Release Date: September 20, 2022 (North America)
Developers:  Otomate
Publishers:  Idea Factory International
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

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Amnesia: Later x Crowd is a two-in-one fandisk of Amnesia™: Memories featuring two games previously only released in Japan. The events of Later x Crowd follows through the aftermath of the story in Amnesia: Memories. That being said, it is highly recommended to play Amnesia: Memories first, before going into this title.

SYNOPSIS

AMNESIA: Later

Beginning with the enchanting NEW WORLD, you can unlock four different story scenarios, ranging from a study of the many sides of Waka in WAKA’S WORLD to AFTER STORY, which takes place after the events of Amnesia: Memories. Depending on the routes unlocked in AFTER STORY, you may even hear wedding bells…

AMNESIA: Crowd

Enjoy even more story scenarios, like the thrilling what-if story of SUSPENSE, where you must interact with your environment to escape danger in each route. Plus, play a variety of café mini-games in WORKING or card games in TRUMP, earning Orion Points to unlock events.

_{-(Idea Factory Int’l Official Website)}

ART AND MUSIC

Director:	Mikiharu Yamaguchi
Scenario Writers:	Nazuna Kamura, Yue Mochizuki, Yuumi Yamada, Nana Mizusawa, Nishimura Yuu
Artists/Illustrators:	Hanamura Mai (Character Design), Natsume Uta (Chibi)
BGM:	Hijiri Anze, Takago Azuma
Composers:	rino, Hijiri Anze, chokix, Takago Azuma, Ken Masutani, Akiyo Toda,
Vocals:	Oda Kaori, Mao

Voice Acting

Tetsuya Kakihara as “Shin“ – Victor Frankenstein (Code Realize), Isora (7’Scarlet), Carmen (BUSTAFELLOWS), Clyde King (Iris School of Wizardry), Witch of Ruin (Even if Tempest), Uguisumaru (Touken Ranbu)

Kisho Taniyama as “Ikki“ – Ren Tsukimori (Kiniro no Corda), Natsuki (Utapri), Kasumimaru (Yo-Jin-Bo), Franklen Ristling (Princess Nightmare), Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Jean Kirschtein (AoT)

Akira Ishida as “Kent“ – Zara (Black Wolves Saga), Souji Okita (BakuRenka), Shikishima (Bad Apple Wars), Shuya Tokita (CLOCK ZERO),  Byakuya Togami (Danganropa), Shuusei (Psycho-Pass)

Hino Satoshi as “Toma” – Etou Kiriya (Kiniro no Corda), Leo Crawford (MidCind), Orochi (Dairoku), Noiz (DRAMAtical Murder), Kairi Tojo (Bad Medicine)

Kouki Miyata as “Ukyo“ –  Ieyasu Tokugawa (Nightshade), Chichiri (Fushigi Yugi Suzaku Ibun), Peter White (Heart no Kuni no Alice), Kanata Hoshino (Glass Heart Princess), Houchou Toshiro (Touken Ranbu)

Hiromi Igarashi as “Orion“ – Nana Ogasawara (Corspe Party), Kaede Ishimi (KLAP!!), Shouma Enda, (AI Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative)

Hidenaori Takahashi “Waka“ – Asmodeus (Cafe Enchante), Ishikirimaru (Touken Ranbu), Ayama (Side Kicks!), Van Kiryuuin  (Utapri Dolce Vita), Dedue (FE3H)

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MAIN CHARACTERS

The order in which these fandisks came out in Japan was: Amnesia: Later first (2012), followed by Amnesia: Crowd (2013). So I suggest, playing the two titles in this order.

Since this is a fandisk, there are no route orders you’ll need to be wary of. Play your favs first or save them for last. Whichever is fine. Go wild! As for my playthrough, I made sure to save my best boy for last, Ukyo – just to have that satisfying finish! 🃏 💜

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WALKTHROUGHS:

SHIN

Later:

Story Enjoyment: 6/10
Fan Service: 7/10

Despite the egging, and love advises from Heroine-chan’s besties Sawa and Mine, the ever-so-shy MC is still hesitant when it comes to kissing and touching, so Shin has to hold back as she keeps pushing him away. How they resolved their relationship’s very minute issue was cute, but come on! This is a fandisk. I expect more kisses, more teasing, more canoodling, and what I got was barely holding hands! 😂 Their argument about ‘sudden kisses’ dragged for so long. Hooboi!🙄 This was by far, my least favorite route which was a shocker, as Shin was a top fav of mine in the first game.

Crowd:

Story Enjoyment: 7/10
Fan Service: 7/10

The what-if scenario in the Suspense route was quite random, to be honest. I don’t even know what to think of it. How the heroine ended up lost and trapped somewhere was so arbitrary, and out of nowhere, it didn’t make sense to me.🤷 I did like Shin’s After Story in Crowd and how fun their drunken gaming session at Shinano went . What’s odd to me is that Shin was deemed aggressive via *heroine’s standards* in Amnesia: Later, but in Crowd, he wants to take it slow with her?🤔 Hmm Which is it, sir?

The good thing about playing Shin’s route in Amnesia Later x Crowd was that it reminded me how much of a chokehold Kakki’s “Kono Baka” has on me.😂 Man… this tsun tsun phrase never gets old! Bonus video for laughs (to fellow Kakki fans)!

IKKI

Later:

Story Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Fan Service: 8/10

Just when you thought you’ve escaped the Ikki fanclub rigmarole, guess who’s back?!🙄 Well, the girlies didn’t cause too much havoc this time, but please, I’m so tired of the fan club-bullying arc. I just wished the writers would’ve thought of something else for plot device instead of bringing the fan club BS back. Other aspects in Ikki’s After Story I’ve highly enjoyed were him and the heroine sharing living spaces, his open shirt CG,🥵 the late-night teasing… Seriously, I would’ve preferred these events prolonged instead of seeing the whole Ikki fan club nonsense happen again.🤷

Crowd:

Story Enjoyment: 8/10
Fan Service: 9/10

Now, Ikki’s stories in Crowd, on the other hand, were *chef kiss* so sublime, and unexpectedly so! I loved it! It honestly reminded me why I fell in love with Kiiyan’s voice in the first place (since Kiniro no Corda era)😭 The MATH PUZZLES in his Suspense route were hecking brutal, good lord! 🤡 and best believe I had some words with it. 

KENT

Later:

Story Enjoyment: 10/10
Fan Service: 10/10

Math man is back! And his After stories are better than ever (as expected). This route has everything I’ve wanted in a fandisk: comedy, (satisfying) romance, some good ol’ kissing CG, and most importantly, NO unnecessary conflict thrown at you, just for sake of having it!😤 This, to be frank, was such a nice switch-up from Shin and Ikki’s unneeded drama.

Crowd:

Story Enjoyment: 10/10
Fan Service: 8/10

All of Kent’s routes in Amnesia: Crowd were also the best in terms of development and overall progression with his relationship with the heroine. It was the only route that demonstrated their flourishing future (in detail) together as a couple. I love how carefully they planned their careers as best as possible without compromising each other’s dreams and goals. Everything here was just super! From his totemo kakkoi moment in the Suspense Route to his soft male-wife bits in the After Story! All in all watered my crops on all corners!

TOMA

Later:

Story Enjoyment: 7/10
Fan Service: 7/10

In this After Story, it was interesting how the writers highlighted Toma and the heroine’s codependency with each other. But I guess this is fairly common for yandere characters, and I’m not mad at it in the slightest. In fact, I actually enjoyed their chemistry here. It was also a treat seeing a sassy Heroine-chan acting all clingy to Toma.

I loved Toma in the first game. He is the OG 🚩LI after all, and will forever remain famous for his cage kinks! Come through Cage King-sama!

Crowd:

Story Enjoyment: 9/10
Fan Service: 10/10

Furthermore, Toma’s Crowd After Story was surprisingly good as well! It was unintentionally kinky (or was it?)😳 and even had some really amazing CGs to boot!🥵 It’s everything you’d ever hoped would happen after playing his route in Amnesia Memories!

UKYO

Later:

Story Enjoyment: 9/10
Fan Service: 8/10

I’ll try my best not to be completely biased with Ukyo here, but oh man… how I missed this tragic boy so much??? His After Story episode had some good bits of all the guys secretly sabotaging his food in Meido no Hitsuji (like putting habanero sauce in his pasta) – and Ukyo eating it like it ain’t nothing made it even funnier!🤓😂 I was also surprised to find myself captivated by the evil Ukyo. Excuse me?! No one told me he’s gap moe?

Crowd:

Story Enjoyment: 10/10
Fan Service: 10/10

OK Fam! This route was it for me! My OTP turned 3TP?! Good heavens! 😳 I didn’t think I’d be so into evil Ukyo, but him secretly being a cleaning dork and his taste for expensive things instantly sealed the deal. Ukyo’s After story was literally ‘falling in-love with your partner’s two personalities’ and I absolutely devoured it, and left no crumbs! This was so good because it allowed us to explore more on evil Ukyo’s side of the coin. It’s something I had never really expected to happen (esp. on a fandisk) but oddly enough the writers did such a good job in making this work.😳 So kudos!

HEROINE

She’s back! The OG nameless queen! I’ve defaulted to call my daughter “Heroine-chan”, because why not? I know there have been countless slanders about her during the first game due to the fact that she barely talks. This time around, in Later x Crowd, Heroine-chan gets full dialogues and an actual, adorable personality. We, heroine simps are winning!

I love her to bits and it was such a delight to see her become bold and cheeky when interacting with the guys. I personally adored her during Kent’s and Ukyo’s route the most. In Kent’s route, she pursued a career path on her own & went full-throttle in achieving her dreams, all the while being supportive of her man (even when they had to be on LDR for a while). It was so refreshing to see her realize her own ambitions, not because she wanted to be with Kent in London, but because she actually had her own reasons for staying there. In Ukyo’s route, she was able to exercise the act of forgiveness (towards her bullies), when she let bygones be bygones and allowed them to make a fresh start. As someone who doesn’t normally get overly upset about anything, nor keep grudges, I can actually relate to the heroine’s decisions here. No matter how much it hurts, it’s absolutely pointless and exhausting to hold a grudge against someone, so why not just forgive and focus on healing instead?

I’m so glad Heroine-chan gets redeemed after seven years of living in Orion’s shadow! She deserves this glow up!

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SYSTEM, EXTRAS, AND MINI GAMES

This fandisk offers an ample amount of enjoyable extras that made my gameplay all the more entertaining. Truth be told, I’m actually thankful for these mini-games, and I treat them as a sort of icebreaker that I can engross myself in when I’m feeling a little burned out from all the back-to-back reading. (laughs)

Playing these Mini-games rewards you with “Orion Points” which you can exchange for extra stories in the “Etc.” section of Crowd. These little extra side stories come with adorable CGs. There’s also the Amnesia Quiz which gets you another CG if you’re able to answer all the 20 questions correctly. I’ve accumulated a few hundred points just from repeating the mini games as well as playing poker and blackjack with the boys for hours (lol don’t ask), so I was able to squat on this quiz and have gotten almost all the answers! I might come back to this at some point as the the blank ones are bothering my OC brain so much. Anyway, for now, here’s a cheat guide for the quiz’s Q&A.

Reminiscing Otomate’s older releases (e.g. Norn9, Beastmaster and Prince, Psychedelica Series, etc.) I feel like these minigames were pretty common in their roster of titles back in the PSP/PS Vita era, and I wish they’d integrate these minigames more in today’s newer titles instead of releasing them only as a straight-up visual novel.

I also thought this port was pretty solid. The in-game system was very simple yet modestly beautiful. The localization was done really well too. I barely noticed any errors as they were few and far in between.

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TRAILER

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OVERALL THOUGHTS

Nothing beats nostalgia! I can’t believe we finally got to experience these titles after seven long years of Amnesia drought! My personal rule of thumb when playing a fandisk is to always take my sweet time with it. That way, I can actually enjoy the stories fully without rushing through them. So yeah, I think this game took me more than a week to finish.

According to my switch’s log, I’ve clocked around 60 hours in total playing Amnesia: Later x Crowd. Though this is probably because I played the quiz on repeat over twenty times just to unlock all possible answers. In actuality, I believe you can quickly finish this 2in1 title in 30-35 hours tops. 

For my personal nitpicks, I was lowkey disappointed that we didn’t get a full-blown Waka route. Sure, we get a little romance story on the side with him, but I’m greedy af,😤 and I wanted a full route with branching endings, cherry-on-top-epilogues, and all that jazz! The Waka CG was beautiful though, so I guess I’ll take that over nothing! (cackles) 

⋆ Rika’s Redemption

I remember disliking Rika so much in the first game, but this time around, she’s actually become one of my favorite side characters. I love how they gave Rika a likable backstory. And I adored her bonding moments (as besties) with the heroine! Mine and Sawa were also pretty solid BFFs, and I wish the “Girl’s Party” segment was extended because that section was plainly too short.

⋆ Bromance Wins!

Ikki and Kent’s bromance relationship is top-tier! (I think we can all agree on that). Their dramatic banters and roleplaying on freakin’ math puzzles (of all things lol) had me tittering on the floor.🤣 Their one-brain cell moment was such a great comic relief across all the routes. Honestly, what a great pairing!

⋆ Orion is still MVP!

I’m surprised to see a decent Orion Route in both titles, and oh my goodness! It’s honestly one of the best warming moments in this bundle, make no mistake! I actually cried at the end of Orion’s route in Later, and cried again whenever I see cameos of him in Crowd’s after-stories.😭 Bless this boy!

Comparing both fandisks, I believe Amnesia: Later fell a little short as far as delivering more gratifying after-stories. Apart from Kent’s and Ukyo’s route, the rest were kinda forgettable to me, ngl. Amnesia: Crowd, however, did so well on these aspects. In addition, they’ve added a generous amount of side stories and minigames for you to savor if you’re aching for more Amnesia content. It’s a good thing that this port was a bundle of two-games-in-one. That way, fans of the series are fully fed regardless of which title they favor more than the other.

I wasn’t surprised in the slightest how my LI ranking has changed since the last time I played the first game (which was almost a decade ago). Thankfully, my main man Ukyo hasn’t lost his touch yet and still remained #1 in my book. My second homeboy is still Kent, though, honestly speaking, if it wasn’t for me lusting over the ‘other Ukyo‘, Kent would’ve swooped the number one spot easily!😂 The biggest shocker in this fandisk was Ikki. His route in Crowd really delivered with flying colors, not to mention his CGs were smoking hot.🥵 Toma and his cage antics were undeniably fun (and kinky), so he’s tied with Ikki on third place. Shin’s stories (in both titles) were unfortunately the least bit interesting for me here, in comparison to everyone, so he gets booted last place.

Keep in mind that this game is a fandisk and not a sequel. There won’t be any complicated machinations as far as “plot”. Fandisks are mostly known for slice-of-life bits involving the characters’ day-to-day affairs, which presumably follows after the ‘best ending‘ of the first title. If you are expecting a full-blown entry otome game, with new elaborate content for you to unravel – this title is not it.

Do I recommend this game? YES.
I believe I prattled enough in this review for anyone to determine whether I’ve enjoyed this title or not. (laughs) In closing, I leave you with my two cents:

Amnesia: Later x Crowd is two fandisk titles for the price of one. If you loved Amnesia: Memories and wished for more content with the characters, then this isn’t a question of whether you should get this game or not, but more like ‘when are you going to treat yourself?’ 😆

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