Developer ROSEVERTE is back with the second part of their otome visual novel trilogy involving humans and cat people. The first instalment, How to Take Off Your Mask Remastered, was pleasant enough, but seemed a tad short on content, amongst other things. So, can the latest offering of How to Fool a Liar King Remastered manage to kick the storytelling up a notch and keep readers engaged for longer?
Unfortunately, How to Fool a Liar King Remastered suffers a similar fate to its predecessor for the most part. That said, there are aspects in which this sequel shows signs of improvement to elevate the experience slightly.
How to Fool a Liar King whisks us away to the kingdom of Eroolia, where the protagonist Regina has found herself. One minute she was preparing to run away from home and the next she magically ended up in a forest. Bumping into a man named Juli, and two others accompanying him, they decide to travel together until Regina can figure out how to return home to Ozzwa. For now though, the focus is on travelling to the area in which the luccretias (the cat and human hybrids) reside, Laarz.
From the outset, it’s clear that there’s more than just romance on the agenda in this narrative, with a deep-rooted issue also at its core. You see, humans and luccretias don’t get along to the point where the latter are persecuted if seen in the main city of Eroolia. Hence, having the King, a human, intruding in Laarz is just asking for trouble. I like how the situation and resulting hatred between the two is explained without becoming too serious in its tone. Otherwise it would overshadow the generally lighthearted nature of How to Fool a Liar King.
There’s a dash of humour in How to Fool a Liar King, but the rest explores the romance blossoming between Regina and Juli. The dynamic between them is great due to their contrasting personalities; Regina is kind-hearted and strong willed, while Juli is deceitful and closed-off. It’s intriguing that they both have secrets they’re withholding from the other; the intrigue of what they’re hiding is better than the revelations sadly. Their blossoming relationship does seem quite forced and rushed though, with love on the cards in a matter of days.Â
As for the support cast, it’s good to see returning characters Ronan and Mars feature once again, however the princess of Laarz is the real standout. Princess Myana is a very straightforward kind of luccretia who attempts to woo our protagonist too. She’s smart, honourable, and has a wonderful singing voice – as you’ll discover during a lovely musical interlude performed by voice actor Yuriko Yano.
It’s a real missed opportunity that Myana, despite her best efforts, isn’t actually a romance option for one of the narrative routes. Instead, the choices presented to you throughout the visual novel will merely allow you to understand Juli better or unearth more about Myana (and Regina). There are only two options for every decision that requires your input, so it’s fairly easy to work out how to follow different pathways and unlock bonus sections.
As such, this means just two endings are present for you to witness, but after the first playthrough I’m not sure it’s worth replaying. Upon a second playthrough, it’s noticeable that much of the dialogue in the first few chapters doesn’t change and so it becomes a slog to get to any interesting new scenes. For the second half of the story, more sections are different, however you might have switched off by then. Essentially then, the majority of players delving into How to Fool a Liar King will be done in a couple of hours with no desire to uncover the alternate route.
On the plus side, the CGs (computer-generated scenes) have received upgrades due to this being the remastered version and the anime style looks very well polished. The added animations to character faces is a nice touch as well, bringing a little extra legitimacy for conversations. Whether the voice acting accompanying it is any good, I’m not sure as it’s entirely in Japanese, but the voices do sound like they suit the characters.
How to Fool a Liar King Remastered picks up where How to Take Off Your Mask Remastered left off, in terms of the story and the overall experience. It’s too short, the romance feels rushed and the replayability factor is lacking. What it does have in its favour is that you don’t need to have played the series before in order to understand what’s going on, but if you have then you’ll possibly enjoy it more. After all, it’s easy reading and tackles interesting social themes without going too dark, while sprinkling a little bit of humour on to proceedings.
Despite being a slight improvement on its rather average predecessor, How to Fool a Liar King Remastered shouldn’t be seen as an instant recommendation for visual novel enthusiasts. It’s alright, but there are better options out there.
How to Fool a Liar King Remastered is available to buy on the Xbox Store
