Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines

Oreshika is a wildy original and weird game. It does so many things right that I almost want to forgive all its flaws. The visual design is terrific, like japanese watercolors and paper cut-outs splashed on the screen. It's a very unique look. I should also mention the game's bizarre plot. To keep it short, your lineage shares a double curse. They are unable to mate with humans and their lifespan is only 2 years long, therefore to keep your bloodline alive you're forced to mate with gods, trying little by little to strengthen your clan until being able to confront the creature who cursed you in the first place.

The gameplay can be divided in 3 different sections: you've got the base management (investing in town and managing your clan's evolution while balancing the different classes), mating with gods (choosing them from a enormous list which includes everything from frog gods to a succubus with varying characteristics) and dungeon exploring. At first it's quite overwhelming, but thankfully the game's smart enough to help you get into the groove of things with a profusion of tutorials.

It's definitely a game worth playing, one of those entertaining oddities you're bound to find in the Vita's underrated catalogue. Yet despite all the good things I've got to say about Oreshika, there's some definite flaws that sour the experience to some extent. Time's the problem. 2 years is far too little time to spend with characters, especially since everything in the game takes at least a month. They keep dropping like flies, barely managing to reach their potential. Sometimes you're stuck in a string of funerals where your best characters end up dying at the same time. I got used to it and checking the extensive family tree was always a delight, still, more time would certainly be welcome. I have a similar issue with the time limits on the dungeons. As you explore them, time passes and quickly enough a month has elapsed. Consequently, you're always rushing through every dungeon in the game, never being able to stop for a while and explore at your own leisure. It gets even more taxing considering some of the puzzles you'll have to solve within those dungeons. And yes, I wasn't that much of a fan of Nueko or how the game forced her into the center stage instead of letting the story be about my family and how my 8th generation rabbit-eared archer was able to bring down a few hundred oni on her own.