Dating sims have covered a wide variety of genres, love interests, and topics. No matter where your interests lie, there is usually something that can appeal to you. But with the vast amount visual novels revolving around fantasy, action, and downright outrageous plot lines, sometimes a simple office romance is just what you need.
Story
Sympathy Kiss stars a woman who has been working as a designer at a tech company called Estario Corporation, that creates new apps. Lately however, their flagship app, Escarti, has not been performing well and there are rumors that the app will be shut down. But right as she hears those rumors, the main character is recruited to work on the Escarti team along with other high performers across the company to reviving the dying app.
Compared to other otome games, the common route is on the short side, making it quick to get right into the individual character routes. Each of the characters shine in their own route and while they’ll appear in other routes as well, you really get to know the character when you’re actively pursuing them. However, when it comes to the main character, they are more of a self insert. Outside of the fact that they are a designer and aren’t particularly ambitious initially, they are a blank slate (which may or may not be a bad thing depending on what you’re looking for with a dating sim).
Routes and Endings
There are a total of eight routes that you can play through in Sympathy Kiss, two of which are “hidden” (if you make the correct selection, you’re able to explore these hidden character routes), and one that unlocks after you complete your first playthrough. You’ll see all of the characters in the common route that you have the chance to romance before you are eventually given a chance to select which route to go on.
Each route have three endings that you can achieve: Perfect, Love, and Work. There technically isn’t a “bad” ending in this otome game compared to other games in the genre, so for those looking for a more easy-going experience without worrying about a tragic ending, Sympathy Kiss is up your lane. Keeping in the spirit of other otome games, each of the love interests have their own personalities that makes them stand out from the rest of the cast. Whether you like a guy who’s energetic, stoic, or just a little bit weird, you’re likely to find one guy who appeals to you.
Gameplay
As Sympathy Kiss is a visual novel, there isn’t any major gameplay elements to the game outside of making dialogue choices. The only choices that have an impact on the type of ending you get are the Love/Work choices, which have a different UI from other dialogue choices. In order to get specific endings, you’ll have to manage your ratio of “love” responses to your “work” responses. If you perfectly balance them, you’ll end up with the Perfect ending. Otherwise, you’ll end up with the Work or Love ending depending on which category has more answers selected.
Dialogue Choices
The game will occasionally allow players to make a dialogue choice or emotion choice. Regular dialogue and emotion choices do not have any impact on the ending, so you can choose whichever one appeals to you more. Each choice will have a different response from other characters. The dialogue choices to look out for are the Love/Work choices, which will have a unique UI that instantly grabs your attention. In order to go for specific choices, you’ll need to pay attention to whether you are choosing a “work” or “love” answer. These choices are pretty obvious to figure out which category they are in. For example, one of the choices may be “Hold his hand” while the other may be “Wave goodbye”. After making your choice, a flower will appear with the corresponding color (pink for love and blue for work).
You’re able to save at any time, so if you’re going for a perfect ending, you can always save before making a choice and then reload if you end up selecting the wrong choice. Along with saving, for those who are looking to 100% the game by going for all endings, the game follows the pattern of other visual novels with allowing you to easily skip through any text that has already been read. And after completing a route, you can even select a specific chapter to start from as well.
Aesthetics
As with many of Idea Factory’s visual novels, the art for this game is very beautiful. The main character artist for the game is Fuji Rito, who has also done work for other visual novels, like Lover Pretend and Library Cross. The UI is simplistic and easy to navigate, leaning into the tech company aesthetic. All of the characters outside of the main character have several character sprites that appear throughout the game, as well as several CG scenes that you unlock as you play through the game. The CGs are a treat to look at and really pull the game together.
Music and Voice Actors
The entire main cast of the game are filled with heavy hitters, with voice actors who have voiced in many popular video games and anime series. And for those familiar with otome visual novels as well, there are some voice actors that are constants in the genre. All of the voice actors did an amazing job and really brought the game to life. In terms of the soundtrack, the music is nice enough, although it’s nothing to write home about. There are plenty of piano tracks to set the ambiance of working in an office surrounded by several attractive coworkers.
Conclusion
Sympathy Kiss is a light-hearted office romance that is heartfelt and sweet to play through. While not as fantastical as some of Idea Factory’s other releases, it’s worth a playthrough for its characters alone. With nice character building, heart fluttering moments, and pretty character art, Sympathy Kiss is a relaxing otome experience that shouldn’t be overlooked for it’s simple premise.
Rating: 8/10.
