Let’s start with the price, because it’s impossible to ignore: £99.99.
That is the cost of the newly released Beautiful Sakura Collection, an 8-in-1 bundle from Cropware that has arrived today on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
This extensive package brings together eight different sport-themed visual novels, each promising a heartfelt journey of friendship, romance, and competition. It is, on paper, a huge amount of content. But when the price of entry is this high, the question of quality becomes paramount.
The Complete Roster: What’s in the Collection?
The Beautiful Sakura Collection bundle on Xbox promises eight complete, narrative-driven visual novels. While we have covered the launch of each of these titles previously, it’s worth seeing them all laid out together to understand the full scope of what’s being offered for the price.
The collection includes:
- Beautiful Sakura: Surfing Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Volleyball Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Fitness Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Running Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Fashion Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Racing Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Fighting Club
- Beautiful Sakura: Football Club
A Word of Caution: Our Experience with the Series
We believe in full transparency. While we have not formally reviewed all eight of the games in this collection, we have reviewed one of them: Beautiful Sakura: Surfing Club. The experience was, to put it mildly, not a positive one.
Our review concluded with a rock-bottom score of 0.5/5. Yep, you’re reading that right – this is one of the worst games we have ever reviewed.
We stated, “Beautiful Sakura: Surfing Club is perhaps the most cynical, half-hearted attempt at weedling £10 out of someone’s pockets, and no amount of baby-oil and AI-generated creepy-fingers can justify its existence. If this is the future of gaming then stop the bus, because we’re getting off.“
This single, damning experience from the series’ debut casts a significant and unavoidable shadow over the entire collection. And yes, Surfing Club was the reason we didn’t waste any more time reviewing the rest of the franchise.
The £100 Question: Is It Worth the Risk?
At £99.99, the bundle averages out to roughly £12.50 per game. The fundamental question you must ask yourself is this: given that the only game in the series we have formally reviewed was met with such a staggeringly negative reception, is it worth paying a premium price for the seven unknown quantities?
Cropware is asking players to make a very expensive gamble. The precedent for quality, based on our direct experience, is exceptionally low, which makes the high price of entry for this collection a serious point of concern for any consumer.
Ultimately, the decision rests with you. The Beautiful Sakura Collection certainly offers a huge quantity of content on paper, but the warning signs from our own review are impossible to ignore. It’s a high-priced ticket for a bus we’ve already wanted to get off once before. We strongly advise reading our full review and considering the significant risk before spending your hard-earned cash.
For those who wish to investigate further, the Beautiful Sakura Collection is available on the Xbox Store. We’d love to know if you decide to pick it up.
