Olympia Soiree is the first otome game I’ve completed this year so yay to that. Back when it was first released in 2020, I was attracted by the art, but since I didn’t own a Switch back then, I just chucked it to the back of my mind. After I got my Switch I started browsing through the games available and this was one of the games I picked. I’ve only played the JP version, so I will not be commenting on localization quality.
When I first read the story and setting for Olympia Soiree, I was interested by how they would deal with the concept of a colour class system and discrimination. I wasn’t so keen on the ‘girl has to find a guy to marry’ plotline, but since the game is pretty and the worldbuilding seemed interesting I decided to give it a go. Really glad I did so, because this has been one of the games I’ve enjoyed playing more in recent years.
This probably already well known, but Olympia Soiree is probably not a game suitable for all players. The game has strong themes of discrimination, with the colour you were born with determining pretty much how much freedom and privileges you have in life. If you’re the wrong colour then well… be prepared to quite possibly live your entire life never seeing the sun. If you’re easily triggered by stuff like that or non-con scenes, it’s probably best to just avoid this game.
Overall I did enjoy the story of the game more than I’d expected. The character interactions were entertaining, LIs were rather interesting, and of course the art and music are both great. Olympia was a likeable heroine, though she starts out as a sheltered and rather naive girl.
*The rest of the post is not spoiler-free*
Plot: Our heroine, Byakuya(known to the residents of Tenguu Island as Olympia), is the last of the White clan. The rest of the White died in an incident on Tennyo Island many years ago. She’s spent the past few years hiding herself away in the mansion, leaving only when she needs to perform her ritual dance for the sun goddess Amaterasu. In order to ensure the survival of her colour, on her 18th birthday she’s told to find a husband within the year and give birth to little white babies. How hard can it be?
On Tenguu Island, your colour class determines where you are able to live, your career opportunities, and even who you can marry. Byakuya, being the only remaining member of her colour, is the only person on the island with the freedom to choose any man of any colour. This is because the women of the white clan are known to only be able to give birth to white females. It’s a crime to have a relationship with an individual from the wrong colour, with the maximum penalty being a painful death. Criminals and those whose colours are deemed to impure are sent to Yomi, the underground part of the island. Honestly it sounds like a crap world to live in.
So yeah, basically the overarching plot is just Byakuya trying to find a husband, and preferably someone who’s her “other half”. She starts venturing to other areas in order to meet guys, and in the process starts learning more about the society and world she has sequestered herself from, especially when she visits Yomi. She starts questioning the system even more when she starts a letter delivery service for the people of Yomi and hears the stories of various individuals. The common route is just spent introducing the world and characters. Thought it was slightly draggy but nothing that would put me off the game.
Each route deals with a different aspect of their problematic society, which kept the game interesting. I enjoyed learning more about the lore and characters with each playthrough. Tokisada is the token younger LI and his route deals with his struggles to find a role for himself as an Outsider who washed up on the island. Riku’s route focuses on the struggle between his devotion to duty and his personal beliefs, as well as the power of Batsu, the ability to deal with the souls of the dead and can potentially kill. Kuroba’s route goes into greater detail on this disease called haku that residents of the island can potentially contract and die from. Yosuga’s route focuses more on Yomi compared to the others. Himuka and Akaza’s routes are full of lore dumps so of course they are the locked routes. Not gonna go into details on the plot of each route, but overall I found most of the routes to be decently well-written.
Play order I’d recommend: Riku=Tokisada>Kuroba>Yosuga>Himuka>Akaza
Of the four routes I had to play before getting to Himuka, I enjoyed Riku’s the most. His route was entertaining and the pacing was just nice. It’s always nice to see the more frosty LIs warming up to the heroine. There’s the least lore dump so it’d be a good choice for a first playthrough. I enjoyed Tokisada’s route more than I’d expected as well since he offered a different pov of the island as an Outsider, although him calling Byakuya onee-san non stop made it hard for me to take the romance seriously. Kuroba and Yosuga somehow both managed to be more likeable in other routes than their own imo. It was interesting to learn about haku in Kuroba’s route but there were times when he acted like a dick. I liked Yosuga as a supportive friend in the other routes, but in his own he was a bit meh for me. I didn’t understand some of his actions, but I still enjoyed the route.
Himuka’s personality irritated me in the first half, with him constantly acting like Byakuya would hate him for the slightest things, hiding from her, running from her, bursting into tears etc. The second half turned into one big lore dump. I quite enjoy learning more about lore in games, but I would have preferred if they just paced it out a bit more. I really enjoyed Akaza’s route as it really wrapped the whole game up nicely. It cleared up a lot of the questions I formed from previous playthroughs. I liked how Akaza acknowledges the problems with their society and does what’s in his power to change it, instead of just single mindedly calling for revolution. Byakuya was a well-written and balanced heroine. Despite her sheltered background, she does her best to make up for it by learning more and stepping out of her comfort zone. She also stands up for what she believes in. Gotta love her different facial expressions.
What I didn’t like was how certain things were only hidden away in the memoirs. I kinda feel like I shouldn’t have to read the extras to understand why certain prominent side characters act the way they do. I also don’t know why the women of Tennyo Island failed to defend themselves with Batsu. Did they all just die some supernatural death and reincarnated as butterflies or sth? It was also kinda funny how Byakuya sleeps with every guy in their routes, only to mention in Akaza’s that sex before marriage is actually illegal o.0 Overall though, despite some pacing issues here and there, the writing was consistent enough, lore-building felt detailed, and the game had the right mix of humour and drama for me.
Characters: A main cast that is pretty much all likeable individually. Can’t imagine the last time I thought that of a game. Akaza and Riku are definitely my favourites. Akaza is my favourite design-wise and Riku’s personality was too cute. I liked how all the LIs support each other in the other routes, befriending Byakuya and doing their best to support her choice. Character development was well written and you can really see the characters grow over the course of the game. Byakuya herself is the best example of this. I thought Kuroba had the least character development.
The side characters vary from being pure angels to complete arseholes. I don’t understand why Otomate couldn’t even give some recurring side characters a generic sprite. Even a faceless one would have been nice. Really like the myriad of personalities the side characters had, though some of them were really crazy. My face goes -_- whenever Kanan, Sakyo, Hairi or Nagusa come on screen. The side char I found the most interesting was actually Kanan, and I actually think it would have been interesting to have a Kanan route. He’s an arse but it would have been interesting to explore how someone with an extremely antagonistic attitude towards Byakuya could possibly change. It’d probably just end in either a twisted sort of love or bad ends only though. Also, how would everyone else react if Byakuya chose a husband who on the surface had a prominent position, but was actually incapable of reproducing? Hmm…
System/Interface: Really love the pretty gemstone effect they put on everything, reminded me of Houseki no Kuni. Everything from the main menu to gallery was nicely designed.
I kinda felt like they could have done a shorter common route if we were gonna choose the routes from a menu, or incorporate choices into the common segment. Chapter selection was a nice touch, but for the most part useless for me except to get to the LI choice menu faster.
Art/Music: I’ve not played a game illustrated by Satoi since Diabolik Lovers lol. The artwork is imo one of the biggest pulls of the game. The characters look great and the CGs are beautiful to look at, although the posing in a couple of the CGs looked a little awkward to me.
Music was great, matched the scenes really well, and the OP really grew on me. I’m kinda annoyed the CD for the bgm is only available with the Aksys version of the game but oh well.
Overall, I enjoyed my playthrough a lot. Really glad about that because my previous game was Piofiore and that kinda disappointed me. Didn’t think I could take two disappointing games in a row. I wouldn’t say it’s one of my absolute favourite games ever, but definitely one of those that made me want to keep playing. I would really love a sequel or a fandisc. As I mentioned previously, this game does have quite a lot of triggers, and certain viewpoints from characters in the game are outright misogynistic. If that sort of thing gets on your nerves probably might wanna steer clear. If you’re not the easily triggered sort or looking for something a little darker than your average otome game, do give Olympia Soiree a try.
Random Musings 