Charming Hearts Review

The game’s length is good; it will take about 3.5 hours to run through the first time, with another 5 hours of side content through all the options and romances.

Most of the six women are awesome. Along with their obvious beauty, they are appealing in indirect ways, which makes the choices harder. The boss finds you useful, and she might bring you medicine when you’re sick. Your colleague needs your help often and loves you for it, cooking you food. A famous singer knew you when you were younger, and she spends big to impress you. Your old art teacher appreciates your artistic vision and feels she has a deep connection. A fellow quiet student seems to have more to say and cares for a cat you helped to look after. Even a mysterious widow, with her army of bodyguards and money, needs your support. There is also a hidden romance option, but it is best discovered by playing.

Most of the romance endings are nice and can be achieved by just going back to the final choice. You typically get an interaction scene, then a bonus scene, then flashbacks in a montage. Some flashbacks you might not have seen, depending on choices. One cool thing that doesn’t seem like it can be accessed from the menu are the little videos you get on your phone throughout the game, related to your choices, although some feel more like promotional material than part of the story.

The set locations are fantastic. It has so many diverse backdrops including a pottery studio, mansion, school, office, club, park, beach, yacht, nightclub, dormitory, and more. There are a few times when you explore areas and investigate items, but you tend to be punished for it since it is seen as snooping. It would have been nice to see more interaction without the punishment side. The camera direction offers a decent number of panoramic shots, and the acting is quite good standard.

The affection meter uses numerical values, which is great as you can see exactly which decisions mean more or less. Generally there is not a huge penalty when you pick one person over another (e.g. +6, -1, -1). You can navigate back through the chapters to change paths, but it seems to take a cumulative value; after unlocking all scenes, all the affection meters were at max. The game has a few “quizzes” too, some of which happen at the end for romances, but you don’t have to get everything right to progress, just not get everything wrong. It only takes a few tries to get the right answers. There are several routes that do result in a chunk of missed content, and so it does not feel like you’re being funneled into the same path (even though you are).

Lots of failed romance endings too, which is awesome, including one where you are beaten to death, another where you just become the male best friend, and another where you just don’t get the job at the start. (There is even a horror ending). It also has a few really poignant lost romance conclusions, which demonstrates the story’s maturity.

Translation to English is alright, but quite often the characters use “I” instead of “You” and this adds regular confusion. All up, Charming Hearts this is definitely one of the better FMV romance options because of its story, characters, locations, and plentiful branching paths.