RENAI BAKUDAN

Played through two routes so far ! I love juri and all the relationships, the cast is very diverse in terms of personality and the writing does a wonderful job at contributing to that. There's so much content in this game for 20 bucks including a whole library of erotic gl stories ! I highly recommend it, and also playing LOVE BAKUDAN if you wanna see more of some of the girls in this game!

A dense yet fulfilling VN with fun novels as a bonus (novelception!) In all seriousness this is my new comfort game that I've only scratched the surface of. The music slaps, the writing is hilarious, the characters are all full of wild personality and Natsuki has my heart. Moral of the story? I'm gay

So I’ll preface this review by saying that I still really enjoyed this game and would recommend it for fellow lesbians looking for good porn and good drama. I have some sizable issues with it, but I still had a good time with it Firstly, the writing. It’s still pretty good, but on the whole I found it to be a bit more inconsistent than Love Bakudan’s writing. Some weird choices were made in the writing of the returning characters, and some of them don’t really feel like themselves in comparison to the first game. The writing is still very enjoyable, but I do wish it had a bit more time to be ironed out and made more consistent with the characters and tone Next, characters! I really really enjoyed all the newcomers, especially Ten, Shizuka, and Kaori. Juri is a phenomenal protagonist and her own personal struggles and backstory come up a lot more than Haruka’s did back in LB, which is a definite plus for me. All the major players feel like they have a lot of weight to them and make you want to delve into their routes and figure out what drama they have going on (and also to ♥♥♥♥ them i guess lmao). My only major gripe is with Natsuki, who has a phenomenal concept that I feel isn’t given enough space to breathe. And also the porn is really really good lol ALSO. Tokugawa Blues is REALLY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good and if you like the Tokugawa twins and their whole world (including Chinami from LB, Shizuka, Hazuki, Mirai, etc) then you have to read this. Even if you don’t, you have to read TokuBlues. It should be mandatory reading for Shizuka’s route and I am not joking. Go read it On the whole, I enjoyed my time with the game, even if it was a bit rough in spots. Go check it out!

I've never left a review on steam before as far as I know and I usually don't feel the need to, but I just noticed this game only has 10 reviews on here at the moment and that seems CRIMINAL to me. This game is an absolute steal, one of the most premium packages in the yuri and erotic VN scene with beautiful presentation, excellent music, gorgeous art and that's not even getting into the content of the game itself. The amount of extras that come packaged with the game is wild too, you get SO much bang for your buck with this one. The actual content. All seven of the main routes, while I haven't done each one yet, features interesting characters from what I can say given the introductions and cross appearances. Unlike most dating sims/romance VNs, after the prologue you select your route straight up (presentation here is immaculate) and lock in to a completely unique scenario. The game has a really great balance between erotic scenes and truly heartfelt ones, Natsuki's really touched me (and she really touched me too) and the sex scenes are pretty light but well written and for me, more palatable than the usual H-game fodder. This is more similar to a game like Ladykiller in a Bind, where it feels like it was actually written for lesbians rather than guys who get off to them (though I'm sure it'll please the himedanshis) Also, it has butch x butch, which is a rare and beautiful thing they do absolute justice. I only wish we got more...

Note: I was a Kickstarter backer for this game. If you liked Love Bakudan, then this game is even better in nearly every way--art, presentation, writing (a lot of the cruft you get in Love Bakudan isn't present here), etc. While Renai Bakudan is arguably a sequel in that it clearly takes place a few years afterward, it doesn't follow after any particular route of Love Bakudan (and in fact contradicts some). You don't need to be familiar with the other games in this universe to enjoy this one, although you'll appreciate the references if you have. The gameplay is pretty similar to Love Bakudan, but instead of the long personality quiz, you just choose which route you want to do directly. There's also some minor exploration sections where Juri can go to a location and you get a small skit that takes place there. Each route only has a single ending, but you can unlock bonus stories if you do all the hotel bits correctly and read all the exploration skits. Unlike Love Bakudan, where the bonus ero stories are completely unrelated to the main game, Renai Bakudan also has some unlockable ero stories that include characters from the game in non-Juri pairings. (Both this game and Love Bakudan are very liberal about pairing off characters you don't romance, so if you're the type of person who [i]only[/i] wants to see your favorite character with the MC and nobody else, this series probably isn't for you.) My one major gripe with Renai Bakudan compared to Love Bakudan is that this one has more uneven route quality. And by that I mean that I honestly think Natsuki's route just plain sucks lol Her route was the one I was most looking forward to, so I saved it for last. And it just...did not make sense. At all. Events happen pretty much randomly. The main conflict is not only external (not inherently bad), it's basically a non-sequitur (bad). Points of tension between Juri and Natsuki (Juri thinking it's probably a bad idea to fall in love with a noted womanizer, Natsuki's [spoiler]past gambling addiction[/spoiler]) are brought up only to be completely ignored. What seemed like it should be the climax of the route happens off-screen, with only a couple sentences covering it. At the end, all the characters are like "Wow, that was all extremely weird and nonsensical!" as if directly pointing it out will make it seem better instead of worse. I do need to point out that this is one route out of seven, and the other six are all really good! (Especially Shizuka and Kaori's routes.) But it really felt like the writer just had no idea what to do with Natsuki's route and just went with whatever words came out in the first draft. If you're planning to do all the routes, maybe make sure hers is in the middle so you don't end up ending with such a steep drop in quality like I did. PS Please let us romance Hazuki in the next one. I can make her worse [i]For more recommendations of romance games, check out my curator, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32080131/]Games for Hopeless Romantics[/url].[/i]

Outstanding game. Humor, characters, art, story, and the multiple paths able to be wildly different but with crossover in story/themes that works well. Plus a lot of fun callbacks to the first game! As a career sapphic and long-time VN player, this is a 10/10 and replayable. And if you're here for just the smut? trust me: you'll find it, like, everywhere. Great art plus the return of so, so many written mini-stories to collect.(Seriously; its the most quality + quantity combo I've ever seen in a sapphic VN.)

First of all, Noodletub is always great with their yuri vns. I love that there's a mixture of humor, drama, and of course very sexual moments. But also, there's a good amount of heartfelt scenes as well. I've played all 7 routes and they're all so fun in their own ways. I've yet to read all of the erotic books, but I look forward to more yuri spicyness in my future play sessions. Overall, I feel like this game is made just for me, getting to romance seven lovely ladies in a deliciously delight yuri visual novel.

I enjoyed this visual novel, even though I’m supposedly not part of the target audience given my age. That said, I think I should cut the writing some slack because I’m probably viewing things from a slightly different perspective to 20- to 30-year-olds. Nevertheless, Renai Bakudan offers an appealing lesbian fantasy. So, the art is nice, and the different side romances add more flavour to the routes, which is a plus for me. Tokugawa Blues itself is a huge plus for its world-building and for adding depth to many of the characters. It reminds us that there is an actually dark and gritty side to all that yakuza business. Another major positive is the inclusion of women in their late 30s and early 40s, such as Mirai and Dao. Minuses? I would really, really have wanted there to be at least one (1) trans woman I could have had a steamy romance with, but there are none, not even as side characters, so that was a little disappointing. Also, all the sex scenes, even if hot, were a little on the safe side, I’d say; something that’s easy to digest for most homosexual women. Though, yeah, to be fair, I get that. Despite the VN’s seemingly relaxed and open attitude towards sex, I also noticed that all the routes were also kinda aggressively monoamorous. A neutral point I’d like to mention, neither good nor bad in this context, is that it’s somewhat strange that there’s this place completely devoid not only of men but also of empowering LGBTQ+ vocabulary and symbolism, but again... I understand the concept behind it. A game from lesbians to lesbians, so yeah, if I overlook all the questions this world order raises for me, it’s a power move, alright!

NOODLETUB GAMES!!! DROP THE OST AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!! Edit: Okay, coming back now that I've finished all the routes and oh? my god? This game is such a treat! The sheer amount of bonus content alone is enough to keep me busy for a hot minute, but I think this is one of the first visual novels where I couldn't easily pick out a favorite character. All of the love interests are so loveable and compelling-- even the side characters have their own charm to them! Hands down, one of my favorite yuri visual novels (if not just straight up one of my favorite visual novels) by far!

Love Bakudan is a very good game but Renai Bakudan is even better, the wait was clearly worth it ! If you like VN this is a game for you, it's well written and the art is amazing. There is a large variety of characters to enjoy, all very different. You don't need to play Love Bakudan first but it's better if you do as some characters are back and mention events that took place prior Renai Bakudan. I wasn't planning on doing all the routes but something about this game is so addictive I might go for the 100%. I highly recommend it !