When they initially announced a Hakuoki remake of the original series, the first questions that came to my mind were: what exactly were the differences going to be between the two? Does the advertised ‘new and improved content’ hold true to the actual gameplay? Is it worth spending essentially double the price, for only Chapter 1-5 of the original game? How enjoyable are the new characters and routes in terms of quality and writing, in comparison to the original cast?

Personally, I was on the fence prior to playing the game myself. I have played the original Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossoms on PSP and Stories of the Shinsengumi on PS3 several times over. As such, I am very familiar with the series and even I was skeptical on exactly how much ‘new content’ there would be in the remake.

Hopefully this post is useful for those like me who have previously owned Hakuoki, or new players that are not keen on spending money for only ‘Part 1’ of a game. If you’d like to read an in-depth review on the game itself rather than only the differences with the original game, you can read my ‘Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds [Limited Edition]’ Review.

1. NEW CHARACTERS

Aside from the original Hakuoki cast, there are an additional three new characters: Iba Hachiro, Sakamoto Ryouma and Souma Kazue.

Iba is your kind-hearted, honest, trustworthy and noble childhood friend who has loved you since you were children. He holds his past memories with you in high regard, and everything he has striven for in life has been for your sake. He is currently stationed in Kyoto, due to his promotion as a vassal to the Shogun.

Sakamoto is flirtatious, charismatic and a man who believes that life is meant to be used for greater ambitions and for the good of the country. A quaint and peaceful life ignorant of the workings of the world has never been the one for him. He is something akin to a traveler, and sides with the domain that proves most profitable for his plans. Because of this, he creates many enemies due to his lack of loyalty to a single side.

Lastly, Souma is a new recruit to the Shinsengumi and is a bright-eyed and hardworking page for Kondou. He abandoned his noble upbringing to pursue the Shinsengumi, as he believes they are the true embodiment of what it means to be a Samurai. You are assigned as his mentor due to your experience as Hijikata’s page, and you take him beneath your tutelage to learn the workings of the Shinsengumi. As a result, you naturally find yourself spending majority of your time with him.

I fairly enjoyed playing the new character routes, as it was refreshing to see something new from the Hakuoki series that had not been included before. However in saying that, I did not like them anywhere as much as the original cast. Although I am slightly biased due to prior attachment with the original characters, the new trio were just not as memorable or well-written in terms of storyline.

As the new characters are not directly apart of the Shinsengumi, their routes felt very lack-lustre in terms of emotional impact and did not leave lasting impressions. The amount of screen-time they received was also much less (other than Souma) as the heroine did not see them on a daily basis within the compound. Whilst the routes were enjoyable and had good aspects here and there, they didn’t have a profound contribution to the overarching storyline.

I would have still enjoyed Hakuoki just as much with or without their inclusion. If I had the choice between playing three new character routes OR having more content with the original cast; it’s essentially a no-brainer.

2. NEW ROUTES

The side Shinsengumi characters from the original game now have their own routes. They are: Nagakura Shinpachi, Sanan Keisuke and Yamazaki Susumu. As I mentioned in my review, despite them now  being romance-able characters; their routes left much to be desired in both execution and length. It didn’t feel like they transitioned from being side characters and were integrated into the main cast at all.

Majority of the moments with the characters are already present in the main storyline, so there’s very little ‘new content’ with them when playing through their seperate routes. The moments between them and Chizuru are brief, short and although very adorable; they cannot compare to the amount of screen time that the main cast of Shinsengumi characters are given.

Shinpachi’s route is very platonic, and there’s very little romantic interactions between the two throughout the story. Sanan’s route was by far the weakest out of all the characters, as his personality essentially remains the same as the main storyline. Even if you become ‘closer’ to him, he does not stray from his ambitions and urgency for Chizuru to become a blood sacrifice for the sake of the Furies/his research. It felt like all the time spent with him, and his fleeting moments of kindness were a false facade. In the end, he still completely disregards Chizuru’s feelings on the matter.

I really enjoyed Yamazaki’s route out of the trio, and his interactions with Chizuru were just so heart-warming. The pacing and noticeable growth of their friendship transitioning into love was just really well done. Unfortunately, his story falls short of its greater potential due to how little writing is dedicated to fully developing the route. There is just such a noticeable discrepancy between the original character cast and the new additional character routes. It’s really disappointing to see how they undeniably have the shorter end of the stick on almost all aspects of the storyline.

3. KAZAMA HAS A LONGER ROUTE

Considering Kazama is one of my favourite characters from the original game, this was honestly the aspect that interested me the most about the remake. His route can barely be classified as one in the original Hakuoki, so I was genuinely curious as to how much ‘longer’ his story would be and the amount of writing that would be dedicated to it. Needless to say, I was very satisfied with his route in the remake.

It had so much more content than what I was initially expecting, as well as CGs. Rather than the fleeting enigma he is in the original game, there’s so many more opportunities for interaction between him and Chizuru. You definitely get to see more glimpses of his true character in the remake, and have a better understanding of his personality. I also liked how in the remake it touched more so upon Chizuru’s demon heritage; as that was something sorely lacking in the original Hakuoki in all the routes.

As a result, his relationship and feelings for Chizuru is much more palpable and she isn’t quite so dismissive of his haughty demeanour as the original game. With the additional content, his route length almost rivals one of the bachelors from the main cast.

4. SIGNIFICANTLY MORE ART

On top of having CGs to accomodate all the new characters and routes, they have incorporated many CGs seen from Zuisouroku as well as new never-before seen artwork for the original cast. The sheer amount of CGs you can unlock in total is definitely one of the highlights of the game, as there is just so much content to get through. The art is really lovely, and overall an improved version from the original game. The amount of new artwork alone is more than enough reason to play Kyoto Winds over the predecessor titles.

5. MORE WRITING AND CONTENT

Although a lot of the new content are re-used scenes from Zuisouroku, there are also plenty of moments exclusive to the Hakuoki remake. Rather than having them as a standalone segment, the scenes are now integrated into the main storyline for greater cohesion and better character development. One of the major complaints about Hakuoki has always been the severe lack of romance with the bachelors prior to the branch into their character routes. With the new scenes, it helped balance the heavy content from the storyline to the light-hearted and fluffy romance with the characters.

The writing overall has improved a lot from the original, and there’s just so much more description invested into painting the storyline. There is significantly more writing dedicated to Chizuru’s thoughts and feelings throughout the game, which created a stronger attachment to her as a protagonist. Part one alone took me 25-30hrs to play, in comparison to the original completed game which took me 40hrs to finish all the routes. With Part two, the remake has around 15-20hrs more playtime.

The downside of having such a long game is that by the fifth or sixth play through, it does get extremely tedious. You’re essentially reading over the same events of the common route 11 times over, if you intend to clear all the content and characters. Personally, I struggled with completing the game and it took me a month to get the Platinum trophy.

However, despite how repetitive the game became; it is worth the price in terms of the amount of playtime/replayability you’re receiving. Although it is only the first half of the storyline, 25-30hrs is the average playtime you normally see in most full length Visual Novels.

6. NEW OST

Majority of the original soundtrack has been replaced by all new songs, with some exceptions on the main themes of the original game. I felt the old soundtrack was a lot more mellow and suited the darker tones of the game. The new soundtrack is much more lively and light-hearted; incorporating new dynamic battle music that definitely increases the intensity of the fights throughout the game.

I have heard mixed feelings on the old versus new OST, and I think it’s essentially just a matter of preference. With the new tone of writing and special effects (which I talk more about in the next section), I personally think the new soundtrack suits the remake much more than the predecessor. However, in terms of emotional moments then the old OST was more befitting in complementing the scenes.

7. CHARACTER ANIMATIONS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

Although the character animations such as blinking eyes, mouth/hair movement and breathing were included in the PS3 version; it was nowhere near as smooth or as refined as Kyoto Winds. It definitely made the game much more interactive and enjoyable to play, with the new and improved artwork. One aspect I noticed instantly were the new special effects used throughout the remake. Effects such as blood splattering on the screen, the sword slicing animations, story transitions and camera panning during the battle scenes really improved the overall feel of the game.

I really liked how the sprites now properly overlay and overlap over one another during the battle scenes, as it added that touch of ‘realism’ to it. They also included effects such as floating cherry blossom petals between the chapters, and falling snow.

8. ALL NEW SYSTEM AND UI 

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Lastly, the system was a very noteworthy aspect that was significantly improved in the remake. It felt very smooth to navigate, and incorporated a lovely theme design. The text box dialogue was much clearer and easier to read in comparison to the original Hakuoki, and just the overall look was a great improvement to its predecessor. Despite how different the UI seems to appear, it doesn’t incorporate anything new that was not already in the previous games of the series. The encyclopaedia, romance levels, and ‘love increase’ indicators are prevalent in all the Hakuoki titles.

However, the new redesign definitely helped to improve the overall game itself and felt like a more refined version of the previous system UI.

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Written By Cherry