A vacuous moege that culminates with a hidden average nakige plot to trick people it’s actually about something.

Release: 2017 (Saga Planets)
Writers: Sakaki Kasa (Tsuyokiss 3gakki)
Japanese difficulty: Easy
English: None
Ratings: VNDB (8.49); EGS (8.36)

With it snatching the top spot from Hikari no Umi no Apeiria in my Best Rated Visual Novels of 2017, I was really looking forward to see what made Kin’iro Loveriche so special, expecting a riveting plot and heartfelt drama in the moege kind of backdrop (basically Hatsuyuki Sakura).

Therefore, it really blew my mind when what I got was an almost insultingly dumb moege with less plot than a goddamn Yuzusoft game. The fact that the main heroine was a princess with unconditional attraction to the protagonist and enough money/power to render any sort of potential challenge inconsequential instantly set off warning sirens in my head.

The heroines are not only completely one dimensional (with the possible exception of Ria), they pretty much perfectly represent the most boring stereotypes in visual novels: ditzy princess, stuck-up knight, average girl, and genki girl.

Even the banter — usually the only saving grace of moege — is so dry and dull that instead of cracking smiles it only succeeded at lulling me to sleep.

I honestly can’t find a single good thing to say about the common route and the first four heroine routes, because they’re absolutely atrocious with nothing happening throughout (not even comedy). I’d honest to god recommend a Yuzusoft game over them.

Actually, if you want a good moege just pick up one of SMEE visual novels.

After you’re done reading (or preferably ctrling through) those abominations, you finally unlock Ria’s route which actually attempts (though mostly fails) to be dramatic and heartfelt. That said, it at least does something.

Ria, being a delinquent and also having a secret identity, is definitely more interesting than the rest of the heroines, and her route (kind of) offers a proper story with an actual ending (rather than a sudden stop at another random day). It’s nothing to write home about, and does at best average job at everything it sets out to, but, after having gone through the garbage that were the other routes, it appears as almost a masterpiece in comparison. I was too bored to care by that point, but I can see people getting somewhat emotional over it.

Anyway, I basically feel like I’ve been scammed to read an awful moege with a promise it’ll deliver an amazing nakige experience in the end, but the latter turned out to be just barely okay, while the former was way worse than I ever expected.

I’ve no idea why people like this so much, but I feel like slitting my wrists for the fact I live in a world where I had to put this above Apeiria in my video. It’s the worst visual novel I’ve read in 2017. Not recommended.