Ikemen Sengoku; A review of hot 500 year old warlords?

Where did I find it?

We begin our story where most of these stories begin. I am scrolling quite innocently through facebook, minding my own business when suddenly, out of the blue, this ad appears on my feed; 

It raised many questions in my mind. Who is this man? Do I like it when he's kind or when he's dominating? And, most importantly, 

Will I get any sleep tonight? 

Let's find out. 

A plot synopsis;
Our main character for this story is a young Japanese girl who has just quit her humdrum desk job in favour of pursuing her dream career as a fashion designer. On her way home from her final day at work it's raining and she stops, briefly, at a tiny monument. While she is there she is approached by a mysterious stranger in a labcoat who she strikes up a conversation with before suddenly there is a flash of lighting. After this flash, she wakes up only to discover that she has travelled 500 years into the past through a wormhole and landed her self in the Sengoku period of Japanese history. (I'll be giving y'all a fun Japanese history lesson later in this but we're talking about the 15th century to roughly the beginning of the 17th century). She accidentally saves the life of the warlord Nobunaga Oda, changing history, and then suddenly is thrust into the world of constant wars, political intrigue and stupidly hot warlords. Romance ensues. 


Whose pants are we getting into?
So not only do we have many many options, all these options are based on actual people that existed in this time period. Similarly to many of these visual novels, we have way too many options to go through in detail but I'll give you a summary of the guy I ended up choosing. I would have done multiple routes but with the ticket system a lot of these types of games require it is very difficult to do without spending loads of money.  

Nobunaga Oda -  His official bio reads as follows; 

"A powerful and calculating warlord who aims to unite Japan under his rule. He is firm and unyielding in his beliefs. Though he is feared as an unfeeling demon by most, could there be something more behind his cold eyes?"

As our man from the original ad, I figured it was only appropriate to romance him. Honestly, I was expecting him to be a lot more douchey than he actually ended up being. Cocky? Yes. But at least this guy has more personality traits than just being an asshole. He has moments where he actually seems human flawed but not unlikable. He has a good sense of humour, has passions and interests and weirdly is a fantastic teacher

      But what of the real, historical Nobunaga? Well, um, I hate to break it to you but uh...   

     This guy is our dreamboat. 

                                     
The game actually does get some stuff right, Oda was indeed a powerful daimyō (a fancy name for a lord) in fuedal Japan. He was a warrior and government official who overthrew the Ashikaga shogunate (what was basically the governing body at the time) and united half the provinces of Japan under his rule. However, I would like to note that even if the way the game portrays what was supposed "almost" his death by assassination was an accurate one (which it wasn't) he was 47 WHEN HE DIED. Which, no offence to my older male readers, is a decidedly unsexy age to be getting with a 20 something-year-old girl. Not only this but Oda wasn't assassinated at all (not that there weren't attempts) but actually, committed seppuku (suicide by a sword) after being surrounded in a coup against him. Again, decidedly unsexy and not a great note for your romance visual novel to start on.

Note; To answer that second question, I do kinda like it when he's sweet, I'm a sucker.

       

What I did enjoy

I'm going to be real here I did not know I needed a Sengoku warlord dating sim until I stumbled across this. The whole premise of this thing is iconic. Historically speaking they did not screw up nearly as badly as I expected them too. What I played of the plotline has this really fascinating foreshadowing to some of the real historical events that took place. The main example of this is the foreshadowing of Akechi Mitsuhide's betrayal by making his character (who is a romance option if you're into that) super sketchy. The creators knew their history, respected it, and made a bunch of hot warlords and that is pretty damn impressive. The writing is really great, especially since this game is obviously originally written for a Japanese audience. The game has a cool mechanic that means depending on the choices you make your story can either be romantic or dramatic (I love that drama personally) which allows for a cool amount of customisation in how you want your route to go down. The characters are written well with again so great nods to their real inspirations and the character designs are stunning even if totally inaccurate. 

What I didn't enjoy

As per usual in these games, it always comes down to one thing; microtransactions. While I will say I was able to get a fair amount of progress done without paying a cent I really would have appreciated it more if I could have just paid a lump sum and bought the game. In a similar style to Blood & Roses, it had those pesky paywalls but thankfully it was generous in its rewards for signing in and playing so I go through okay. It was mildly disappointing considering how I loved every other aspect of the game and if I had of just been able to pay $10,  $15, even $20 for a game without these cash grab mechanics I would have given this a much higher rating. 

My final verdict
A fantastic blend of Japanese history and romance I was super impressed by this game given the misleadingly weird ad that drew me in at first. Considering how angry my last review got me I was so pleasantly surprised by this. However, despite all this, I am forced to give it a slightly less coveted rating due to the tactics it used to try and take my money. I know it's free, and I don't expect developers to work for free, but when your lust for money ends up breaking the game you were trying to make then what is even the point of making it in the first place. 

But now we must answer that final burning question, the one that started this all; did I get any sleep that night? 

No, no I certainly did not. But I spent it reading yaoi so I don't think that counts.

I give this game 3/5 bottles of vodka and recommend it if you're ever in the mood for some steamy historical fiction.