• Price: $39.99 USD
• Developer/Publisher: Voltage
• Release Date: April 24, 2026

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: non-consensual kissing, suggestive themes, abduction, stalking, abusive parents

I previously reviewed Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss, and really enjoyed the story of Mayu and her 5 princely love interests at the magical academy. Initially I thought that this was going to be a continuation of the stories from Temptation’s Kiss, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that this game tells the story of 5 new love interests.

Temptation’s Kiss only had a prologue and 2 chapters for the opening/“common route,” with 30 chapters (plus 3 premium chapters) per love interest and 2 endings. There were also about a dozen chapters each from the love interests’ perspectives.

Captivation’s Kiss upped the ante with prologues and a total of 30 chapters across 2 opening “books” before even starting the love interests’ routes, which have the same amount of chapters, premium chapters, and endings as well as the chapters from the love interests’ perspectives.

If you’ve played the first volume in this series you’ll notice that the opening chapters here share some similarities with that storyline. However, from what I remember there are some differences, with more presence from the new love interests in the opening chapters here.

I especially enjoyed the second book’s storyline because Mayu actually works on her magic skills more, and the characters’ familiars get a lot more screen time. It was nice to have 2 “common route” books this time because it allows for more time for Mayu to develop relationships before we even start each love interest’s route.

But I was very confused when I played through the love interests’ storylines because they don’t seem to continue from where the common route story left off. Instead, the love interests’ routes start with Mayu learning magic from the very beginning, which doesn’t make sense and was a little disappointing.

Despite my confusion I was still excited to start Rio’s route; he was such a pleasant character to be around in Temptation’s Kiss that I had wanted him to be a love interest. Rio is such an encouraging presence in Mayu’s life regardless of which route you’re playing. Everyone needs their own personal Rio cheerleader in their life!

He gets major bonus points for being kind to animals as well, and I can get behind his love of food. His nickname for Mayu (“sunbeam”) is absolutely adorable, and earns him additional points for using a more unique term of endearment.

Rio’s big issue is his inability to notice anything romantic. As Mayu notes, “Romancing Rio is like playing on hard mode.” It got to the point that it was almost unbelievable how oblivious he was. Everyone around him can only sympathize with Mayu and join her in her suffering as she tries to get through to Rio. 😂

His route also seemed like it was more about him keeping her safe instead of her doing anything to protect herself. Because the “common route” books have a more proactive and capable Mayu, I didn’t like having her as more of a damsel in distress in Rio’s route. That being said, I still really like Rio as a love interest because he’s such a great guy.

Next up is Lance, a new prince character who wasn’t in the first game as a side character like Rio was. He checks a lot of boxes for what I look for in a love interest. On the surface he seems really unfriendly, and there are rumors that he’s always getting into fights. And yet in reality Lance has a heart of gold.

I always have a real soft spot for the grumpy guys who are kind underneath their “bad boy” exterior, and Lance is an unsung hero who helps people without wanting any recognition. He’s even better with animals than Rio, too!

While I wish we got more closure for the Christoph storyline and for Lance’s kingdom, I thought that the main conflict in his route was one of the most intriguing stories across both games in the series so far. I also appreciated Mayu being more involved in protecting herself with magic in this route. All things considered, Lance joins Fenn and Rio as one of my favorite love interests in the Court of Darkness series.

Another new prince character, Dia is the epitome of a pretty boy; Mayu even has a hard time discerning his gender at first. But as they say, every rose has its thorns, and Dia is certainly very prickly. He (understandably) does not appreciate judgments based on his appearance.

I didn’t dislike Dia, but the development of his relationship with Mayu felt a bit less natural than it did with the other love interests. His storyline had potential, but ultimately I don’t think they took it far enough. This route ended on more of a cliffhanger for me.

Lou is the headmaster of the magical academy, and technically has a lot of power over Mayu. However, they are both adults and their relationship is consensual. (Mayu continuing to refer to him as “Headmaster” after they entered a relationship got pretty awkward, but thankfully they addressed it. 😂)

While Lou is technically in my bottom 2 love interests for this game along with Dia, I didn’t dislike him either. (The other 3 were just better at romance.) Lou’s route still has a lot of pluses in my book.

First of all, I absolutely loved Robin (Mayu’s kitty familiar) interacting with Lou in Chapter 2. Hilarious. Mayu also participates in her magical training more in this route, which I was really happy about. And the main story in Lou’s route reveals more about Mayu’s appearance in the magical realm (and the history of the realm as well). In that regard at least Lou’s route is one of the best.

Finally, we have Aquia, who we met in the first game as Guy’s meek younger brother. I vaguely recall a scene at the end of Guy’s story where Aquia pretty much tells Guy that he’d better treat Mayu right or he’d be there to swoop in and replace him. 🤣 So we already know that Aquia is capable of being bolder than his usual disposition when he needs to be.

Aquia is really sweet and tries to help Mayu as much as he can; he’s extremely self-deprecating and thinks he can’t be of much help to her, but he’ll do what he can. He’s in the same boat as Mayu as a C rank at the academy, which is the lowest rank there is. Neither of them can perform magic at the beginning of his route.

I liked Aquia well enough; he’s in the middle of the pack for me when I consider all the love interests in this game. The romantic development was decent enough, but the main conflict mirrored the one from Guy’s route in a lot of ways. I did appreciate that we got to meet more of his family in his route though.

Overall I was happy with the love interests in this game. Their main storylines do seem to have slightly inconclusive endings for both major and minor plot points when compared to the stories in the first game, but they still give us a deeper understanding of the magical realm that Mayu has found herself in.

I like that Mayu and the love interests are all adults, and that there aren’t any bad endings in this series. Instead, they have the “Magic” and “Mischief” endings, which are more wholesome or…ahem, suggestive endings depending on the final tally of points earned from your responses in each chapter. (Check out our walkthroughs here!) It’s also nice that we get to see certain chapters from the love interests’ perspectives again.

In both Court of Darkness games so far, Mayu tends to fall in love pretty quickly and discard the idea of returning to her world for a man she hasn’t known long. She’ll risk her safety, freedom, and/or life for these men. It can admittedly feel unrealistic (Anna from Frozen enters the chat) but I still really enjoy her as an otome heroine and like these stories overall.

Mayu has her flaws, but she’s kind, determined, and protective – even of people she doesn’t know. She can be very sassy, and she’s also open and honest about her feelings to the point that it’s a little embarrassing. 😂 I’d probably say she’s best described as effusive. The princes and headmaster sure seem to find it refreshing!

Mayu remains one of my favorite otome heroines, in part due to her hysterical inner monologue. Especially whenever she’s around Fenn’s “valet” Violet. I swear Mayu doesn’t get half as thirsty for her male love interests as she does for Violet! 🤣 (Violet route when?)

This series has a pretty large supporting cast, but it never feels like there are too many characters. While most of the screen time naturally goes to the love interests, it’s great to have scenes where Mayu, Sherry, and Violet hang out and have “girl time” together. And this time they added some really minor characters who were fun and interesting, such as Booker and Faeme.

As with Temptation’s Kiss, they did a great job localizing this game. Mayu uses a lot of familiar slang and expressions from her/our human world, while the characters from the magical realm continue to use a more formal, supposedly Victorian style of speaking. Characters not understanding some of Mayu’s phrasing remains a source of entertainment, and so do the magical realm’s expressions.

They don’t always resolve the storylines to my complete satisfaction, and sometimes the romance can feel a little rushed. But for the most part I think the writing quality is fantastic! And hopefully we’ll see the next volume of each love interest’s story come to Switch someday.

After the last game they made some improvements to the graphics, such as the legibility of the text. It wasn’t too difficult to read in the last game, but it’s definitely easier to read now. I wanted more CGs, as they only have 5 per love interest again. The ones they do have are lovely, but I would have liked CGs of the familiars and perhaps Mayu using some magic.

At $39.99 each I think that the Court of Darkness games are very reasonably priced. There’s a decent amount of content in each one; it took me roughly 25 hours to complete Captivation’s Kiss (that’s as a fast reader), and 15-20 hours for Temptation’s Kiss.

Mayu is a fun, relatable heroine, and I don’t think any of the 10 love interests are bad between the 2 games available so far. I’ve enjoyed my time in the realm of Saligia, and look forward to the third volume, which seems to include 4 of the male “valet”/butler characters as love interests! Will we find out what Jasper was up to in this game? Stay tuned!