Refate: Echoes of Desire Review

The game begins with you waking up in an alley with no memory. You speak Chinese, but a special earphone lets you understand Japanese. After avoiding thugs around Tokyo, the female boss of a yakuza group recognizes you. To stay alive, and find out more, you join them. Although amnesia is typically clichéd and dull, here it works because there is so much else happening, like earning respect, martial-arts training, investigations, and hostile encounters, so the memory aspect is used mostly for motivation.

Story pacing is amazing from start to finish. Every chapter ends with something interesting, like a tense confrontation or a memory reveal. It is all crafted to make you want to keep playing. There is no padding or meandering in this tidy Yakuza tale. It also seamlessly weaves in all love interests who feel more developed than some other games that have less.

There are eight main love interests. Restaurateur, Rei, gets the fewest scenes, but the game balances the rest quite well. Shoka is the stern boss with prior romantic history. Chiyuki is her tomboy bodyguard. Kyoko is a bratty student and tsundere. Chiaki is the softly-spoken teacher. Outside the Yakuza, there is Bai Meng, who speaks Chinese and helps you remember. Two enter the story later—sultry gravure model Nei and righteous policewoman Wakaba—and both get enough screen time.

There are some lewd scenes (mainly with Nei) but it is fairly natural. The eight love interests are diverse and well acted. Sadly, full ADR is used and the actresses do not lend their voices. Compared to the original Epic release, Kyoko now has full endings, along with a handful of new scenes.

All eight admirers have decent branching finales, alongside early or special endings. Some endings are good, some are too short, and some of the text follow-up is silly, but overall they’re above standard. The game will take around 4 hours to finish and 8 to see everything. While it has no insane branching paths, there are enough choices and scenes unlock based on who you protect.

Refate has full English support and the translation is okay, but names like Chiyuki and Chiaki get mixed up a few times, and there are intermittent gender problems. Video quality is a little mushy but mostly fine. The game has more QTEs than average but most are easy. You can skip all gameplay when replaying, which is great, although interface delays can occur. If you are seeking a compelling story about the Yakuza, with romance, then Refate: Echoes of Desire is a sharp choice.