If you’ve ever carefully planned out a stat-raising schedule, reloaded a save file to find that one missing affection point, or printed a walkthrough to make sure you unlock every CG…you may already know the unique magic of 90s dating sims 🎀 So when I heard that Snowkissed Romance was inspired by classics such as Angelique and the Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side series, I knew I wanted to learn more.
As someone who’s spent years guiding readers through the labyrinth of otome games, I was especially curious about how this new title balances nostalgic gameplay with familiar modern mechanics. I had the chance to chat with the team about their influences, replayability aspects and what otome fans can look forward to when the game launches this Spring.
About the game ❄️
Title: Snowkissed Romance
Release: Spring 2026
Platform: Steam (PC/Mac)
Developer: Lovely, Inc.
The story
During your final school break before college in December 1994, you vacation with your BFF in a mystical mountainside town in Northern Japan. What begins as a peaceful holiday at your aunt’s ski resort quickly shifts when your older brother crashes with his three college roommates, who also happen to be your childhood friends who moved away years ago.
Over the course of three in-game weeks, you’ll navigate resurfacing memories, new emotions, and branching romantic paths. Whether you pursue a childhood crush, explore a multi-love (harem) route, deepen friendships, or end the season alone, your journey will be uniquely shaped by your stats, personality, and emotional choices.
Key features
- Time-management, stat-building, and mini-games
- Dynamic personality evolution shaped by zodiac sign, blood type, choices, and daily activity, as well as appearance customisation
- Built-in RNG (Random Number Generation) and route variation, ensuring no two playthroughs unfold the same way
- Partial English voice acting with David Matranga as Ren Usui, Kaiji Tang as Yoh Moriyama, Aaron Dismuke as Kichirou Ishii and Jessie-James Grelle as Shinichirou Matsubara
Character customisation
Collaboration news
Since Snowkissed Romance‘s successful Kickstarter campaign in June 2025, development has been steadily ongoing. Earlier this month, the team at Lovely, Inc. announced their official collaboration with G-angle. The Tokyo-based creative studio is creating the game’s official key visuals and cinematic illustrations in that signature 90s shoujo style. G-angle’s credits include Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Tekken 8, Hypnosis Mic -Dream Rap Battle-, 18TRIP and more.
A chat with Lovely, Inc.
I had the pleasure of asking Kayla and Yana — best friends, otome enthusiasts and co-founders of Lovely, Inc. — a few questions about their upcoming release. So get comfy, grab a mug of your favourite hot drink, and let’s dive in! 💌
You’ve mentioned being inspired by classics like Angelique and the Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side series — something I’m sure many longtime otome fans will love to hear. What parts of those games really stuck with you when creating Snowkissed Romance?
“When it comes to the Tokimeki series,” said Yana, “What I think we love most about it is how it feels like such a realistic gamification of romancing someone. You have the stats, which you want to build in a certain way that matches the vibe of your love interest. And on top of that, you may not even meet the guy you’re after if you don’t plan out your days and weeks right. For example, you want an artist boyfriend? You’re going to need to join the art club.”
“Exactly, you feel totally immersed, right?” added Kayla, “Even thinking about how you can talk to your friends in Tokimeki to check your love meter and get advice. This is how it is in real life, to an extent, right? You want to talk to your friends about your crush and where you’re at with it.”
“When it comes to Angelique, we were inspired in a very different way,” Kayla continued. “When we played the original Angelique from 1994, we were struck by its magical atmosphere. From the tarot card reader to the love stories of the mermaid deities you can uncover, we wanted to bring that same magic to Snowkissed Romance’s setting, Yukihari. Even the RNG of Angelique creates that magical feeling, like anything can happen. You might load the same save file and have someone knock at your door, then reload and find no one there. You might visit one guardian’s office and discover another guardian there, sparking jealousy. Those surprise elements make the game dynamic, challenging, and fun.”
“That surprise factor is a huge part of the replayability, too.” Yana added. “We love that beyond dialogue choices in Angelique, you can select your zodiac sign and blood type to kick off your initial chemistry with everyone, which is influenced by those factors, and that’s something we carry into our game. But we take it a step further with our personality system because it doesn’t just affect how the guys feel about you. It shapes your true personality, as in how you react to situations as well. Overall, we were deeply inspired by Angelqiue and Tokimeki’s gameplay elements, but we transformed and expanded them in ways that feel uniquely our own.”
The game is described as “gameplay-driven,” which immediately caught my attention. What does this look like for players? What kinds of things will we be managing or juggling?
“When we say Snowkissed Romance is gameplay-driven, we truly mean it because gameplay is abundant!” Kayla explained. “To give you a sense of it, we can walk you through a typical day.”
“You wake up in the morning and step out into the penthouse floorplan of the resort. Through RNG, different characters may be hanging out in different locations each day, so you’ll see their chibi icons in different rooms from the floorplan map. Maybe there’s someone on the balcony working out, someone else is in the kitchen cooking, or another person is just lounging in the living room. You can click on them for small voiced events, or choose activities that raise specific stats, like working out to increase fitness or spending extra time in front of the mirror to boost charm.”
“Before you head out, you’ll want to check the newspaper to see what the weather’s like,” Yana added. “That might influence your plans. If you need money, you can pick up the phone and ask for a shift at the resort café. If there’s room on the schedule, you’re invited down for a mini-game where you have to make drinks with the correct ingredients in the right order, all within a time limit. It’s a really fun mini-game, but also totally optional. You can also try to get money by asking your older brother, Toma!”
“After your morning is through, you move to the world map, and from there, it’s completely up to you how you spend the day!” Kayla continued. “The time slots you have for activities are morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. You can visit locations like the ski slopes or the shopping mall, keeping in mind that each might take up different amounts of time. You can go alone, with the whole group, or take a chance and ask one of the guys on a solo date. When you ask, you have the option to give a gift to increase affection and improve your odds.”
“On the date itself, you’ll navigate dialogue choices,” Yana added, “but meanwhile, your stress level is rising from working and socializing. So you’ll need to balance that too. Maybe you visit the onsen to destress, and you realize you can throw a special item in the onsen to discover some secrets of Yukihari. Then, when you return to the penthouse at night, the floorplan changes again. RNG determines who’s around. Back in your room, you might find a voice message waiting for you on your totally 90s Tamagotchi-looking messenger.”
“By week two, you can even attempt to ask someone for a sleepover at night.” Kayla continued, “We call this ‘MoodBun Mode,’ because it’s a mini game where you’ll have to choose the right bunny emoticon to strike the correct emotional cues and earn late-night time together.”
“And if the weekend is approaching, you’ll want to plan ahead for the festival. There’s a tarot mini-game where you can buy spellwork to influence your fate, a scavenger hunt, and a blessings tree where you can wish for affection boosts or stat increases. And of course, you can watch the fireworks with your chosen love interest.”
“As weeks two and three unfold, if one love interest is pulling ahead in points, you’ll begin to unlock major route cutscenes,” Yana noted, “Though you can still stray and discover alternate endings. For example, going for Kichirou the whole three weeks takes you on one path, but dating Yoh for the first two, then changing to go for Kichirou will be a different kind of end.”
“And players can even try to keep certain characters at equal point values to experiment with harem-style dating and collect a wide variety of endings.” Kayla added, “And of course, at every stage, you’re managing time, money, stress, relationships, and personality growth. The story responds to you.”
How many love interests will we be meeting, and without spoilers, of course, how different do their routes feel from one another?
“In total, it’s five, but I’d say we have three main love interests at the core of Snowkissed Romance,” Kayla explained, “and the two additional routes are harder to unlock and feel very different in tone.”
“Even the three main guys each offer a distinct emotional experience,” Yana noted. “Their personalities, pacing, and route structures are intentionally different. One route might lean more into emotional slow burn, another into tension and rivalry, and another into warmth and emotional comfort. The scenes, conflicts, and even the types of choices you make vary depending on who you pursue.”
“And it’s not just about three linear endings,” Kayla continued. “There are multiple types of outcomes. You can reach full romance endings, shorter love endings, friendship endings, bad ends, and deeper lore-driven endings that uncover more about Yukihari itself. If you experiment with timing and affection points, you might even unlock unexpected scenarios, including harem-style paths.”
“We really wanted each route to feel like a different story within the same world,” Yana said. “Your choices, your personality build, and even when you switch interests, can dramatically change how things unfold. There’s even one route in particular that I think people will not expect, but to avoid spoilers, we won’t say anything more about that.”
For fans who like to aim for 100% completion, how does Snowkissed Romance reward multiple playthroughs?
“For completionists, Snowkissed Romance isn’t going to be straightforward because we built it with replayability in mind from the ground up,” Yana explained. “The RNG system is layered throughout the experience, which means no two playthroughs unfold exactly the same way.”
“There are over a thousand scenes in the game,” Kayla added. “Even if you pursue the same love interest twice, you likely won’t see the exact same sequence of events. Floorplan encounters rotate, date scenarios vary, hidden moments trigger under different conditions, and even certain voiced messenger messages appear randomly.”
“Your personality build also plays a huge role,” Yana continued. “You might focus on charm and social stats in one run, then prioritize independence or intelligence in another. That changes not only your compatibility, but also how you react in scenes and what kinds of dialogue options appear.”
“Dates can unfold differently depending on where you choose to go and how you spend your time,” Kayla said. “You might discover completely new secrets about Yukihari or unlock rare interactions that didn’t appear before. The weather is based on RNG, guys saying yes or no is based on RNG and Affection, there’s even a small chance of guys coming to your door at night to ask you out.”
“We really wanted replayability to feel meaningful,” Yana added. “It is not just about collecting CGs. It is about uncovering new layers of the world, and that’s what makes Snowkissed Romance so immersive.”
The collaboration with G-angle is very exciting news. What has it been like working with the studio on some of the game’s visuals?
“Working with G-angle has honestly been an incredible experience,” Kayla shared. “From the beginning, they really understood the classic 90s shoujo style we were aiming for. They’ve brought our vision to life in a way that feels both elevated and authentic to that time.”
“They created all of the game’s route CGs, group event CGs, and childhood sprites.” Yana stated. “And I think what impressed us most is how professional and collaborative they’ve been. We would describe something very specific in terms of atmosphere or character expression, and they would come back with artwork that captured it almost perfectly. They’re prompt, organized, and genuinely invested in the project and supporting us as indie creators.”
“100%,” Kayla added, “They don’t just execute. They contribute creatively. It really feels like a partnership.”
What drove your decision to include partial English voice acting, and has there been a particular moment during recording that made you think, “Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind for this character”?
“We actually experimented with partial English voice acting for the first time in our last release, My Love for You is Evermore, and it added so much emotional texture to the experience,” Kayla explained. “Even short voiced lines can add so much immersion. We did so only for video call scenes; it’s an office game, so that worked. But honestly, it added a gamified feel too. We knew we had to keep working with voiced elements in our games.”
“For Snowkissed Romance, we really wanted to do even more voice work.” Yana added. “And this game does have a lot more, even if we didn’t do full voice acting yet, though we hope to in the future.”
“Even knowing we wanted to have more voice acting included this time, we developed each character’s personality very clearly before casting,” Yana added. “We knew their emotional cadence, their tone, how they would tease, how they would hesitate. That made the casting process very intentional.”
“There was only one case where we even had a certain voice in mind early on,” Kayla continued. “That was David Matranga. We worked with him before as Minoru in My Love for You is Evermore. And one of his iconic shoujo roles is Usui Takumi in Maid-sama. That character was a big inspiration for Ren in Snowkissed Romance, so when we wrote for Ren, it was like we could just hear his voice as we wrote his lines. It had to be him.”
“And there absolutely were moments in the recording sessions where we just looked at each other and said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly it,’” Yana said. “That happened a lot, especially with Aaron Dismuke. He really just nailed Kichirou’s dry effect. It’s such a surreal feeling hearing a character you’ve written for years suddenly speak back to you.”
As fellow fans of the genre, what made you want to create a 90s shoujo-inspired romance title in today’s otome game landscape?
“As fellow fans of the genre, we really trace a lot of our earliest inspirations back to the 90s,” Yana shared. “Some of our favorite series, and honestly our introduction to anime and romantic storytelling, came from that era. Titles like Cardcaptor Sakura or even Inuyasha shaped how we think about emotional color in romance.”
“The 90s were also incredibly important historically,” Kayla added. “That was when otome as a genre truly began to take form. Angelique is often cited as one of the foundational titles. In a way, it feels like that era represents otome’s birthday. We are honored to create a game that pays homage to that.”
“Exactly,” Yana continued. “As women creating within this genre, it felt meaningful to revisit that foundation. At a time when most games were not being designed with women in mind, Keiko Erikawa (the creator of Angelique) helped pioneer a space where female players and their romantic fantasies took center stage. That broke boundaries. It proved that stories focused on women mattered. We carry that spirit with us.”
“Absolutely. We are inspired by more than just an era’s aesthetic, but the meaningful changes that have come from those eras. And there are more eras like that,” Kayla added. “So I want to say, Snowkissed Romance definitely won’t be our last period piece.”
Finally, what’s one moment or feature in Snowkissed Romance that you’re personally the most excited for players to experience?
“Honestly, when the demo first came out, one of my favorite moments was seeing players react to the messenger messages,” Yana shared. “Watching people discover those little voiced notes and reacting so positively was so fun to see.”
“As for the full game, I’m really excited for players to explore the compatibility menu,” she continued. “It’s one of those systems that quietly affects so much beneath the surface, and I think once people realize how deeply it influences their playthrough, it’s going to be a really fun discovery. So go talk to Shinichirou at the cafe and have him check. Also, the design is really cute!”
“For me, thinking about the full game… it’s the tarot cards,” Kayla added. “Each card in the oracle deck is personally meaningful. I wrote upright and reversed meanings for every single one, and they tie directly into themes found throughout Yukihari (the game’s setting, loosely based on Niseko in Japan). I’m really excited for players to get their first reading at the festival. Honestly, I would love to release the deck as merchandise in the future.”
Final thoughts
If you’ve been missing the strategy of classic stat-raising otome games, or have always wanted a game where you truly shape the protagonist’s personality, beyond a few text choices, Snowkissed Romance is definitely one to keep an eye on. You can wishlist it on Steam in anticipation of its launch in Spring, and follow the team on socials (Instagram | X) for updates. I’ll definitely be watching its development closely!
All images and media used: Snowkissed Romance | Lovely, Inc.
As always, I’ll be here to help you find your way through the otome labyrinth 🐇
