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Oh no, I think I like otome games - ERROR143 Quick Review

4K View2023-01-09

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it! Just be warned that you may need to swallow your pride, embrace the cringe, and admit that you’re secretly charmed by this sweet, chill romance story. ERROR143 is part of a genre known as “otome games.” Basically, they’re visual novels that are heavily focused on telling the story of a romance between the player character and one or more male leads. I’ve never tried an otome game before for the same reason I’ve never read a romance novel. I’m not a big masculine dude or anything, but this whole genre just seemed outside of my realm of interests.

I’m glad I took a chance on ERROR143, though, because it was a delightful experience that has totally changed my mind on this type of game. You shouldn’t go in expecting a grand, sweeping narrative epic here, but rather a small story between two characters that’s filled with a very wholesome sense of newfound love and attraction.

TIME PLAYED

A full playthrough of ERROR143 took me around an hour and a half. The game offers a few different endings to unlock, so you can get a little more time out of it if you want to experience those alternate paths, though there aren’t major differences.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Style. ERROR143 features a really appealing visual style, with great character art and UI that perfectly replicates old chat programs. Love interest Micah Yujin has a lot of personality in his look as well, which is key since about ninety percent of the game is spent looking at him.

• Voice acting. I was genuinely surprised and impressed that the video chat portions of ERROR143 feature full voice-acting for Micah. Even better, the voice actor successfully captures the mix of arrogance, goofiness, and occasional sweetness that makes Micah such a compelling character from the start. I went from wanting to punch his smug face to being unable to crack a grin at his dumb jokes—precisely the same feelings the main character goes through.

• Length. An hour and a half may not seem like a long time for a game, but it’s perfect for blasting through a relaxing, fun story like this in one or two sittings. ERROR143 doesn’t overstay its welcome or stick around too long to get annoying. And hey, it’s free! You can’t really complain about a game being too short when it’s free.

WHAT SUCKS

• Very limited choices. As mentioned, this is a visual novel, so what “gameplay” there is mostly consists of clicking through dialogue, choosing between a handful of responses, and occasionally solving a “hacking” mini-game, which is presented in the form of a game of hangman. However, you shouldn’t expect your choices to make a huge impact on the game aside from a couple of major points where you can head toward a different ending. ERROR143 plays much more like reading a nice little novella than something with a lot of interactivity.

• The cringe. Some players are going to have a much bigger problem with this than others. The overwrought, tech-boi hacker dialogue between Micah and the main character seems to be embarrassing by design, but it’s cringe in a way that feels true to these characters. Put another way: It never reads like this was written by a forty-something adult trying to emulate what they think hip younger people who are terminally online talk like. That said, it’s still cringey, and that may be enough to push some players away on its own.

💬 So what do you think? Have you played otome games before? And are you going to give ERROR143 a chance, or is this one a skip for you?

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