I played the otome game Birushana back in 2022, and I’d been hoping for the fandisc ever since.

Not only did I love the characters, but it also has short mini-routes for four of the side characters, who have actual routes in the fandisc. It was like a teaser of what to expect.

So when Birushana: Winds of Fate was finally confirmed for localization, I was ecstatic. As soon as it came out, I pushed it to the top of my list.

I finished it over the weekend, so how did it turn out?

Winds of Fate has two types of stories: 3-chapter epilogues for the first game’s main love interests and 5-chapter routes for the new love interests. The epilogues are okay; most of them involved too much miscommunication for my taste, but despite these annoyances, they were still enjoyable and had some good CGs. Noritsune’s route was the highlight for me, because even though it still had miscommunication, it was such a funny route that I didn’t mind as much.

Now, the side character routes are shorter than the routes in the original game, but that didn’t bother me much since they branch off from events partway through the main game. Because of that, I felt the pacing of the routes was fine.

I went into Winds of Fate looking forward to Shigehira’s route the most, because his mini-route in the first game was so surprisingly enjoyable it left me dying for more. Indeed, his route was a delight, absolutely the best in the game. I loved everything about it, and the tragic ending was horrifyingly dark.

I only have two complaints about his route, one being that it had a few dialogue box errors (with the weirdest being one where a line of dialogue seemed to appear in the wrong conversation before showing up later in the correct context) and the other being that Shigehira’s sadistic personality doesn’t really show up at all. Don’t get me wrong, I loved his character growth, but I thought that part of him would show up at least a little.

(Oddly enough, I have a similar complaint about Takatsuna, whose first chapter hints at him having a dark, dangerous side, after which I spent the rest of the route waiting for that to come up again.)

The other three routes are… fine. They’re just fine. A few annoyances, some cute moments, and overall nothing that really stood out to me one way or another.

And that’s what I’d say for the whole game overall. Birushana: Winds of Fate isn’t a must-play like it’s predecessor, but it has some nice scenes, and Shigehira’s route delivered (almost) everything I’d hoped for. My reaction might be subdued compared to the excitement I felt going into it, but I’m still glad I played it.