Pigeon Visual Novel

[Karmen Mcarthun]

Afree demo version of Hatoful made with the FamousWriter engine was released later that year, followed by a full commercial version released on 30 October 2011 at Comitia 98, and an English version released in February 2012. An international remake by developer Mediatonic and publisher Devolver Digital, dubbed Hatoful Boyfriend HD in Japan, was released on 4 September 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on 21 July 2015 in North America, and on 22 July 2015 in Europe, respectively. A port for iOS was released on 25 May 2016.

Hatoful Boyfriend received generally positive reception; reviewers praised the game's replay value as well as its writing and characterization, while repetitive gameplay and the accessibility of the game's Bad Boys Love mode received a more mixed response. A sequel, Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star, was released on 29 December 2011, with an English version being released on Christmas Day the following year. In addition to the main games in the series, Hatoful Boyfriend has made transitions into other media: a monthly webcomic was serialized in the anthology Manga Life WIN+, several supplementary materials and official dōjin works have been released, and four drama CDs based on the series have been made. An episodic web series began in 2014.

Bad Boys Love, a hidden alternate story mode, opens with the discovery of the protagonist's corpse, after which the player follows her best friend Ryouta Kawara as he investigates the circumstances of her death and unravels darker conspiracies surrounding the school.

Gameplay in Hatoful Boyfriend is similar to most other visual novels for the PC, with the controls limited to the mouse and the only interactions being clicking to forward the game's narrative or to choose between multiple plot choices. The keyboard can also be used instead of the mouse, with the 'enter' key serving the same purpose as clicking. The save button can be employed at any point during the game, which also features several pages of save slots, allowing gameplay to be easily picked up from prior to a choice the player made. An arrow button in the upper right corner also allows the player to skip dialogue and interactions they have already experienced.[2]

The player assumes control of the protagonist, a teenage human girl. As the game follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, at various points during gameplay the player is allowed to make choices that determine which character's romance route the player will encounter. On weekdays, the player can also choose which classes to attend, which changes one of the protagonist's three stats depending on the activity chosen. Having certain stat values are required to obtain the good endings for each love interest and to otherwise advance along certain routes.[3] There are thirteen (fourteen in the 2014 remake) endings in total: one ending for each of the main love interests, three extended endings for three of the love interests based on stat values, one ending for the gaiden-esque Torimi Caf storyline, and one ending attained if the player fails to romance any character.[2]

When routes are completed, documents are unlocked that provide insights into the game's overarching storyline. These documents can be viewed at any time in the game's archive feature, which is accessed from the title screen. After obtaining the four specific endings required to trigger it, the player is given a new prompt to either "fulfill the promise" or live "a normal life" upon starting a new game.[2] Choosing to live a normal life will result in a normal playthrough, while choosing to fulfill the promise locks the player into the true route or scenario Bad Boys Love, or BBL (also known as Hurtful Boyfriend[2]), which explores the full extent of the underlying plot alluded to by the documents and various points of foreshadowing in the dating simulation portion of the game. If the player chooses to fulfill the promise, aside from several dream sequences, gameplay at first appears to continue normally until the in-game date is 2 September. The player's perspective then switches from the protagonist to the protagonist's best friend, and the events of the scenario begin regardless of any other choices made by the player up to that point. If the player obtains all other possible endings prior to starting Bad Boys Love, an extended epilogue plays after the game's credits upon completion of the scenario.[2] In a departure from the generally lighthearted romantic routes, Bad Boys Love is presented as a murder mystery psychological thriller, and is significantly longer than any other route in Hatoful Boyfriend, making up most of the game's actual length.[4]

There are several changes to gameplay and the way text is displayed during Bad Boys Love in the original version of the game: saving is disabled except at certain points in the story, the function to skip dialogue and interactions is removed, and plot-important dialogue and narrative are highlighted with colored text; usually yellow, though text of particularly critical importance is highlighted in red. In the 2014 remake however, the option to save is available at all times, the skip function is retained, and text is no longer highlighted. In both versions, the game's interface and controls change from that of a standard visual novel to similar to that of a '90s-era turn-based role-playing game during certain segments of the narrative.[2]

The primary playable character in Hatoful Boyfriend is the human protagonist, a boisterous hunter-gatherer who lives in a cave in the wilderness. Her eight potential love interests in the original version of the game, who together form the rest of the main cast, are:

While most of the characters are normally represented in-game with pictures of birds, if the player toggles on the ICPSS (Intra-Cerebral Playback Synchro System) feature at the start of the game, or NS3 (脳内再生シンクロシステム, Nōnai Saisei Shinkuro Shisutemu) in Japan, each of the possible love interests is shown with a version of what they would look like as a human when first introduced.[24] Although the ICPSS feature also lists voice credits for each of the main love interests in the original version of the game, the game itself is unvoiced; however most of the voice actors who were credited later signed on to actually voice their respective characters in the drama CDs based on the series.[25]

They reunite with the other characters and exit the school along with the other students and faculty brought there by Mister One; however Ryouta, now thoroughly infected by the Charon virus, elects to stay behind in cryonic storage until a cure is found.[53] The scenario ends with Sakuya vowing to come back for Ryouta, and Ryouta offering to recap the day's events to the protagonist's spirit, within the remnants of Labor 9, as the door to the storage facility closes.[54] If the extended epilogue is unlocked, it is revealed that Yuuya survived being poisoned long enough to receive an antidote,[55] and the game's closing lines imply that with Shuu's cooperation, a cure for the Charon virus has been developed.[56]

The title of the game is a multi-layered pun; the wasei-eigo word hātofuru (ハートフル) means "heartful", however it is also phonetically identical to the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "hurtful". This is referenced in an alternate name for the Bad Boys Love route, Hurtful Boyfriend,[2] as well as in the subtitle for the full release of the original game, Hatoful Boyfriend: Hurtful Complete Edition.[4]

The remake, known as Hatoful Boyfriend HD in Japan,[74] was originally slated for release via Steam on 21 August 2014;[75] however release was later postponed to 4 September 2014 to allow for final adjustments to the Japanese version.[76][77] The remake includes a new route for Azami,[78] full screen capability, and redrawn backgrounds.[73] A collector's edition of the remake titled Hatoful Boyfriend Summer of Dove Collector's Edition was released for pre-order along with the normal edition, and bundles together the remake, the original Hatoful Boyfriend: Hurtful Complete Edition, a digital version of the game's soundtrack, a new comic illustrated by Hato, exclusive wallpapers of Okosan, and a St. PigeoNation's Class of 2014 yearbook.[75] The remake was also included in the Humble Bundle pack for Valentine's Day 2015, which exclusively featured dating sim games, along with a Hatoful Boyfriend pillowcase for the highest price point option.[79] A port of the remake for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita was released on 21 July 2015,[80] as well as one for iOS on 25 May 2016.[81]

A webcomic based on the series, written and illustrated by Hato Moa, was serialized in publisher Takeshobo's webcomic anthology Manga Life WIN+ from 8 June 2012 until the anthology's discontinuation, containing sixteen chapters. Each chapter is composed of several four-panel comic strips, followed by a short story in which the characters are depicted in their human forms. The first twelve chapters have since been collected in one tankōbon volume (ISBN 978-4-8124-8387-9), which was released on 10 August 2013.[98] The volume also contains a feature where the series' characters answered questions sent in by fans.[99] A subsequent dōjin anthology containing chapters thirteen to sixteen plus a bonus ten-page comic, Hatoful Boyfriend Overload! Overflow! EX (はーとふる彼氏 はみでた!もれでた!EX, Hātofuru Kareshi Hamideta! Moredeta! EX), was released on 30 December 2013 at Comiket 85 in Japanese, and on Kindle in English.[100]

On 3 November 2015, Erick Scarecrow of Esc-Toy Ltd. launched an official Kickstarter campaign, together with Hato Moa and Devolver Digital, with a set goal of $25,000 to create a production line of three characters from the Hatoful Boyfriend universe, namely, Shuu, Ryouta and Okosan.[110] During the campaign, all stretch goals were reached, the last ending at $75,000, adding seven more characters to the production line.[110] The campaign ended on 6 December 2015, with a total of $145,015 pledged by 2,514 backers.[111]

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