Review: Despera Drops Otome Game Focuses on Mystery

There is absolutely nothing wrong with an otome game that doesn’t prioritize romance, so long as it also offers enough “justification” for the eventual ending with love interests at the end. However, a consequence of trying to do too much in these sorts of games can mean that… doesn’t exactly happen. A title like Bustafellows proves you can have it all! Unfortunately, while Despera Drops is quite interesting, Aksys’ new Switch otome game isn’t exactly romantic.

Mika is a college student studying abroad in Italy. She seems normal, but has an unusual gift. If she touches someone with her bare hands, she can see what is in their hearts. That means she can catch a glimpse of past memories or current intent. She’s always kept her hands covered as a result, something her deceased mother warned her about before she died. However, she did accidentally touch one man at a cemetery once while in Italy, and that’s led to a whole mess of trouble.

This man claims to have missing memories, and he finds a way to meet Mika again in a restaurant in the hopes she’ll tell him why he keeps feeling like he’s missing someone and compelled to visit a certain graveyard. Before she can respond, he’s murdered before her eyes. Mika’s framed for the murder, handcuffed to six criminals, and they’re all slapped onto a police transport. After an explosion results in them getting lose, we find that they’re also somehow all tied together and perhaps some of the few in the world aware of a shadowy group known as C.R.O.W.N. with inexplicable power and influence. Naturally, this also means Mika is a target and dropped into her own potential harem of new love interests.

Most of the time, Despera Drops is your typical otome visual novel. You read through the adventures of Mika and the rest of the criminals as they try and stay one step ahead of the clandestine organization C.R.O.W.N. as that group does dastardly deeds and attempts to ruin your lives. It works fine, though there might be an occasional minor spelling error when you go through. (I expect those will be fixed in a patch soon, but for example I noticed a “gentelman” instead of a “gentleman.”) However, every once in a while there will be a “timed” segment. When this comes up, Mika will look at her phone to see different surveillance cameras, and you have to issue the right directions at the exact time to carry out plans. It never felt too harrowing, but it did suit the atmosphere.

I’m also a fan of the art direction in Despera Drops, as this otome game doesn’t feature the sort of style like we typically see from companies like Idea Factory and Otomate. Red Entertainment and D3 Publisher brought in Yusuke Kozaki, who designed the characters for Fire Emblem Awakening, to design the cast here and work on the CGs. I mean, I adored that game and it’s my favorite Fire Emblem, so I was incredibly psyched about the choice. But it does actually fit well within the story and for each of the characters, and I appreciated that. I do wish there were a few more CGs in general, so I could appreciate it more.

Editor’s Note: There will be a Despera Drops spoiler in the next paragraph regarding criticisms surrounding two of the romance options in the otome game.

The one thing I’m not a fan of is how two of the love interests are handled in Despera Drops. In the case of one, instead of actually having a friendship route or one in which our heroine gets to enter a same-sex relationship, it turns out to be one of those situations where the love interest was a man all along. It completely ruined that route for me. I sort of suspected that would happen, but also loved her personality and dynamic with Mika. On the other hand, we have 38-year-old-grown-man Gib speedrunning a relationship with a young woman who looks like she just turned 21. I understand that age-gap relationships can work, but after experiencing the route there wasn’t enough there to make me believe it. So I honestly felt incredibly put off by it, even though he doesn’t come across as overtly creepy until I saw how that route ended.

Though to be fair, what happens in Gib’s route is honestly not uncommon for any of the love interests in Despera Drops due to this being an otome game that doesn’t always prioritize romance. It’s more about the cat-and-mouse games and search for the truth behind the cover-ups, dealing with C.R.O.W.N., and insight into every romance option’s criminal background. Because that’s the main focus, I felt like each route could or should have been an additional hour or two long to provide a better sense of pacing and actual examples of the heroine and love interact falling for each other. In some cases, like Hamiel, I could see it. But so many others are far too rushed or like they are thrown together at the end because they have to be.

I love the idea behind what’s going on in Despera Drops, and the push for answers and vindication meant I really loved seeing explanations in this otome game. Unfortunately, I feel that “thriller” part and some great character designs are the only focus. It doesn’t do a good job of balancing that with the romantic elements you’d expect from the genre. Add in two routes I felt weren’t handled well and, while I do recommend parts of it, I don’t feel it’s a perfect crime. 

Despera Drops is available for the Nintendo Switch worldwide.