Sympathy Kiss from Idea Factory International and Design Factory is a new Otome visual novel on Nintendo Switch. Learn more about it in our Sympathy Kiss review!

 

Sympathy Kiss from Idea Factory International and Design Factory is a new Otome visual novel on Nintendo Switch. You’ll take on the role of Akari Amasawa, who, a year ago, joined mobile company Estario Corp. in Ebisu as a UI designer. You have been encouraged to change teams and move to the department currently working on Estarci. Estarci is an app that was all the rage when it launched, but it’s now close to being terminated, and it’s now up to the team to work on it as hard as possible so that all of you can survive in the company and keep your jobs.

If you’re new to the genre, a visual novel is an adventure in which you can end up taking on a novel-sized story in a visual medium. Some of it features voice acting – a very expensive element in a video game – while others don’t. This one has voice acting in Japanese, so if you don’t know the language, you’ll have to read a lot during your time for Sympathy Kiss. Since this is a visual novel of the Otome variety, that means you’ll be taking on the role of a female protagonist as you interact with six potential male romantic suitors.

 

In the case of Sympathy Kiss, the six romantic interests are Mitsuki Saotome, Kohei Minato, Yoii Kobase, Rokuro Yoshioka, Nori Tainaka, and Shuya Usui. Mitsuki Saotome is the one in charge of planning and development who has worked on a series of great products. He’s got a very casual attitude toward life and work, which might end up rubbing some people the wrong way. Kohei Minato was also brought from another department six months ago to work on the app. Yoii Kobase is the one who has been placed in charge of leading the efforts to boost Estarci’s presence and engagement… and he seems to be the perfect guy for the job. He’s a workaholic with no personal life, so he’ll certainly be focused on completing this project.

Rokuro Yoshioka is the son of the President of Tempesty, which means you won’t be working directly for his company. He’s a kind individual, but he seems to want to focus more on work than on love. Nori Tainaka is a bit of an oddball and very different from the rest, so saying anything about him would sorta ruin your experience. The last romanceable character is Shuya Usui. He’s the bartender at Evergreen, a bar located near Estario, which makes it the perfect spot for the rest of the cast to hang out. Being a bartender makes him a great listener!

As has been the case for a lot of the many visual novels available on Nintendo Switch, you can play through Sympathy Kiss either by using physical inputs by using the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, or you can also make good use of the console’s touchscreen if you’re playing in Portable or Tabletop Mode, or if you play this Otone visual novel on a Nintendo Switch Lite console.

If you’re a fan of visual novels, you’ll be happy to learn that there are plenty of potential endings in general since you can get three different endings for each route depending on if you favor work, love, or manage to somehow find a balance between the two in your life. This does connect with how affection changes between Akari and the different romantic interests, so you’ll need to decide how you’re going to handle things so that you can give it your all.

You’ll be getting in touch with other characters by using the RiNG app on your phone. You can use it to send them messages or give them a call. Since, as mentioned before, work and love will play a part in deciding which of the endings you can get for each of the story routes, you’ll have to pay attention to the choices you make during specific parts of your journey. You will also get to sometimes decide how to react to a character’s action by choosing one of two different emotions. This can lead you down different conversation paths with that character.

There’s also an Extra section for you to consider. It’s there that you’ll be able to find the Gallery, Music, and Dictionary segments. In Gallery, you’ll get to check out the special key art for the common story route, as well as for the specific routes for Mitsuki Saotome, Kohei Minato, Yoii Kobase, Rokuro Yoshioka, Nori Tainaka, and Shuya Usui. In the Music section you’ll be able to listen to the game’s soundtrack once you’ve unlocked each song by progressing through the story. In the Dictionary section, you can check specific terms that will be used during your time with Sympathy Kiss. These will be highlighted during the story so that you can know they’re part of the Dictionary. When you run into such a word, you can press down on the D-Pad to check out its meaning.

Sympathy Kiss brings us a new Otome visual novel experience on Nintendo Switch. As Akari Amasawa, who, a year ago, joined mobile company Estario Corp. in Ebisu as a UI designer, you’ll be switching to a new group tasked with saving the company’s flagship app – Estarci – or else it will terminated… and everyone in the group will be fired! With six potential romantic interests and three different endings for each story, there’s plenty of content for you to enjoy. Sympathy Kiss is out on Nintendo Switch with a $49.99 price tag.

Disclaimer
This Sympathy Kiss review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Idea Factory International.