herself wanting to catch a glimpse of the Marquis Guilleme. She attends one of his party's that are open even for commoners and less than commoners and some high class ladys make fun of her for looking like a dishrag. A little girl named Catherine comes in to help and swipes some bread for the two of them to eat, and then the Marquis comes to chase off the whores that weren't even invited. Rosa has a dokidoki moment and gets to know the two a little bit. Catherine is an upcoming genius pianist, and the star of this partys entertainment. She was raised as a commoner, and holds a bit of a loathing for high class ladies. Marquis seems taken with her, and offers money for her education and even a new piano. When Rosa decides it's time to leave, Catherine starts to beg her father to let Rosa live with them, and after some slight arguments, it's decided to keep her as long as she helps out at the Marquis' home.

It then skips ahead a few years and Catherine has committed suicide. She got married to Guilleme and apparently their relationship was very rocky. There's hints through the whole game that Guilleme sleeps with other women on a regular basis, even sleeping with Catherine's sister. This sounds familiar! Rosa decides to find out if Guilleme did this to her and whether he feels any remorse if so. Apparently Rosa knows magic, as taught to her by her Mother, and so she lights some candles and goes into a bunch of flashback phases!

The flashbacks act as showing Catherine, Rosa, and Guilleme growing up together, along with deciding how Rosa is treated by mother through these years and whether Guilleme really is a huge cheating hoe. When Catherine was.. I'm assuming in her teenage years, he was sleeping with her sister, and one day her sister confronts her about Guilleme and she winds up accidentally killing her with the side of her piano....  HOW CAN YOU DO THAT ACCIDENTALLY?

Another jump and Catherine's engaged to Guilleme, but she's never actually had sex with him due to a mixture of her thinking of him as a manwhore and the fact that she's never felt like actually doing it fully with him, she always gets repulsed. Then she and Rosa get drunk in Catherines room, Rosa starts talking about when she got assaulted/raped and Catherine eventually proceeds to make out with her and almost do the diddle with her.. Wow what a nice friend /sarcasm

Then we jump to Catherine bed intruding on Guilleme while Rosa sobs over making out with her friend -- something she feels guilty over because she wanted to do more. Catherine cries over how she's a horrible person to Guilleme and he lets her sleep in his room and cry into his arms about it. And then Catherine suddenly realizes she's horny for Guilleme and they have sex. I guess all it takes is to assault your friend to get a sex drive.

It's then that FREAKY SHIT happens and Guilleme looks like an angel monster and seems to have a voice in his head too making him do shit. Next day Catherine goes coocoo for cocoa puffs, scratching at her wall until her piano hands bleed and Rosa think's it's all her fault but Catherine starts mumbling about Guilleme and when Guilleme walks in she starts talking like an animal in heat.

Jump forward to Rosa doing her freaky magic shit. The point of the game is the encourage some certain factors. Whether Mother tells Rosa Catherine is just using her, accusing Rosa of being in love with Guilleme, whether or not Mother wants to kill him for Justice or Revenge, and whether or not you interact with certain objects.

Final Thoughts

Cupid is a very unique Visual Novel to say the least. I stutter to really say it's an otome game, but it does have some romance in it. However there's some certain... spoiler-ish downsides with the guy you can get an ending with, and you'll likely need to follow the guide on cupidvn's tumblr to get all the endings. It's one of the most well written indie visual novels I've ever played. They definitely researched the time period and other factors that just make this game like sweet velvet. 

The game's 3rd person perspective as a voice in the main characters head is also a unique twist on the choice making of games like this, since you don't decide how the character will react, but push the character around to see how they will change for the better or worse. I think if you're the type to get easily triggered by things, this isn't a game you should play though. There's a Mature Filter Off setting, but all it does is remove some blood splatter and get rid of some NSFW looking CG's, either exchanging them for a blank screen or covering up some "areas". I also think they replaced being called a slut with being called a bitch for Catherine. I didn't play through the Mature Filter Off run completely though, as it felt like a waste of time. 

This really isn't a light fluffy game, and it shows that the power of love won't always win the day for you. It's up to you whether you find any of the endings satisfactory. I found one of the spoiler reveals for Guilleme made me hate him, and I didn't want him anywhere near Rosa. Despite that, the secret ending you get by getting all four endings feels like a good closing for this game.

All in all, I think if you can handle the darkness this game has, it'll definitely be an experience for you, it's one of the more unique VN's out there. On top of that, It's free!