- Price: $39.99 USD
- Developer/Publisher: Voltage
- Release Date: September 22, 2025
A review code was kindly provided by Voltage. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.
Rated T; content warnings: “Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol.” Bullying, kidnapping, assault, kisses of dubious consent
Voltage (and its console brand AmuLit) have published many otome games on Nintendo Switch, such as the recent Neon Clash and Love and Legends. Prior to those games they published Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss, the first volume of a story about a young woman who wakes up in another world.
After viewing an eerie crimson moon out the window one evening, Mayu Sekiguchi – and kitty Robin – find themselves in a magical realm that has completely different rules and customs than the human realm. To make matters worse, she’s informed that she has a special kind of magic that makes her desirable to the kingdoms of the realm.
The headmaster of the magical academy insists that she attends the school to learn to control her power and stay safe from those who would use her. However, the 5 love interests were all present when she appeared in the realm, and as princes of different kingdoms some of them are especially interested in her power.
Something I really appreciate is that the writers didn’t make Mayu some overpowered genius who’s able to master spells instantly. The academy ranks its students based on their power and abilities, and Mayu starts out at the very bottom. It probably takes her about a third of the story in each route to get anywhere casting spells, which – at least temporarily – decreases certain love interests’ interest in her.
There are 3 short chapters (including the prologue) in the opening “common route” of sorts. Then you can select the love interest whose route you want to play through instead of having it decided by dialogue choices as is standard in most otome games.
Each love interest’s route contains 30 chapters in this volume, and 3 of them have additional “premium” scenes. There are 2 endings in each route: a “Magic” ending and a “Mischief” ending. You make a dialogue choice once per chapter, and each option gives you a certain number of points toward the endings. (Check out our walkthroughs here!)
I did wish that we could track our progress for each ending as we play, but thankfully it isn’t too difficult to get both endings in one playthrough. Otome often have several bad endings for each love interest, but here both endings are good.
After completing the main story for each character you’ll unlock the “Book 1 Perspectives,” which shows you certain chapters from that love interest’s point of view. This includes their perspective of the endings as well.
I started the game with Guy, the most aggressively possessive of Mayu’s power from the beginning. He doesn’t talk much and can be a real jerk sometimes, yet there are moments where he’s subtly considerate and kind to Mayu. Guy’s story was pretty predictable, and the romance moves really quickly, but I enjoyed it overall.
His fan girls have an amusing nickname, and I loved the scene with the other guys in Chapter 19 from his perspective. Guy’s Mischief Ending from his point of view is hilarious too.
The next love interest is Lynt, an oddly named but sweet guy who sleeps a lot and really dislikes conflict. I found his route kind of awkward, but I thought the conflict in his route was unexpected because of his personality and interactions with Mayu. The finale was anticlimactic, but there were things I liked about his route. Roy really shines in Lynt’s story, and Lynt’s Magic Ending was funny and cute.
Fenn was probably my favorite love interest in this game. He’s a flamboyant flirt who calls Mayu “treasure,” which is absolutely adorable. His story was the most interesting one in my opinion, revealing unique details about his kingdom and a glimpse into the darker side of the magical dimension.
As they’re all princes, the love interests have their own valets/servants with them at school. Fenn also had my favorite attendant, a woman named Violet. She was kind to Mayu, whose thoughts about Violet always made me laugh. I liked the other servants, but if any of them could be a love interest I’d honestly want a route for Violet. (Hey, they did one for Medusa in Astoria: Fate’s Kiss!)
I did like Toa; he’s a bit straitlaced and comes off as cold, but he is also kind to Mayu in his own way. He’s very academic, which I definitely appreciate. I will say that I found his route just a little boring, and his last few chapters had a glitch where Robin’s emoticons remained on the screen in the next scenes.
Roy is the final love interest, and Mayu often describes him as the epitome of the fairytale prince. The main idea behind his story wasn’t very surprising, but the way they expressed it was somewhat unexpected (and slightly silly in a way due to his kingdom’s specialty). His Magic and Mischief endings weren’t quite as strong as the ones for the other love interests, but the way the main storyline ended was pretty good.
Another reason I liked Roy was his relationship with his sister Sherry, who befriends Mayu. I’ve seen some other otome games put all their focus on the heroine’s relationship with the love interests. While Mayu naturally spends more time (onscreen) with the love interests, she also has frequent interactions with Sherry and classmate Rio, as well as some other side characters based on the route they’re in.
As far as Mayu herself is concerned, I enjoyed her as the game’s heroine. She’s flawed in that she gives in to some of the love interests’ boundary-crossing too easily, and it felt like she fell in love too quickly. At the same time, she doesn’t just let them do whatever they want all the time either. Mayu does call them out when they’re being especially unreasonable.
Mayu has some of my favorite internal monologue that I’ve seen from an otome heroine. The way they write some of her thoughts is so funny to me. They also did a great job of incorporating magic-based expressions to emphasize that Mayu’s in a magical world now (i.e. “Hex it all,” “great bubbling cauldrons,” etc.).
There was some wonky phrasing that didn’t sound as natural, although that could perhaps be attributed to the more fancy, formal setting (i.e. Sherry saying Mayu is her “bosom friend”). Occasionally the character names were inaccurate; Lynt’s butler is labeled Tino but Lynt always calls him Chino.
Even though the happy endings could feel a little rushed and contrived as far as the conflict resolution was concerned, I still enjoyed the writing overall. And I’ve noticed that Voltage often has very accessible, large text for players to have an easier time reading the story.
There isn’t any voice acting narrating the text, but I didn’t find myself missing it. Because of the way the characters phrased things – and because of their facial expressions – I could almost hear what I thought they might sound like in my head (particularly with Fenn and Sherry).
I liked the short but sweet opening theme, and the music in the different menus seemed to suit the game’s themes well. They made good stylistic choices; I was a little disappointed that we only got 5 CGs per love interest, but the art is all really pretty.
Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss is a good first entry to introduce us to the magical world Mayu’s found herself in. I’m interested to see where they’ll take the love interests’ stories in Books 2 and 3, said to be coming soon. Will all of them travel between the magical world and the human world with Mayu? Does Mayu improve her magical skills in a time skip between this game and the next volume? 🤔 They’ve sure “tempted” me to find out more in the next games! 😘
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