Cupid Parasite Review

The most divinely unpredictable romantic comedy of the millennium ❤️

Release Date:
November 02, 2021
Developed By:
Otomate
Published By:
If! Factory
Genre:
Visual Novel, Otome, Romance
Console:
Nintendo Switch
Our Score
4

Being the resident otome game lover on the CFG team, Cupid Parasite caught my attention right away with its bright, flashy bishonen of various personalities and tropes. I needed to give it a good run through. 

Before we get into the review of Cupid Parasite, this is a review copy of the game graciously given to the CFG crew by Idea Factory International. Cupid Parasite was developed by Otomate, best known for making a wide range of otome games such as Code: Realize, Amnesia: Memories, Hakuoki, Café Enchante as well as a whole host of otome games that haven’t been released to North America.

The game starts in a fictional, glamorous world of Los York where there is a super popular matchmaking and marriage corporation, The Cupid Corporation. Their main goal is to help you find love based on what you are looking for in a partner. Enter the main character, Cupid Corp’s top bridal advisor. She has a secret: she’s not an ordinary human, but the actual Cupid. Like the bow and arrow Cupid, shooting arrows and getting people to fall in love. However, there is more to her than her good looks and her heavenly abilities.

Being the top Bridal Advisor means it takes a lot of work to maintain that title. We learn as to why it is important for the main character to be at the top: she needs to prove a point to her father and it is important that she does that. Cue her handsome boss giving her an opportunity, unknowingly giving her the best chance to achieve her goal of becoming the top Bridal Advisor in Los York and proving her point.

The main character’s task is NOT easy since she needs to get five people married. Unfortunately, these people have been labeled the Parasite 5. There’s nothing good about them besides their good looks. You will quickly learn as the main character attempts to use her typical methods on this group of men only to find out that nothing works until the wildest idea is pitched and approved. Parasite House is a shared home created for reality TV centered around the lives of the Parasite 5 and their romantic adventures. This is just the start of this wacky but interesting story of Cupid Parasite, but the main character’s goal is the same – help one of these bishonens fall in love…with you.

Cupid Parasite is considered an RPG, adventure, and romance game. Still, it is a visual novel at heart and plays like one. The controls are simple and straightforward, and the game is played in episodes. Honestly, I was surprised by the plethora of episodes as well as the length of the game since it’s much longer than most otome games I’ve played.

To make it simpler to digest I split the game into three parts – the first part of where you learn more about the main character, how she got to where she is, and learn how dedicated she is to her work.  The second part revolves around the Parasite 5 and choosing your romantic route, which is super simple to choose from there’s even a test to help you decide! The third part of the game revolves around the actual romance route and how the main character and the bishonen of choice deal with their romantic feelings.

From the beginning, the vibrant and beautiful art is eye-catching. The color combination is a bit jarring but is fitting for Los York. The characters are beautifully designed. I have my biases when it comes to which bishonen I chose, but one of my favorite NPCs is the sassy Claris Tia. Out of all the characters in the game she feels the most realistic, like a friend you may already have at your side.

I also appreciate the fact that this main character isn’t a pushover as there are many otome main characters that are usually frail. This main character has her feisty moments but also logically think things through. She’s also very educated, logical, and a bit of a workaholic. While not perfect, we still love a good, logical, and strong otome main character. 

The Parasite 5’s personalities are a bit extreme and really play into their titles/tropes. There were times that I thought that some of their behaviors could be applied to real-life instances but a moment reminded me of how extreme they were. While beautiful their flaws had me with brows raised, especially with the dialogue: from a man completely obsessed with a woman he’d never dated to a guy who steals women who are already in love with someone else!

Even with these extremes, one thing I appreciated with the group of men of how different they are from one another in terms of looks, tropes, and ages – the oldest is 32. 

I’m sure you’re all curious about the romantic bits. The build-up to the romantic parts is lengthy but is worth it and well done. Paired with the voice acting and how the intimate sections are executed is great! I do want to point out there is nothing explicit BUT how it is written is the important part as it allows your imagination to take over. 

Overall, Cupid Parasite is a wild, fun, and vibrant twist of the story of Cupid. This is no longer the traditional bow and arrow version but a more modern take on helping people fall in love. However, the game isn’t without issues. They are minor but I noticed that there were some formatting, text-overflow, grammatical errors as well as some missing dialogue. Otomate is already working on correcting these issues.

Surrounded by bishonen of all kinds in the world of Los York, Cupid works to bring love to all those who are looking for it, but perhaps Cupid will find her own first love, with a little bit of help of course! Cupid Parasite  is a definite must-play for Otome lovers!

Cupid Parasite Review
Modern Divine Comedy
A bright and fun take on being a fictional, modern day Cupid.
Pros
Beautiful art
Interesting & fun story
Amazing voice acting
Cons
Some formatting Issues
Some grammatical issues
No voice for MC
4
Score