NIntendo Switch: Collar X Malice

By ninetylives - Thursday, February 3, 2022 - No Comments

Hello my nuggets~

I've been inhaling my otomes at the speed Naruto inhales his ramen and man! I was not expecting Collar X Malice to be SO GOOD. (Major Spoilers ahead!!)

So, plot. MC is a policewoman, who is kidnapped and wakes with a poison-filled collar around her neck. She is then blackmailed into investigating the X-day cases, a series of mass murders committed by a terrorist group, Adonis. She ends up joining a detective agency conducting their own investigations, and therein begins your story.

In my opinion, the plot is incredibly thought provoking. How exactly do you define good and bad? More than once I could definitely understand the thought process leading up to the final decision of taking revenge by murder, even though murder is inherently bad.

Depending on your route, you might not go that deep into the storyline. Yanagi is the canon route, and with him you'll explore the full extent of Adonis. Shiraishi comes a close second, and my dudes, his tragic end was TRAGIC. It was DMMD levels of tragic to me and I didn't even know how to feel after that.

The rest of the LIs are pretty mild, so I'd say play them first, then Shiraishi. Yanagi unlocks after you finish the rest of them, so you'll definitely play him last.

sasazuka bad end

As always, first playthrough are my own decisions without a walkthrough, and I was definitely not surprised to end up with Sasazuka in the end. I didn't get the good ending though, I ended up with the tragic ending which was not as heartbreaking as the other routes, but still made me sad nonetheless.

While I had a very clear preference of route in Code Realize, each LI in Collar x Malice had their own endearing point, and their individual routes were equally captivating. I actually spent time going through each route instead of skipping like with Code Realize.

this dude got me mad mad

Personality and character growth wise, I think I was the most disappointed with Shiraishi's. He was consistently switching between being warm and caring to being cold and pushing MC away and I got so frustrated.

Shiraishi has a mad sad backstory (with Adonis) and while I could see how it related to his past but it was kinda way too drastic of a switch.

MC loses her memory in a shoot-out with Zero (Adonis), and Shiraishi takes care of her for a year underground. After which he brings her to the detective agency for Christmas and she suddenly miraculously regains all her memories?? And then he turns himself in to the police and she says she'll wait for him??

I-??? What???? This is the good ending??? This is more like the tragic end?? The actual tragic end though, I had to stop the game and go take a rest, I was so traumatized. I liked him, and then I disliked him, and then I liked him, and the cycle continued till the end where I just gave up.

Yanagi, obviously, is the poster boy of the game, but I found it really hard to romance him. Not in the sense that it was difficult, but he felt more brotherly than anything. He didn't particularly have any bad sides to him either, which made him rather bland to me. Yanagi was just.. flawless? He isn't bad, but to me he isn't great either. He's just there, you know?

bad ending

good ending

Sasazuka is a bastard, but ends up becoming less prickly, which is really all I can expect from a tsun. His good ending and bad ending are pretty similar as well I'd think, good ending equals both in a relationship, bad ending equals not in a relationship but still very close friends? His route doesn't delve that deep into Adonis as well, so it's not too plot heavy. He's a good starter.

Enomoto is rather immature, but grows as a person overall. A lot of game time was spent covering his backstory (if i remember correctly), and not too much on Adonis as well, so he's a pretty good starter too. I spent the least time on his route simply because he really wasn't my type of energy, but I have to admit he grew on me as the game went on. His endings are pretty mild as well.

Okazaki, man, this guy needs some serious therapy. Actually, I think they all need therapy but Okazaki right here needs it the most. He has some major 'I need a reason to live' vibes that was a bit too literal for my liking. There's a sad backstory to him as well, and he ends up finding a reason to live in MC, which, good for him, but not too good on my mental state going through his route. I'd say play him third.

me after i finished the game

Nitpicking aside, I think Collar x Malice is a really really amazing game. I was blown away by the art, the music, the storyline, and I actually really liked how most of the NPCs had their own character and personality.

Anyhoo, here's some extra CGs!