Festive Fancier: Hatoful Boyfriend - Holiday Star
This one's no turkey
There is no greater holiday romance than the one between George Michael and the wine glass he met last Christmas but for the pigeon fanciers among the RPS readership, Christmas might come early with the release of Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star [official site] on December 15th. It's a themed expandalone or semi-sequel rather than a DLC pack and the creator of the original game, Hato Moa, has been involved with the development of this festive treat.
There are chickadees new and old to romance, as well as magical transformations, new wintry wonderlands to explore and weird side stories. Describing the side stories as "weird" suggests that the main stories aren't weird. They probably are though - just look at the screenshot at the top there. The bird wants to see the corpse.
I haven't even played the remastered version of the original Hatoful Boyfriend yet. Our review suggests I'd enjoy it given that the blend of sincerity, surrealism and straight-faced treatment of the bird characters seems so delightful. I'm wary of visual novels though. I don't think I've ever enjoyed one. Scheherazade was good but that's at the life sim end of the spectrum.
Like the original Hatoful, Holiday Star's upcoming release is a remastered version. The unmastered English version has been available for a good while but given that there's only a week to wait, it seems wise to hold out for the fanciest fancier simulator around.