Try explaining Hatoful Boyfriend to somebody who doesn’t play games, or even to someone who only plays whatever’s most hyped in the press. It’s a conversation that averages out with the replies of either: "What sort of insane bollocks do you play?" or "Oh, you’re into that sort of thing are you?" followed by a newly-formed distrust of your opinions, perhaps a swift blocking of your phone number and social media accounts.
I know this because I’ve explained Hatoful Boyfriend to my wife, family and friends. I probably shouldn’t have added that I asked to review it, and that I actually enjoy playing it too, because that seemed to cement it as an anecdote to try and embarrass me for years to come. Christmas dinner conversation will be interesting I imagine. But hey, at least they gained some knowledge of romancing sparrows out of it.
In the meantime, Hatoful Boyfriend remains a pretty decent, and often absurdly funny, interactive visual novel about a girl’s experience as the only human in a school for intelligent birds, as she haplessly juggles making the grade, getting a summer job and trying to woo the boys who coo. The game begins as our heroine starts her second year at the school for gifted birds. So full disclosure here, everybody (or everybirdie) as Hatoful gleefully uses puns at every possible opportunity. Doves, pigeons, finches and a whole host of other birds that, despite coming across as human in basic conversation, maintain humorous little offbeat traits of birds in their personality.
Though you have spent time in education with these intelligent avian types already, your character still finds some of their habits confusing and awkward. Coupling that with the usual teenage social awkwardness means you have a surprising layer of depth to proceedings as the double dip of "nobody understands me!" angst gives a fresh satirical edge to the generally overused topic of kooky teen drama in this genre. The premise sounds utterly ridiculous, and it’s easy to poke fun at the idea of it for novelty value, but underneath the wonderfully absurd concept lies a humorous touching tale.
Each semester is broken down into a set of short conversations, with various birds about campus and beyond, that branch out different ways depending on who you talk to and how you answer them. It means the core story is rather short, but high on replay value as there are multiple outcomes to discover. You’re supposed to find a feathered suitor before a set point, and while the thought of bestiality as a game objective is hilarious/disturbing the game doesn’t go for crassness, rather it goes no further than getting to know the characters and some mild innuendo. So sorry if you were here for sordid details of passionate beaky trysts with pigeons; that’s on a whole other website.
Anyway, those characters are a mixed bag. While there’s technically no "bad" ones in Hatoful Boyfriend, there’s still some cookie cutter stereotypical high-school kids who happen to have plumage, and others that are a little dull beyond the novelty value of them being a bird. It’s the stupid and ridiculous characters that elevate the whole experience . These birds inject huge amounts of charm and personality. Okosan is my personal favorite. He is seemingly a less intelligent bird that can run really fast, makes Pokémon references and is obsessed with pudding. As is standard with the genre, interesting, quirky characters are the lifeforce of the game, genuinely making you laugh and keeping you more invested in the narrative as a whole. These characters are what make Hatoful Boyfriend a memorable, fun romp instead of a gimmicky one-joke wonder.
The game’s major drawback is that it is lacking in depth. The likes of Danganronpa and Zero Escape offer exploration and puzzle-solving to change the pace and add variety to the chattier parts, Hatoful Boyfriend is pretty much just the chat. It is good chat, don’t get me wrong, but think of it like this — If you meet someone new at a party and are instantly captivated by their witty anecdotes and smart cultural references, they will become far less interesting if they continue to bring up that same story about the beagle and the Jacuzzi at every social event. Yeah, we get it Kevin, the beagle was wearing shades, hilarious, but… it’d be nicer if you suddenly sprung the odd debate about Star Wars on us or shared a cake recipe or something. Oh, and can you stop wittering on about bloody Nandos?
Anyway, getting back on track, the straightforward nature of Hatoful Boyfriend means that while it has replay value to a degree, it will still be a brief journey that takes up no more than a few hours of even the most enthusiastic player’s time. At least its a few hours filled with narcoleptic doves, a gang of pigeon thugs and star-crossed ex-biker birds providing the entertainment.