Dogenzaka Lab released their visual novel The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya on Steam. The game was previously released on the PlayStation Vita and smart phones. The studio directly ported over the smartphone version of the game to Steam.

Technically it’s more of an interactive story than a game, but usually for the sake of convenience it’s just easier to say “game”.

Nevertheless, the story follows six guys (the sixth was a special character included in the mobile version of the game) who work as courtesans in a closed island within a district designed to pleasure women.

Players will assume the role of a visitor to this district during an alternate depiction of feudal era Japan, where they will encounter the six guys and attempt to fall in love with a few of them. There would have been a seventh courtesan named Kenji, but he was a PS Vita exclusive and didn’t make the cut.

You can get a glimpse of the Otome visual novel in action with the trailer below, courtesy of In-Game.

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There aren’t many reviews up for this outing. It’s a bit opposite to titles from Sekai Project and Winged Club, which would have had a thousand reviews in by now talking about wrist exercises, eye injuries and scores like 69/10 filling up the main page for the game.

Even still, there is one notable review from AssassinGlasgow who breaks down the differences between the PC port, which comes directly from the mobile version, and the PS Vita version, which still seems to be the best version of the three. Even still Glasgow praised the game’s story and characters, writing…

“I really love this game. I like the characters, and each route feels interesting, as well as the setting this takes place in. Finding out the reasons or motivations for characters to why they’re in Kikuya is an interesting mystery, though I admit some scenarios are just frustrating. Certainly not for everybody, as things can get very intimate (there’s, um, R18+ stuff described), but it’s something that I think is enjoyable to some. It’s probably D3Publisher’s best otome game, or at least, it’s most popular if it’s getting a Steam release.”

The game does feature CG scenes from the PS Vita version of the game, but it’s also noted that graphics options and resolution variety is limited on PC, which is a cardinal sin against the Glorious PC Master Race.

One thing I do think is kind of funny is that the art in The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya depicts the guys closer to women than men. It’s interesting that fans of these kind of visual novels seem to find men more attractive when they look, behave and dress like women than if they look, behave and dress like men.

Anyway, The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya is available right now on Steam for 40% off its normal price, so you can pick up a copy right now during its first week of release for only $17.99 from the Steam store.