 |
| Robert Fenner |
Lose the zero and collar a hero.
06.20.17 - 6:11 PM
We all know that love can bloom on a battlefield, but what about during a terrorist incident? Collar X Malice, the latest romance visual novel from Otomate and Aksys, poses to answer this very question later this summer.
Set in the near future, Shinjuku has come under quarantine following a spate of violent acts dubbed The X-Day Incidents, carried out by a mysterious organization only known as Adonis. On patrol within the barricade is Ichika Hoshino, a rookie policewoman tasked with restoring order. Already involved in a dangerous incident, Ichika's situation worsens one night when she's jumped by unknown assailants and forced into a poisoned collar. With nowhere else to turn, Ichika throws her hat in with a somewhat shady (yet handsome) band of vigilante ex-cops in an effort to solve the incidents before she succumbs to the poison.
Collar X Malice sees players guide Ichika on her quest for justice, and perhaps pursue a romance with one of the vigilante group's five eligible bachelors. Aside from the relationship mechanics, it appears that players will be doing some sleuthing of their own, as the build I briefly played contained a case file option for the collection and review of evidence. The case file was empty in the early segment I played, and although I can't tell you just how it'll work mechanically, it does appear that Collar X Malice has some extra hooks to give it an edge over its otome contemporaries. Players can find out for themselves when Collar X Malice releases on July 28, and cozy up to a donut-munching cat boy in the process, if they so please.
