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Volontes is an otome that feels like it had a lot of people hoping for the best. After all, about 900 people contributed ¥6,784,322 (~$42,626) to fund its localization on Kickstarter. But after playing, I find it a bit disappointing. While the character designs and CGs are gorgeous and premise intriguing, the visual novel itself feels low-budget in the same way Loca Games’ previous project Yukar from the Abyss did, it’s quite short, and the romance in almost every route feels like it’s tacked on.
Fiena’s origins are surrounded in mystery. People in a small farming village found her in the center of destruction, as she was the only survivor of some incident that left apparent heretics and the soldiers pursuing them dead. One of the women with the group that discovered her took her in alongside her children as essentially an extra pair of hands. However, she always had remarkable red hair and the strange ability to see shades after situations when people died like after a plague. After going to market one day for her family, she returns to find soldiers again decimating and burning down the village. She manages to escape, and finds herself discovered by the king of Ombrelle’s sorcerer Olivier Paquet. He declares her the Moon Witch, an oracle who people of the island’s religion look to for guidance. However, this isn’t an immediate happy ending, and danger still threatens to cut Fiena’s life short in new ways as she learns more about Ombrelle’s secrets.
Oh, and along the way she might find love with Olivier, a suspicious noble and heir to the throne named Emmanuel de Beaumont, the royal doctor Ismail, and the bard and knight named Melodie. Though in most of the routes, it can sometimes feel sudden shift from professionalism or even possible disdain to abruptly being in love with no build up or moments showing the two connecting and growing as a possible couple. I was as shocked as Fiena looks in some CGs when the dudes would suddenly be coming on to her after showing no interest prior to that.
So first off, Volontes’ UI and general presentation is very simplistic. It sort of reminds me of some of the mobile-to-Switch otome game adaptations we’ve seen from Voltage that go for a sort of “passable” appearance. It’s clunky and feels like an indie. Which isn’t bad, but given it is an almost $50 game, I’d expect the same degree of quality as an Aksys or Idea Factory International release.
I have mixed feelings about the script for Volontes as well. I’m not sure if it’s just that the original story was awkwardly written or it’s a stylistic choice from the editor behind the localization, but it often reads quite awkwardly. Add that to the fact that there is little romantic build-up and it is very easy to get bad endings, and it can break the immersion. Combine that with the storylines being so short that going for one of the characters might only take you about four or five hours if you’re a fast reader, and it’s can be disappointing.
While that is a shame, I do appreciate how many endings there are for each character. Basically, there are three for each one of the four leads, with one being “good” and the other two tending to be more tragic. It’s interesting since completely seeing everything can offer some additional insights into the otome game’s lore. It also can be challenging, since you might need to say also build up a bit of a relationship via choices with Olivier when going for Emmanuel.
I love the idea behind Volontes and think the character designs are gorgeous, but it isn’t a strong otome game. The focus feels much more on the lore and mysteries surrounding Ombrelle and its Moon Witch. Combine that with a localization that sometimes reads a bit awkwardly, short paths, and an overall presentation that sometimes feels like it was thrown together in Ren’Py with little fanfare, and it is a bit disappointing.
Volontes is available for the Switch.
