Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ is a new visual novel on PlayStation Vita by Idea Factory and Aksys Game. You play as Kazuha Hanamiya, a girl who finds herself in great danger in the fantasy land of Arcadia. She has entered this online world looking for her brother who has gone missing. The problem is that she is now inside of the online game itself. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Read our Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ review to find out!

 

The game gets going strong by introducing you to your first battle within minutes of starting your run. After selecting one of the options available for the battle, the story picks up the pace and introduces a new character by the name of Hiroya. It is here that the game goes into its intro cutscene and theme before dropping players into a sequence in the “real world.” Kazuha is worried about her brother not answering her messages, and after a classmate suggests she visits her brother, who is only a 30-minute train ride away, the game’s story begins to unravel.

Kazuha decides to login on her brother’s computer to give Arcadia a try in a bid to see if by entering the digital world she might find some clues that can lead her to find her lost sibling. Unfortunately, she ends up entering World V right after she’s done creating her in-game avatar. The rumor stated that if you logged into World V, you would actually enter Arcadia itself, and this is exactly what happens to her and Hiroya.

For this visual novel, you’ll be using the touchscreen to tap, drag, flick and pinch as needed to interact with the story. The game mixes things up by having a light RPG mode where you get to make battle decisions that will affect the story and the reactions of characters. As I mentioned above, you will get a small taste of this a few minutes after you start the game when Kazuha is attacked by some deadly monsters. The light RPG elements keep things interesting and make it stand out from other entries in the Otome visual novel genre and are a nice bonus.

If you play things right during the RPG sections you might even increase your Almighty level – this marks your power and will play a part in the ending you can get. Speaking of the ending, it will also be affected by the affection level between the main character and the other characters in this visual novel, so do keep that in mind! This being an Otome-style release, there are several potential suitors for Kazuha to romance, and your interactions with them will end up impacting your affection level with each one. Who will you choose?

As you play, the CG cutscenes, movies and background music you experience will be added to the Album so that you can review it again as you please. Each section in the album will let you know your current completion rate for it so that you know how much progress you’re making. The game’s terminology will also be added to another section called the Dictionary. As the game progresses, you can press right on the D-Pad when a color-coded word shows up to learn the definition of said word.

The game features voice acting, but all voices are in Japanese. This is certainly going to please purists, but having to read the English localization while listening to “foreign voices” might rub some people the wrong way. For me, the cast is very varied and does a great job of fitting the role of each character in the game, giving everyone a unique tone that makes them stand out.

As we have come to expect from visual novels on PS Vita, Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy. You’ll be aiming at unlocking five Gold, ten Silver, and eighteen Bronze trophies during your time with the game. Some are unlocked from story progression while others will ask that you see every CG cutscene for all characters and reach all endings – luckily once you complete your adventure once you’ll be able to rewind to previous sections in the game to try other paths and choices.

Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ is a great Otome visual novel on PlayStation Vita with a solid story, great graphics and a ton of content to experience. If you’re a fan of the genre, then you’re going to love this entry. But even if you’re not a fan, this PS Vita release is the perfect entry point into Otome so that you can see what all the fuss is about.

Disclaimer
This Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ review is based on a PS4 copy provided by Aksys Games.