OVER REQUIEMZ Review – A Wicked Romance in the Land of Oz

OVER REQUIEMZ Review

OVER REQUIEMZ is a dark romance visual novel loosely based on The Wizard of Oz. The result is a fast-paced, atmospheric otome game that balances plot and romance almost perfectly.

This game tells the story of a young girl spirited away to another world by a tornado. She finds herself in Oz, a strange and colorful realm full of bizarre people. Soon, she finds herself sentenced to death for unfair reasons. Fortunately, death row is full of pretty boys with chips on their shoulders.

Oz is a world that periodically has mysterious buildings called ‘ruins’ fall from other worlds. These ruins are full of mysterious technology and other blessings. However, they’re also full of monsters.

Nobody volunteers to explore ruins, so death row prisoners are forced to do it. If all goes well, the heroine may find a way home on this exploration mission.

Each of her fellow prisoners has an agenda, and most of them insist they’re innocent. Protagonist Yuhiru has a lot on her plate. But if it gets her a chance to go home through the ruins, it’s worth it.

Love 30+

OVER REQUIEMZ is an otome game visual novel, which means it’s a romance where the story advances based on player choices. However, this title stands apart from other otome games by rejecting the concept of affection points.

Only a handful of major choices will seriously influence the route and ending. All other choices involve alternate dialog that can be explored as the player pleases. And trust me, some of them are worth exploring.

This title offers five love interests to pursue: ever-smiling Molly, friendly Claude, stubborn Noil, traumatized Kaize, and mysterious Dorothy. They’re all interesting, even when spiraling into madness.

Each has a distinct storyline and conflict to grapple with on his route. And every route has a Fact and Dark variant, leading to four endings total: two bad, one bittersweet, and one happy. You can play them in any order, but I recommend playing Kaize’s route before Dorothy’s.

I’ll avoid spoilers, but I do have a warning. The Dark path has the guy start losing his mind and his relationship with the heroine becomes twisted. However, even the Fact path is still going to have grim moments and unsettling themes.

OVER REQUIEMZ is a Grim Fantasy About Broken People

OVER REQUIEMZ is a pretty grim tale of manipulation, betrayal, grief, and human cruelty. It has some cute and funny moments. But much like Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei, OVER REQUIEMZ is narrative-driven.

This title does focus more on romance than Birushana, but that romance is often shadowed by a sense of alienation. All of the guys have serious issues, and they can get much worse depending on your choices.

Dark routes feel like one long bad ending, which I guess they are. It’s fascinating to watch each character gradually slide into obsession and madness. Yandere fans will be especially pleased.

The heroine is a pretty fun protagonist. She can’t carry the game by herself, but her dialog choices range from deeply relatable to wildly funny. And the ability to advance conversations in multiple ways makes relationship building feel quite natural.

This game is very fast-paced. There’s basically no common route, as you choose a boy almost immediately. This allows the writers to focus on establishing a single relationship quite well on each route. However, it also means there’s no time for the narrative to linger on sweet or disturbing moments.

Love 30+

OVER REQUIEMZ is a joy to look at and listen to. The Japanese voice actors are phenomenal, the music is atmospheric, and the art style is lovely. Sadly, the heroine is not voiced.

The character designs are distinct and appealing. And protagonist Yuhiru’s character sprites are nicely expressive. I love how many portrait variants there are. A character being wounded is actually reflected in a scene. It’s great.

Like some other recent otome games, this title occasionally features illustrations of maps, food, and other items the cast interact with. This really adds to the immersiveness of the tale. And the CGs are gorgeous, though they don’t have many variants.

This game could really use a fandisc like Birushana: Winds of Fate to explore the romances further. Ideally in a situation where the stakes are lower and there’s more room for fluff. I’d like to see more of these characters just interacting with each other outside of high-stress situations.

Also, the Jump mechanic isn’t bad, but I’d prefer a traditional ‘fast-forward past read text’ skip function. And finally, the endings are kinda short.

All in all, OVER REQUIEMZ is a very solid otome game that made me eager to see more of its tormented main cast. Here’s hoping there’s a second game.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***