Hatoful Boyfriend was originally released in 2011 for Japan and again in 2014 on Steam; what came to be known as the ‘bird dating game’ was highly popular for some time on Youtube due to the games parodying of the genre.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel quite literally about dating birds. In the original game players took the role of the only female human in an all male bird academy with the goal of the game being to get a boy- uh, birdfriend by the end of the game.
The original game featured a branching plot line which meant it was possible to get several different endings depending on your choices which would also determine who your character ended up with. In total there was fourteen different endings available.
Yesterday Devolver Digital, the publisher, announced that a remastered version of the sequel will be swiftly be released this fall. Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star was originally released in 2012 along with an English version of the game and is a separate game. The new remaster will feature updated visuals and “all the bells and whistles (and chirps) a bird lover could ever want”.
Players will be travelling (presumingly flying) to fantastic new worlds, meeting more birds and finding more romance during the new adventure. Familiar old characters from the original game will be returning and new birds will be joining the story and journey through the winter wonderlands and watercoloured world. New trouble has hatched for the school of St. PidgeoNations and it’s up to the player to save everybirdie while finding love yet again among the cast of birds.
The original Hatoful Boyfriend is available on Steam and expanded versions of the game will be flying onto Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita this Summer which will no doubt excite all lovers of birds on those platforms.
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star will be released this fall for everybirdie on PC, Playstation 4 and Playstatioin Vita. There has been no word yet on a potential Xbox version of either game so for now those users will have to do without a bird related dating game.