• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer: Idea Factory
• Publisher: Aksys Games
• Release Date: July 27, 2023

A review code was kindly provided by MMPR on behalf of Idea Factory and Aksys Games. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Aksys Games has been busy providing otome fans with one wonderful experience after another these days. There was Norn9: Var Commons back in March, Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo in May, Jack Jeanne in June, and they’re keeping up the good work in the months to come. For now, I’ll be talking about Radiant Tale, a fantasy circus-themed otome that’s out now.

Main character Tifalia lives an ordinary life in Artheir, the capital city of Escholtia, which is apparently the only continent and country on the entire planet. Tifalia works at her aunt’s inn, and she enjoys putting smiles on the customers’ faces. It could seem like a boring life to some, but she says that she likes her life the way it is.

One day though, a dragon Fey Beast named Vilio drops out of the sky in his humanoid form, landing right on poor Tifalia. He’s looking for a place for his group to stay, and naturally she offers them rooms at her aunt’s inn.

She finds out that Vilio’s group, CIRCUS, was formed to help Prince Colivus, whose heart has been frozen for years. His body hasn’t aged since the incident that froze his heart, so he remains in the form of an unresponsive seven year-old. The entire kingdom brings bloomed Chloris flowers to the castle in an effort to treat the prince’s ailment; these flowers only bloom near true happiness.

Unfortunately, the Chloris flowers don’t seem to be enough to help him. The king commands CIRCUS to hold performances across the land in the five major cities to get another type of flower to bloom, which is much more effective than the Chloris flower but also requires much more happiness to bloom.

The king promised the members of CIRCUS that he’d grant each of them a wish if they are successful. But, uh…their first performance doesn’t go too well, with a lack of audience members and a hilarious mishap with Vilio’s fire. 😬 They don’t know how to appeal to potential audience members or how to develop a cohesive show.

But Tifalia loves the idea of CIRCUS, and she excitedly blurts out idea after idea for their shows. The group is impressed, and Jinnia (the leader) asks her to join them. Her job as producer is to come up with show ideas as well as new ways to attract an audience in each location.

As CIRCUS arrives in each city, they try to get an idea of what will appeal to the audience members there. Every big city in Escholtia has their own elemental affinity and specialty – but recently the citizens’ have overemphasized these things in a negative way.

It’s an uphill battle for CIRCUS to put smiles on their faces and get five Flora to bloom. But in the first half of the game, they work hard to try to get the flowers they need to help the prince. I especially enjoyed their first performance, which had incredibly cute chibi animations of each love interest’s act.

However, I did think that the performances in each city seemed to go by a little too fast, with too-easy of a payoff for the Flora. They do explore each city and show a scene or two of their rehearsals, but to me it just didn’t seem like they struggled enough. It almost seemed like CIRCUS’ performances pretty much “solved” complex societal issues in the cities because a single show made the audience happy.

Put a (Circus) Ring on Him 💍

Honestly, I did not like most of the everyday people in Escholtia due to their shallowness and callousness prior to the CIRCUS shows kind of opening their eyes. Thankfully, the love interests are all incredibly likable. After the first five chapters, their individual stories really begin. Note: You must complete four love interests’ routes before the fifth one can be unlocked.

Zafora: “The Cynical Clown”

Information broker Zafora serves as the game’s tsundere love interest. At first, he’s a little prickly towards Tifalia and the other members of CIRCUS. He often gets on Vilio’s case for one reason or another.

While he may have a tough exterior, he is a squishy marshmallow on the inside. Zafora often helps Tifalia when she gets into trouble, and he gets reeeeeally (adorably) embarrassed when he gets called out for caring and not being heartless. I loved how Tifalia describes him as a “wonderful, charmingly awkward man.” His plot line wasn’t the best for me, but he was still one of my favorites.

Paschalia: “The Enchanting Conductor”

Paschalia was another one of my favorites. He has a contract with a water spirit, which changed his appearance and gave him new powers. As they travel around Escholtia, he wants to find someone to help him with his abilities.

He tends to be fairly mild-mannered and passive; he’s very kind, but he does get fired up (ironically💧) about things he cares about. I thought that his storyline was interesting enough, and it was also one of the most romantic ones, too! Those ending CGs were perfection!

Ion: “The Acrobatic Warrior”

Poor Ion. His appearance and “taciturn, expressionless” demeanor scares Tifalia at first. He’s a soldier who used to be a member of the Public Security forces, and he says he joined CIRCUS because he was ordered to.

Ion has some unexpected skills that surprise the rest of the group at first. I felt bad for him because of the way people react to him before they get to know him. His routes do have more angsty and dark elements to them – especially if you don’t get the best ending – but he’s a kind person.

Radie: “The Lovely Mascot”

Radie is a little furball of a Fey Beast who has been with Tifalia for the past decade. He claims he can’t transform into his human form, but he’s got quite a few secrets. Regardless, he’s one of my favorite characters in the game because he frequently provides the comic relief. He likes to make Tifalia smile, and is very protective of her.

While I really like Radie, I wasn’t very comfortable with him as a love interest for Tifalia. For one thing, he’s a part of her family, and has been with her since she was six years old. He calls himself her guardian/borderline replacement parent. 🙈 I found the romance a bit awkward since I’ve never loved the “like-family-to-lovers” trope. That being said, his background was really interesting, and there’s a certain element of his route I really liked that was not in the others (besides Vilio’s).

Vilio: “Your Friendly Neighborhood DragonMan”

Vilio was another one of my favorite love interests. He’s a dragon Fey Beast who has left his home for the first time ever. I really liked his personality; he’s very curious about the new things he encounters, and he’s very upbeat, kind, and protective of his friends.

He frequently calls out the other group members on their “BS” when they’re letting their insecurities get in the way of doing what they want or being with who they love. Vilio is a good friend and a good love interest, and he’s got one of the better storylines as well. Like Ion, there’s some angst in both his best and less-good endings, but the better ending was lovely. I felt like he had one of the more romantic routes.

But What About…?

I adored the love interests in Radiant Tale. Its pretty difficult to develop a 100% likable lineup like that. Now, I will say that I am so salty that Jinnia is the only member of CIRCUS we can’t date. He’s pretty and flamboyant and fun. There’s another minor character named Liyan who I also would have wanted as a love interest (maybe Alest too), but I really wanted a Jinnia route.

Beautiful Boys & Backgrounds

The cast of love interests is beautiful on the inside and out; their interactions are well-written and often heartwarming and/or humorous. I think the localization was well-done. The artists did a great job drawing all of the character portraits and CGs, as well as the backgrounds in each city. (The Wind city has a cool labyrinth that reminds me of M.C. Escher’s work “Relativity.”)

Overall Opinion

Radiant Tale combines its great art, localization style, and soundtrack to give the player a fun, low-angst otome experience. I liked every single love interest, plus the vast majority of the minor characters who have portraits. I enjoyed the story not only from Tifalia’s point of view, but also when they switched to the love interests’ points of view.

In my opinion, there needed to be more minor scenes related to the performances to flesh things out more. There were also odd font changes and issues with reading the text on the background sometimes. Overall though, this sweet, funny, and entertaining otome sure put a…radiant smile on my face. 😉 (I sure hope we get the fan disc – out next month in Japan – someday soon! 😍)

8.5/10