Thank you Ikemen Villains…for officially dragging me back into gacha hell. I am so stupid addicted to this game and in this post, I want to try and make sense of WHY and HOW I got here. I also recently finished William’s route, so this might be a good time to share my first impressions. Please pray for my wallet for all the difficult time I have (and will continue to) put it through. 😔
Note, since I’ve only played William, a lot of my impressions will be based on what I’ve seen from his route. I will keep things spoiler free since there is a 99% chance this will be localised soon…but I have included some out-of-context screenshots throughout. I also translated some steamy bits from William’s route but I’ve put it right at the end (after summary). Pure fluff and no plot – feel free to skip that part if you don’t want to read it.
What’s Ikemen Villains?
If you haven’t heard about Ikemen Villains, check out my spotlight post. This is Cybird’s latest addition to their Ikemen Series franchise, where they took the saying “if villains, why hot?” and turned it into a game.
Two days prior to the release, they had over 60K pre-registrations – safe to say it’s a highly anticipated otome release. The game is only available in Japanese at the moment.
The cursed villains
Ikemen Villains employs twisted fairy tale motifs. Currently there are 9 LIs, but only 3 routes are available to play thus far. These men have been hit by fairy tale-related curses, and are destined to meet a miserable end. They are all working for The Queen in some capacity under an organisation named The Crown.
I now understand that they are “villainous” because their job involves murders and all sorts of crime. But things become morally ambiguous because the characters are trying to fight evil with evil. This then begs the question, does that make them true villains? I am keen to hear people’s thoughts, but for me, yeah I guess so. From what I’ve seen, they talk about gory stuff like it’s nothing – so these guys are definitely not normal.
Brief impression about the characters:
- Liam is a cutie pie!
- Harrison gives off the “big bro” feel (he’s always the one who tells people to stop being unreasonable).
- Elise’s obsession with happiness makes me feel like he’s always on drugs or something, LOL.
- Elbert is AMAZING STUNNING GORGEOUS, UGH. He interacted a lot with Kate in William’s route and I can’t wait to romance him.
- Victor is the main story narrator I guess…and the silly goose of the group, which is kind of unexpected, haha!
- Jude is my enemy (he’s so rude LOL).
- Alfons kinda gives a sadist vibe.
- I feel like I barely know anything about Roger…he’s hot though?!
Btw, I was going through IkeVil’s twitter account and found this compatibility test and translated it. Give it a go! I got Harrison, who is likely my next play. ☺️ Make sure to click on the image to zoom in.
Ikemen Villain Compatibility Test
We’re not supposed to fall in love…
Kate, the MC, accidentally overheard the conversation between the villains and was threatened to stick around to basically record (?) their sins, or she’ll be killed. She’s given a month and was also warned she mustn’t fall in love. We all know she’s totally going to keep that promise. This trope is very typical of Ikeseries games, and I enjoy them heaps!
As with the similar trope, most Ikeseries protagonists are also quite similar, imo. They are usually strong willed, sex-positive, and not afraid to speak their minds. Kate is exactly this too. I love soft MCs, but I tend to relate more with these feistier MCs. When appropriate, I also self-insert and I find that Ikeseries games are one of these occasions where I can, mainly because I connect strongly with the MCs.
Kate: “I’m so happy I could kiss you.”
William: “….. I don’t mind.”
Kate: “…… We won’t be able to go out if I do that….so I’ll refrain……”
William: “Ahahaha!”
Note: in case you read Japanese, yes I’ve used my own name instead of the default (Kate), hehe.
In William’s route, Kate would accompany him on his missions and witness all the horrible “crimes” William and members of The Crown have to commit to keep London safe. She then agonises over her growing feelings towards William. Her dilemma reminded me so much of Lili in Piofiore. These women are conflicted about loving their partners and not knowing how to feel about the things they do for “work”!
William Rex, love of my life.
I was torn between playing William or Harrison first, mainly because of their visuals and VA (Tachibana and Noriaki, respectively). In the end I decided to do the poster boy first, and I ended up loving this man SO much you don’t understand!!!! He was promoted to be some kind of self-righteous evil, and well he’s definitely that. BUT. He is also mysterious, sweet, attentive, and a gentleman – he’s just amazing!!!!!!!!! Every time he opens his mouth, I just turn into puddles. 😩 Also he plays the piano, and he smells like roses. Seriously, what’s not to love?
I think what always gets me is the way he treats Kate. The way he calls her 駒鳥 (little robin), the little laugh he does when he’s teasing her, when he responds「ふぅん」with the sexy smirk, and the way he let her be in control and make decisions so she can “understand herself”…ugh. He is too dangerous for my heart.
Kate had something in her mind, so she’s been acting a little gloomy during their date.
“You finally showed me your smile.”
After the date, William asks Kate to stay out for a bit longer and Kate hesitates slightly.
“Haha, is it bed time for the good girls?”
Dark and horny
IkeVil’s story is dark. Not quite Shuuen no Virche dark, but it’s pretty dark. There’s a lot of blood, murder and other gory elements. They also discuss social issues, so it gets political at times. There is also some fantasy themes from the fairy tale curse, and every character has a unique power. William’s power reminds me of Lelouch from Code Geass, but I think it’s slightly better than Lelouch’s for a darker reason. 😄
Just like other Ikeseries games, IkeVil is STEAMY. The game doesn’t get steamy immediately – at least not in William’s route. In the first half, there were a lot of sweet moments, a lot of teasing, and moments with high sexual tension. Because of the build-up, I was so over the moon (and actually a little surprised) when their first sex happened. It was such an amazing read, I couldn’t stop screaming!!! Not just the actual act, but the events leading up to the sex was *chef’s kiss*. I’ve translated a bit of what I read – you can find it right at the end of this post.
The two endings in this game are called Blind Love and Mad Love (translations are approximate). So far I’ve finished William’s Mad Love end – it was a hella good ending. Not as steamy as I expected, but I think we’ll get most of the “real” steamy content in the story events anyway.
Seriously. If villains, why hot?!?!?!
Confession. I would bend the sh*t out of my morals to marry these hot pixel dudes. THEY ARE GORGEOUS!!! All hail Natsume Lemon-sensei. Character design-wise, IkeVil easily tops the entire Ikeseries franchise that I’ve ever played….which is only all of the games they’ve ever released in English, lol. In case you didn’t know, yes, they’ve got a few more games within the Ikeseries franchise that are yet to be released in English!
The sprites are insanely pleasing to look at. I love their expressions, their pose, their outfit, gosh, everything really. The eyes are also animated. The only frustrating thing is the close-up sprite being blurry / out-of-focus. See some screen shots below – they really don’t look that bad here, but the blurriness is very noticable when it’s on full screen / gaming mode. Anyway, enjoy some more lines from my new sexy husbando, William Rex. 🥰
William teaches Kate to be self-aware of her charms.
”Even if you scream loudly, no one will come to help you.”
A line during their first sexy time.
“If you cling to me like that, all we can do is kiss.”
Everything is a vibe.
Now I want to talk about the more generic gaming stuff. The fully voiced prologue is much appreciated, especially with the stacked voice casts that they have here. The prologue was also great fun, probably the most enjoyable prologue I’ve read from any Ikeseries games.
The game also has fully voiced bonus contents. They are short stories with choices – some related to the plot of the game (e.g. “what kind of curse do you have?”), some about the characters (e.g., “what kind of woman is your type?”), and some which are pure fluff. But what I’ve found is some characters don’t even answer the questions properly and reply with a snarky or teasing reply instead, LOL. Mind you, these bonus “stories” are very short though (at least up ’till Level 9 where I’m at with William’s).
They also have a system where you can “Escort” – same thing as “Princess Lesson” in IkeSen, “Battle” in IkeVamp, etc. Raising this meter will not only help progress with the story, but also unlock the fully voiced bonus contents.
My home page, currently with William’s birthday card on it. This was a reckless spending for sure but I hope his story event his worth it. *Here’s me gaslighting myself LOL
My avatar page. This is what I ended up with after finishing William’s Mad Love ending and doing the free daily gacha. I haven’t spent a dime on my avatar because I’m focusing more on collecting the 5★ cards!
There’s one thing that kind of annoyed me, though. These bonus contents are tiered (there are 23 Levels). The more you Escort, read the main stories, etc. the more bonus content you unlock, which is fine. But in some levels, you only get random items which is not that useful, like x50 diamonds?? At least not for someone impatient like me – that’s not even enough to read a single story without ticket. Also, the higher the levels, the larger the gap in points you have to meet to unlock the next bonus (which as I said, won’t always be necessarily a voiced content). I wish they would just give us all voiced contents without the useless embellishments. 😫
The music…oh my god. All these time, IkeVamp’s BGM has been on top for me, but IkeVil stole The Crown (pun intended). I have zero talent in describing music…but I would say they sound, theatrical? The tunes are alluring and mysterious, with a sinister undertone, which really fits the whole villain and old London vibe. Point is, I f*cking love it!! This is just a silly me thing, but I get very attached to game music, so if they’re good then I tend to like the game even more.
Speaking of London, I initially thought another London-based setting would be boring and overdone, and IkeVamp is also based in Europe. But I get it. They need the “we’re the Queen’s dogs who will do all the dirty work for Her” set-up. I also appreciate not having to learn 5 million new terms related to a new world, so it ended up really working for me.
Dangerous for my wallet
Since I installed the app, I’ve found it really hard to control my spending. This is a genuine concern for me because I am one of those people that suck at adulting and bad with money in general. It’s also why I took such a long break from mobile otome – the gacha system is addicting and on many occasions, I do not have the patience to wait for a brand new set of tickets to come on the following day.
To be frank, this business model is quite exploitative. But I think they work because for those who are patient, it makes the game accessible, unlike pay-per-route which requires you to actually pay to read. From a financial sense, it makes more sense for someone like me to engage with pay-per-route mobile otome because it helps control my spending, and they work out to be way cheaper overall. It’s just hard because…I like what I like. Ugh!
Summary
I initially downloaded this game for fun. I really thought I was just going to try it out and then wait for the English version….but here I am.
Although early days, I think I can easily say this is my favourite game from the Ikemen series. The art is gorgeous, the music is beautiful, the story is well-written, Kate is a fabulous protagonist, the characters are interesting, honestly the list goes on. I am probably biased because I am already a fan of the Ikeseries franchise, but for some reason a lot of their games just really tick the boxes for me.
Now that they’ve started releasing story events for IkeVil, I think that’s where I’ll be putting most of my dollars next. I’m going to take the main plot reading day-by-day and slow down on the gacha because otherwise I’ll end up on the streets for real.
You’ll probably see me posts more about IkeVil since I’m obsessed with it a very normal amount – make sure to stick around. Keep reading if you want to read some steamy bits I translated from William’s route. Thank you for reading this far!
Ikemen Villains first impression rating: 10/10
Their first night together – a snippet
This is a snippet from William’s route, 〜Fervido: 燃えるような〜 プレミアムストーリー。Hope you enjoy!
“I don’t want to let go yet.”
As if being pulled in by his red eyes, our lips were pressed together.
From the point where our cold lips touched, a slight heat was born.
It was warm, soft, wet, and somewhere, sweet.
William: “….. Nn…”
(——!?)
At the moment when a sigh overflowed, I suddenly came to my senses.
Kate: “….. Ah……”
At the closest distance we had ever been, our gazes intertwined.
Instantly, my whole body felt warm and fuzzy.
(…. Ahh, I….)
(Why did he suddenly… kiss me like that?)
Kate: “Um, what was that…?! Ack-!”
As I tried to step back, my foot stumbled and my body began to fall, but something caught and supported me firmly.
It took me a moment to realise that the thing wrapped around my waist was William’s hand.
(…. Eh…?)
As a sweet and fading sensation ran through me, my legs lost their strength and I nearly collapsed.
Kate: “I-I’m sorry…..”
William: “….Why are you apologising?”
Kate: “Because… because just now….”
William: “Because it’s “wrong”?”
Kate: “Ah…….”
His fingers traced the outline of my confused cheek, tempting me from a distance where it seemed like he was about to touch me, but not quite.
(Why is he asking me something like that?)
(Yet he said it before…)
(To kiss without asking for permission…. is a grave sin.)
William: “……….”
His gaze is waiting for “my” answer.
He’s asking whether I know if it’s truly “wrong” for me, and whether I’m choosing it for myself.
(I don’t know…)
(Something like that… I don’t know…)
Kate: “Wh… when I’m with you, I… I can’t be myself anymore.”
Something poured into me from him, something that was neither medicine nor poison, and it melted into my body, transforming me without me realising it.
It dragged out desires I didn’t even know I had.
Kate: “I’m not the kind of person….. who would do something, like this……”
William: “…. Is that a “good” thing? Or is it “wrong”?”
William looked at me again as if he was testing me, asking me.
He is waiting for me to answer, waiting for me to choose.
Kate: “I don’t, know…”
William: “Hmm?”
Kate: “That’s why… “
William: “What’s good for you, or bad for you…you should remember it with your body.”
Kate: “I still… don’t know”
Kate: “…. So please… teach me.”
William: “…. Mm. Alright.”
I seized his lips, tracing their curve, this time taking control of the kiss.
We tangled together as we slipped into the room and locked the door.
The usual scent of clean linen in the room was mixed with the fragrance of roses coming from William, making my head spin.
Kate: “……. Nnh… ahh….”
William: “… Nh…. hehe, come here.”
William chuckled, his arm still wrapped around me, his hand on my waist, as he pressed his lips to mine.
We were still holding onto each other as we kissed passionately, his arm around my waist and his hand on my neck, his laughter tickling my lips.
William: “If you cling to me like that, all we can do is kiss.”
William: “… If all you want is a kiss, then I don’t mind, but…”
William raises an eyebrow as if testing me.
Although my heart and body were already in a mess with just the kiss, I wanted more, just like he said. Maybe it was my desire speaking.
Kate: “Mmm…”
William: “That’s right… good girl.”
He releases his arm from around my neck, and his palm moves like a reward.
Kate: “………”
Even just tracing my spine over the wet clothes, I almost let out a moan and instinctively covered my mouth with the back of my hand.
William: “…. Kate.”
In a sweet, almost reproachful voice, William called my name and kissed his palm.
Kate: “Uh…..”
William: “Nn…..”
Making adorable kissing sounds, he repeatedly touched his lips as if soothing a baby.
He urged me not to hide and to let him hear my voice.
(…This is unfair…)
I surrendered and slowly lowered my hand.
William: “….”
William smiled happily and gave me a small kiss on the nose.
It continued from earlier, and his palm began to stroke my spine again, causing me to arch my back.
Kate: “Nnh, …..”
William: “….. Is it cold?”
Kate: “No…it’s, not…”
Despite being able to blame the wetness and coldness of my clothes for my moaning, my mind was too consumed by the heat of his touch to think about it.
His hand reached the back of my neck, and he gently untied the tight ribbon that was holding it together.
Kate: “Ahh……!”
His fingertips grazed my sensitive nape, causing a sweet ache deep in my stomach.
If he hadn’t been holding my waist, I would have surely collapsed.
(My body is…acting strange…)
William: “…. That voice just now,”
William: “I want to hear more.”
As if carefully peeling off each petal that covers the stamen of a flower….
The wet clothes clinging to my skin, along with the rational desire to suppress my voice, was slowly taken apart.
Kate: “A…. ahh.. William……!”
William: “….. Hmm?”
~fin~
M’lady I do not know a LICK of Japanese but let me tell you, I need this game like it’s my goddamn life support, I’ve refrained from spending money or wasting my gems rn, but as soon as it gets and English version I’M GOING TO BECOME BROKE AND HOMELESS!!!
Seeing such a raving and relatable review makes me happy haha.
Ahhh thank you for reading my review aka fangirling post hahah FR PREPARE YOUR MONEY BC THIS GAME IS GONNA BREAK UR WALLET AKHDHFJD the moment Cybird release the english version I’ll jump server so quick cos I really wanna enjoy this game with the whole community 🥺💖 I hope they will hurry it up!