Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star

RPGFanRobert Fenner

78/100

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star is a joyous affair for Hatoful fanatics but a terrible place for newcomers to start. Effectively dumping players into an alternative midpoint to the first game, the narrative expects familiarity with the world and characters and wastes no time to bring the uninitiated up to speed. References to previously established story beats and endless in-jokes are more likely to leave neophytes confused rather than delighted. That’s not to say that Holiday Star isn’t worth your time; it absolutely is, but know going in that this is a supplementary game for the fans rat…

Overall I enjoyed Hatoful Boyfriend Holiday Star as a fan of the original. It was great getting more back story for several characters that were underdone in the original, as well as meeting new characters all in the holiday mood.

GamingTrendEric Van Allen

70/100

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star succeeds at providing base-level fan-service, but in a way that doesn’t feel as particularly compelling or essential as the original. If you want more pigeons in your life, it’s pocket change for a few laughs - just don’t expect more out of it.

ShackNewsOzzie Mejia

5/10

Hatoful Boyfriend was such a pleasant surprise when it first released, but that same joy just isn't present in Holiday Star. The art style is the game's biggest highlight, particularly in the latter episodes when it transitions to a beautiful storybook style. And while Holiday Star acts like a collection of unreleased Hatoful Boyfriend stories, it loses something in its compiled presentation. It loses a great sense of agency and, as a consequence, most of its appeal.

Impulse GamerAlayna Cole

I am the first to agree that interactive narratives can be fantastic games, but at what point does an interactive narrative become simply a narrative? Hatoful