Yumeutsutsu Re:Master review for PS Vita, PS4, Switch

I went into Yumeutsutsu Re:Master not knowing it was made by Kogado Studio, the same people who made the Nurse Love series a few years back. It didn?t take long, however, for me to make that connection pretty darn quickly.

See, like both Nurse Love Addiction and Nurse Love Syndrome, Yumeutsutsu Re:Master is a visual about a young woman trying to find her way in the world. There are some differences — there?s a bit of a mystery here, and rather than being about a young woman trying to become a nurse it?s about a young woman trying to become a game developer — but on the whole, it?s fairly similar.

That?s both a good thing and a bad thing. As far as the good, it means that, despite being what?s known as a ?yuri” visual novel — which is to say, a lesbian romance — it?s far less problematic than what you?d get in your standard visual novel. That?s not to say there?s not behaviour in Yumeutsutsu Re:Master that wouldn?t count as sexual harassment in any other circumstances, but given how awful some other visual novels can be, this seems relatively tame.

There?s also some decent storytelling to be found here. Even if you don?t care that much about the romance (in which case, why even bother playing this game?), the game also does an okay job of adding in a story around the romance. You have a main character, Ai, who?s come to Tokyo thanks to a mysterious job offer at a game company, despite not having any previous experience, which she accepts because of the promise of getting a chance to reconnect with her sister, who left years ago and from whom Ai has heard nothing since. Not only does the game help Ai rekindle her relationship with her sister, it also follows her through the challenges of starting at the bottom of a small game company. Like the games in the Nurse Love series, there?s at least as much ?slice of life” stuff going on in Yumeutsutsu Re:Master as there is romance.

The problem, however, is that, also much like the Nurse Love series, Yumeutsutsu Re:Master is painfully boring. It wants you to be invested in these characters to such a degree that you?re willing to sink 25+ hours (if not significantly more) into exploring every possible love story here, on top of learning every detail of their day-to-day lives. And while I didn?t say I didn?t find anything wildly offensive here, that doesn?t mean I?m ready to commit the time necessary to get the most out of this game. I got a couple of endings, and that was about all I could take.

The other problem with Yumeutsutsu Re:Master is that not only does it require a pretty hefty time commitment, it also demands such a big financial investment, too. I get that we?re talking about a niche market within a niche market, which means that the publisher and developer probably took a risk in even releasing the localized game, but at the same time, it?s more than $80 dollars (at least in Canada; in the US, it?s $65). You?ve got to really love yuri visual novels to spend that kind of money on this game.

Mind you, if you do love the genre, then that kind of investment is probably just the price of doing business. And while I wouldn?t say that Yumeutsutsu Re:Master is the greatest use of your time or money, I?m quite confident that if you?re a fan of the Nurse Love games, you?ll be a fan of this one, too.

Degica provided us with a Yumeutsutsu Re:Master PS Vita code for review purposes.