Things are about to get a tad bit weirder with today’s game feature for Steam account holders. Let’s have a look at this peculiar dating simulation hit called Hatoful Boyfriend. Despite the absurdity of the idea, Hatoful Boyfriend has received very positive reactions from those who’ve played the game. Find out why in the article below!
St. PigeoNation’s Institute for Steam Account Holders
So the story goes like this: you’ve been accepted as the only human student at the prestigious St. PigeoNation’s Institute, a school for talented.. birds. Congrats! This visual novel dating game lets you roam the halls of St. PigeoNation’s Institute, and find love in-between classes as a sophomore student. We’re not kidding about the birds, too.
Still, for all its humor, Hatoful Boyfriend unveils a deeper truth once you get to the bottom of it. The story is set in the fictional future of 2188. A century ago, birds all over the world started to take the next step in evolution and challenged the omnipotence of mankind, starting with rock pigeons. After a long period of conflict and open war, mankind survived only as a minority. Now, majority of the world’s population consists of birds. This dystopian setting leads us to the protagonist, you, the only human admitted to the Institute. Why, you ask? Play to find out!
Thoughts about Hatoful Boyfriend for Steam Account Holders
At first, the overall look and feel of the game keeps us oblivious to the grim face of our setting. Nothing indicates that Hatoful Boyfriend would be more than an unimaginably crazy joke. We keep playing the game in this meaningless context, as a silly joke, flirting with different kinds of birds and all. We laugh our hearts out for the absurdity of given situations, the reactions and portrayals of characters, and logical flaws of the setting are unbearably funny. It is like watching one of the most absurd anime series.
But, as we progress through the story and accomplish different kinds of romances, we learn a bit more about different characters each time. We learn their stories, their backgrounds, their aspirations and their wounds, just like real people. In fact, the narrative of this game and the narrative’s ability to conceal the most shocking fictional events in silly jokes can be quite terrifying. As we play, bits and pieces roll up to their proper places to paint an incredibly political and ethical discussion with suspense and immense tragedy!
Gameplay for Steam Account Holders
Gameplay-wise, it’s not extraordinary per se. It’s just like any other visual novel game where you try to end up with the most attractive one. There are some pretty background pictures and bird photos flying around. Each character has their own separate background music. You start reading, and make some dialogue or event choices now and then. Finally, it wraps up to become a romance path for a bird of your choice. When you complete all endings and start a new game, you face with the question whether you’d like to keep a long forgotten promise. If you say yes, things take an incredible turn, to reveal all past mysteries.
Annoying or peculiar occurrences that you’ve been witnessing in your prior games now form a painful meaning. This final storyline reveals a darker side to our fictional setting, and brings question to concepts such as war, peace, misinformation, discrimination, racial and ethnic differences, and even biological war! Hatoful Boyfriend may start as a joke for you to kill some time, yet if you bear with its oddity and take a moment to delve into the real setting, you might find yourself being rewarded with a thrilling and disturbingly realistic story. That ought to be enough to convince you to try this out on your Steam account.