Butterfly's Poison; Blood Chains

Bittersweet Otome. 𓊈 PROS 𓊉 ㅤ — Designs and art style. The main reason I was so excited to buy this game was the visual impact it had on me, alongside my adoration for stories set in ancient Japan. ㅤ — Great translation. ㅤ — The seiyuus. The voice acting fits EVERY single character perfectly, I absolutely love the work they did. ㅤ — The story and character writing. Subjectivity aside, the story completely hooked me. I wanted to know everything about every single character, their pasts, and their motives. Otomes often fall into writing black-and-white characters, but that’s not the case here. The shade of gray is so wide it’s hard to put into words, everyone is trash to some extent, but they all have a reason to be. Even better, you have to complete every other route to unlock the final true story, which keeps the overarching mystery alive right until the end where you finally get all the answers. ㅤ — Majima. I have to give him his own section. The game literally exists and holds together because of this character. His storyline connects seamlessly with the whole concept of the game, and the fact that his route is the final one required to understand everything surrounding the protagonist makes the wait so much more meaningful and his story so much more impactful. 𓊈 CONS 𓊉 ㅤ — Censorship. From what I understand, this is a censored release, and I feel like I missed out on character nuances that could’ve changed my overall opinion. (Steam, stop censoring visual novels and delete all those AI +18 games instead.) ㅤ — Shiba. (Subjective again and not an actual con), but I hate this character with all my heart and soul. I couldn't stand him. He’s designed to either be loved or make you lose your mind every time he pops up on screen.I hate how boundary-pushing he is with the protagonist, how much weight he carries in every route, and unfortunately FOR ME, how he shows up in almost every ending. ㅤ — Redundancy. The game sometimes drags by recycling scenes with only minor dialogue tweaks, making the reading a bit tedious. Learn from my mistake and don't play it all in one sitting, or you'll burn out. ㅤ — The price. 50 dollars for a censored version of a much longer game seems wildly overpriced to me. Luckily I got it on sale, but I’d never pay full price. There are much longer otomes for way less, so 30 hours of gameplay doesn't justify it. I can't place this in pros or cons because, whether I like it or not, these elements carry narrative weight fitting for the historical era. However, violence, misogyny, and incest are recurring themes, so I don't recommend this game if you're uncomfortable with these topics. The game left a positive impact on me despite the censorship. It's not for everyone, but it genuinely isn't an average otome. The story carries weight beyond just romantic interests, and that made the experience so much more enjoyable for me. 𓊈 RECOMMENDATIONS 𓊉 ㅤ — Wait for a discount. ㅤ — If you're a fan of the original game, I can't recommend this version since it removes content and I doubt Steam will ever release an uncensored patch. I guess you'll need to search for it on fan pages.

Played before when it wasn't translated with a janky direct from dictionary auto translator, and now it's released with translation so I had to get it. IMO all of the routes are messed up in some form or another, but that's kind of how adult otome games are. Think of it as a dark romance, if anything. The most wholesome one might be Fujita, but I never got to play through the childhood friend route, who I suspect might be better (in the prologue he's very cold and rude to you though). Even Fujita's route has some trigger warnings probably. I don't really have much to say other than that and the art was good. You'll know if it's your cup of tea or not based on the content posted here and other warnings. This version does not have any of the adult content of the original, as I believe it's the PS Vita port. You would have to buy a Japanese og pc copy for that. It still has dark themes though, and some updated CGs to make up for the difference. If you want something sugar sweet and wholesome, I would say stay away. Three of the characters are a complete no go / barf for me, but the story is interesting so I still played through a lot of it. I would say there's not a lot of games like this solely aimed at adult women translated rn, and the drama and craziness of it has me hooked. TLDR; Would not recommend for everyone, but pretty art and good for maybe dark romance junkies or someone who is OK with some edge. Very dramatic. Almost no "good" characters. They're all kind of sus / evil. Also no 18+ content like original, but still for mature audience. The end.

Butterfly's Poison is an absolutely wonderful delight. The game only took me 16 hours to complete, but I loved every minute of it. I played it straight for a week. The basic premise of the game is that the MC is the daughter of a broke noble family and she need s tog et married to ensure her family does not end up destitute. The game is set in 1918 Tokyo, so keep in mind societal expectations as you play through. I'm not gonna get into spoilers because I really enjoyed the game, and I do think many Otome enjoyers will love it also. There are 5 male love interest: Shiba a noveau riche, Hideo your childhood friend, Mizuhito your brother, Fujita your family butler, and Majima your family gardener. There is one female route with a woman named Kyoko who is wealthy married noblewoman. Kyoko's route really didn't feel like a love interest route, romantic, or anything other than they are friends. Like the endings are very different than what you get from two people in love. I had been told by people that this was supposed to be a love interest route, and people use it to say Otomes can include Yuri, but there was nothing romantic about it. Based on how the route played out and the Otome genre being Female MC romantically involved with male love interests, I'd say this was probably supposed to be more a friendship/platonic route like Vivaldi in Alice in Country of Hearts than an actual romantic route. It is a very adult oriented game, which is refreshing for an Otome. The original game was R18 so the game does have sexual intercourse in it but several of the scenes and CGs have been changed or left out from the original. You can find videos and translations online to see everything that was changed or left out. The game also has several adult themes and is very focused on forbidden love. Pretty much all of the routes are forbidden in one way or another. The story does tackle very mature themes: sexual themes, rape, incest, partial nudity, strong language, descriptions of bleeding, violence, drinking, mentions of drugs, and horror. One specific trigger not listed on the game page is that one route has is rape, so I was surprised that was not mentioned. The MC is not raped by a love interest, but just a heads up if you do not like that in your media. Overall the story is well done, and I really enjoyed it. It's a very mature story, but it was well done. nothing seemed to be too over the top and there were some twists and turns that I did not expect. The translation is good, I don't remember seeing anything of concern during my playthrough. The game is fully voiced. personally I do not usually listen to voices, so if you do you may get more playtime than I did. The art, while not my cup of tea, is very well done and I enjoyed all the CGs. Probably the only thing i do not love about this game is the price. Normally the game is $45 and I got it on sale for $30. I do not think $30 is a terrible price for the game, but I do think $45 is pretty steep for the time you get out of it. I'd recommend you grab the game, get it on sale. It does go on sale fairly often.