1668: Gentleman Friends

Longtime readers may recall that some time ago I extolled the virtues of a (Vita-compatible) PSP game called Sweet Fuse — a game that I’ve recently returned to in order to clean up some endings I missed.

This peculiar game is a visual novel-cum-dating sim in which you take on the role of Saki Inafune, niece of legendary game designer Keiji Inafune (of Mega Man and Mighty No. 9 fame), as she gets caught up in a plot led by a terrorist dressed as a pig to take over the video game-inspired theme park Inafune-san designed. Along the way Saki (and you) will encounter several gentleman friends, each of whom has their own unique narrative path that branches off in the latter half of the game after a shared beginning.

Sweet Fuse is what’s known as an otome game, meaning it’s primarily aimed at a heterosexual female audience — or at least depicts heterosexual romances from the perspective of a female protagonist. Such games are relatively widespread in their native Japan, but it’s quite rare to get them localised for the Western market, which still seems to assume for the most part that the majority of gamers out there are testosterone-filled heterosexual men. As such, Sweet Fuse immediately sets itself apart from other games of its type — and this is without taking its unusual premise into account.

Speaking as a heterosexual gentleman who has played his fair share of bishoujo games (visual novels and dating sims aimed at a heterosexual male audience) I initially wasn’t quite sure what to make of Sweet Fuse. In this type of game you’re often encouraged to put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist to such a degree that they rarely appear on-screen and, when they speak, their dialogue is unvoiced. This is, in theory, to allow the player to project themselves onto the protagonist and imagine it’s themselves embroiled in the situations depicted throughout — be they fantastic, romantic, erotic, strange or just plain messed up. It’s an effective device that tends to work well. But, I found myself questioning before I started playing the game for the first time, will this still work if the protagonist is a different gender to me?

The question of whether male players can “identify” with female protagonists is often mocked among the more social justice-happy members of the games press, but in the dating sim and visual novel space, where you’re encouraged to inhabit the role of the lead character a lot more intimately than in other types of interactive entertainment, it’s an important consideration. Part of the way these games work on an emotional level is down to your own personal opinions and tastes — who do you find attractive or desirable, physically, sexually, emotionally and in terms of their personality? If you’re outside the target audience of a work, inhabiting the headspace of a protagonist that pointedly is not you, and considering potential partners that are contrary to your own usual sexual preferences, can that really “work”?

Well, of course it can; most of us have read books, seen films, watched TV series where we’ve rooted for characters to get together, even if they don’t match our own characteristics or preferences — and for female fans of games, they have to do this a lot of the time anyway. All this is, I’ve found, abundantly true with Sweet Fuse. As a heterosexual dude, it’s liberating to play the role of Saki and consider the virtues and vices of these different men as I choose which of the narrative paths to pursue. And, it turns out, it’s not all that difficult to put yourself in Saki’s shoes and contemplate which one is most attractive or desirable. (Urabe. Without a doubt.)

Like any good visual novel, Sweet Fuse’s various narrative paths are all unique, but all feed into a single interpretation of what is going on. Pursuing a single character and then putting the game down gives you a satisfying ending to the story, sure, but in some cases doesn’t reveal any of the truth behind the bizarre situation that forms the basis for the game. Others provide teases of information; others still are clearly the “main” routes that provide the most information. All are worth exploring — and it’s for this reason that I’ve picked up Sweet Fuse again after quite some time not playing it.

With, I think, two routes left to go (plus possibly a refresher on the others I’ve previously completed) I still haven’t got to the bottom of the mystery surrounding Count Hogstein and his apparent vendetta against the main cast. I’m very much looking forward to discovering the truth — the paths I’ve played to date have been by turns heartwarming, touching, intriguing and thrilling; now, it’s time to see Saki’s saga through to its conclusion, and wonder if we’ll ever see a game quite like Sweet Fuse in the West again.