Our Two Bedroom Story

Many of us look back on our first flats with a sense of bemused nostalgia.

The ceiling might have been a bit leaky, the bathroom could've been a bit bigger, and it sure was drafty in the winter, but the independence that it represented made up for these shortcomings.

Your first flat out of your parents' house is a decidedly more luxurious affair in Our Two Bedroom Story - it's a nice, small home set in the sunny suburbs of Tokyo, but it's not without its issues.

It comes with an annoyingly handsome roommate of the opposite gender who just happens to work in the same office as you. Also, he's soon to become your step-brother and has a bit of a thing for you.

As you might guess, Our Two Bedroom Story is an otome (female-focused) visual novel that brings with it all the charm and trappings of the genre that you'd expect - along with a few nice updates that resonate well with its episodic, mobile nature.

You're free to choose the object of your romantic affections from the outset, for example, which is a nice alternative to loading save file after save file until you've managed to follow the story path that leads to your desired dude.

Whether you're drawn to the brusque Minato Okouchi and his jocular verbal abuse or the aloof, but surprisingly buff, Kaoru Kirishima, you can simply head down their corresponding storylines by tapping their names in the events of the opening prologue.

Many purists of the visual novel genre might see this approach as cheap or lazy, but Volt should be praised here for making the selection process so easy to navigate.

Removing the stonewalling of player preference neatly eliminates one of my biggest complaints about visual novel games, and gives you a sense of control over how the story unfolds.

No need for boundaries

But this isn't to say that Our Two Bedroom Story is an easy game to breeze through.

You're still confronted with critical decisions to make throughout the course of the story that ultimately determine whether you'll receive the 'HAPPY Ending' or the 'GOOD Ending'.

Often, these decisions run contrary to what you yourself feel, and so each decision brings with it a pleasing challenge of balancing how you would react with the actions that your heroine would likely choose.

Happily, the journey to whichever ending you wind up with is sure to be a fun one.

Our Two Bedroom Story has some pleasantly detailed character designs and a wealth of evocative backgrounds to serve as set pieces for the text-heavy nature of its storytelling.

The soundtrack, while hardly inspiring, is also nicely varied and cycles between a broad range of tracks to suit the mood of the story as it progresses.

It'll never rival the works of Nobuo Uematsu or Jeremy Soule, but it shows that Volt is committed to providing you with a nicely furnished apartment to call home.

While it's still a bit vexing that the main character is thrown into an almost entirely passive role as she responds to the more assertive male characters in the game, that's a fault that many drawn to otome games are willing to forgive.

These are, after all, modern-day bodice rippers and should be judged, and appreciated, accordingly.

If you're looking for a good romantic thrill to play on the go, you could certainly do worse than Our Two Bedroom Story. While the step-brother angle is a bit cringe-inducing, there's a certain undeniable allure to hiding a sub rosa romance from your co-workers and family.