For those who haven't played many otomes and want more of a game than cliche romance plots, I recc the following games first:
MC wants to find her soulmate, her childhood crush finds his instead.
+ Pretty pretty art, quaint world building, cute dynamics, cute VAing
- Characters are kinda shallow, repetitive calendar sim
MC is a new celestial spirit and needs to find a star to pair with to bring a sun to her planet.
+ Awesome world building, pretty art, character growth all around, MC with backstory
- Repetitive routes, in-game time span is pretty short
MC opens her own bookstore and tries to find herself in her new life away from home.
+ Diverse charas, MC with personality, long playtime, cute art, chara-driven plot but good plot nonetheless, fun MC customization/store mechanic
- Repetitive routes, DLC feels kind of necessary to fill out the playtime (but the DLC isn't free)
MC is a monster hunter called to investigate a series of murders in a small spooky town. EZRA AND AUGUST FAVES <3333
+ Extremely inclusive (LGBTQ+, poly routes), gorgeous art, everyone's tiddies out, fun murder mystery plot, MC has personality, VA is well done
- Routes are a little repetitive, and since it's a long game, this can be tough to play diff routes immediately after finishing one
Repressed MC goes to her first Halloween party to experience the real world.
+ Inclusive charas, MC with personality, fun art
- Repetitive routes, not much actual plot
MC gets a rando invite to what looks like a Discord fan server for a webcomic she loves.
+ Extremely realistic discord dialogue (legit felt like i was talking to friends on my servers), great voice acting (and i usually turn off VA), route-specific "plot" for variety
- Time frame for falling in love is a lil unrealistic, pretty short play time
This otome covers the MC's life from childhood to young adulthood, slice of life.
+ Extremely customizeable MC!!! Gender/orientation/appearance/personality, can even give them realistic conditions such as anxiety. Even the LI can be customized!! LI also changes personality/appearance based on MC's personality. Super inclusive, not just MC. Extremely long playtime. DLC is totally worth it. Lovely art. One plot but it branches pretty well. Super duper fluffy.
- V v v v otome. The entire plot is the romance/MC's life.
MC is sent to the castle for the prince's bday, all with her family's expectations that she should be wooing the prince.
+ MC with personality, fun charas, cute art
- Routes are a little repetitive but short enough to not feel too bad
MC tries to get back into hockey after a violent anger episode
+ MC has ANGER ISSUES and personality, fun charas
- Not much plot, romance is a little sudden, but the dynamics are cute and routes are v short so worth it
MC works at a cat cafe only to find out the cats turn into humans at night
+ Fun MC, fun charas, cute art, very long playtime
- Just a liiil cliche, tho
+ MC personality, awesome art, great original world concept
- Just a demo version, so maybe wait for the whole game
MC goes on an academic camp trip only for the professor in charge to be murdered, leaving the students trapped on an island with the killer.
+ Customizeable MC, fun plot with hardcore consequences
- Romance is a little cliche, MC is a little self-inserty. Good for a single playthrough, though
MC works on a cruise ship only to find out the ship is unknowingly heading toward doom
+ Fun MC, very fun plot, interesting characters
- Romance is a little sudden, but not too unbelievable
MC goes on a medieval fetch quest with friends
+ Fun MC and charas, fun world, comedy
- Shorter than it should be, maybe wait for the full game to come out
MC pretends to be a guild to earn a shit-ton of money.
+ EXTREMELY customizeable MC (appearance, race, backstory, gender, pronouns), fun charas, exciting plot, in-depth worldbuilding, long playtime
- Route plots are a little repetitive even tho different races have different personalities
MC wakes up no longer in her modern world, instead she's in a post-apocalyptic world, and she's found the very last person left in the world
+ MC with personality, fun character, awesome world concept, exciting plot, ZOMBIES, very long playtime
- Obviously there's only one route option, and the art might take a little getting used to
MC tries to balance work in showbiz and college life.
+ Cute MC, lovely art, fun charas, also stats building
- The game is more stats building than plot, kinda cliche/repetitive romance
MC, who's a princess hated by everyone, gets cursed so everyone forgets she's the princess.
+ Awesome redemption arc for MC, MC with personality, fun charas, PLOT CHANGES WITH EACH ROUTE (tho the overall goal is the same), very long playtime, gorgeous art
- A liiiittle problematic with Karma with gender
MC is trying to complete her grandma's cook book, but the final recipe requires true love. MC goes out and tries to seduce a boy so she can complete the recipe.
+ MC with personality, fun humor, cute art, cute charas
- Kiiinda silly, very lighthearted
MC gets sucked into the long long past where bird people apparently existed. Now she's stuck in the past, as well as in the middle of a war between tribes.
+ Cute MC, awesome art, long playtime, cool world concept, hardcore consequences
- MC is a liiittle silly, routes can be slightly repetitive but not too much
MC is coming back into society after years in the country.
+ Awesome MC with customizeable personality, cool charas, fancy art, INDIVIDUAL ROUTE PLOTS, long playtime, also yearning
- Plot is romance focused, so don't play if you want an outside plot
MC lives alone in a frozen town until a dying ice spirit wanders in.
+ Cool world, fun MC and charas, such a sad plot you WILL cry, part of an otome universe
- Not path branching, just a straight forward railway plot
MC wins a ticket to a major celebrity halloween event.
+ Lovely lovely charas MC included v strong personality, v cute art, cute plot even though its not strictly a storyline plot, also the first of an OTOME UNIVERSE, long playtime
- Definitely silly and cheesy, the minigames also usually require a lot of saving and reloading to win the contest
MC heads out into the world to learn about life outside the castle.
+ Cute charas, MC with a personality, nice worldbuilding, lovely art
- Extremely fluffy and silly, might be too much for some people
MC gets caught up in a vampire family's home after getting lost in the woods.
+ Cute chara dynamics, fun MC, very vamp emo
- Short, not really in-depth, not a huge plot separate from romance
MC survives her spaceship crashing, but is the sole survivor save for a robot also on deck.
+ MC customizeable (backstory, personality), fun chara dynamic, unique genre since sci-fi and robots aren't common, nice plot with consequences, realistic hardcore in how MC survives and recovers from the crash, long playtime
- Only the one route, not everyone's gonna be into robo love either ofc lol
MC accidentally wanders into what should be an abandoned house, gets trapped there with the other people who turn out to be cursed teddy bears/toys.
+ Cute charas, nice plot, MC is pleasant, v fluffy
- The romances are a little top-layer, if I remember right routes are a little repetitive too
MC wakes up after a one-night stand to realize she accidentally also married the guy
+ Omg best MC ever she's so fun and smart and also p horny constantly KEK, charas are fun, different plot for each route with slight overlap, otome universe (with Halloween Otome), even with some POV shifts to show the LI's side of things, world building, v long playtime, stat building too
- Stat building can be tough to do to get all events, stat building can get repetitive
MC finds a guy in the woods and turns out oops he's a dragon turned into a human.
+ Cute, fluffy, fun MC, overarching plot, fun art
- Extremely fluffy, and it's kinda weird that she and a dragon are falling in love even if they're humanoid
MC's world suddenly stops working as it's meant to, the sun not rising, rivers flooding then drying up, animals turning violent, all on top of the fact that three gods suddenly land in her shrine without warning.
+ Lovely MC v strong gal, awesome plot, action with consequences, route plots separate halfway through, fun worldbuilding, long playtime
- Routes are a little repetitive up until they split, and endings are practically the same for each one despite the splitting