Pick My Heart Chapter 1 (Nintendo Switch) Review

The story follows young Sota and his friend and - slight - love interest Yuina. After a brief interaction between those two, we learn that Sota has won tickets to a five-star hotel on a beautiful private island. Yes, this is the perfect chance for two friends and potential lovebirds to spend some quality time together, but, as is customary in date sim visual novels (and occasionally in life as well), Sota will also meet… more girls! The private island vacation is only one half of the reward, as Sota is actually required to be the judge of a local beauty contest, which of course means getting to meet the contestants. Yes, these gals, along with Yuina, are the "paths" that Sota can choose. There's a catch in this romantic visual novel, though, and that catch is that, apart from Sota's friend, the rest of his harem is comprised of actual Greek Goddesses masquerading as anime stereotypes, so there's the elegant and queen-like Haru, stern fitness junkie Tomoe, naughty and flirty Aimi, and the fun rascal that is Emiko, who will be the host of the event.

The few days that Sota will enjoy in the island will revolve around learning of their secret, interacting with the girls, and essentially choosing who you want to be your girl. The beauty contest at hand is basically the Judgement of Paris story from Greek mythology where the titular hero is "tasked" with giving a Golden Apple to the most beautiful amongst Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. Now, if you expect something original to happen due to the promising concept behind it all, then you are probably new to the genre of romantic visual novels.

Sadly, the fact that you get to meet actual goddesses doesn't really matter. Apart from the mystery of why this beauty concept is happening, which is something that will remain hidden from the player up until the final chapters, the rest of the experience is pretty much the same as in every other visual novel of its kind, with the writing reflecting that 100% as the deities with whom Sota will flirt, act like generic anime girls. They giggle, they tease, they get angry - they are 18-year-olds, not beings that have walked the earth for millennia.

Pick My Heart is a very comfortable read. The length of each segment, and the "adventure" as a whole, is mighty fine, and the whole thing has a very strong holiday feel. You are basically on a vacation, enjoying the warm summer breeze, the beautiful, sparkling sea, and the lush forests that decorate the island. It's all very relaxing. Emotive? Not really. Few if any will feel anything here, with both the romance as well as the humour being super mild. It's also hard to care about any of the girls, and it's extra hard to care about the main protagonist, who has the charisma of a bowl of saltless soup, yet has managed to charm a group of stunning, immortal cutties. Oh, sure, he is supposed to be a placeholder for the one holding the gamepad, but every time he opens his mouth it makes it impossible to suspend your belief, and accept that this guy has bewitched a beautiful girl, immortal or not.

Despite the flaws mentioned so far, this generally leans towards the fun side of the scale, as long as if you aren't expecting much of it. The artwork is pretty good too. The girls are pretty indeed, and they are slightly animated making them feel more real and "tangible," the outfits of the Goddesses, even their casual clothes, are nicely crafted, and the backgrounds are top notch. If there's a big flaw on the technical side of things that's not on the audio-visuals but on lack of the typical options available in most VNs, like how one can't change text speed or the fact that there's no fast-forward button. As a final note, the info about the product on offer are an even bigger mess…

This is the complete edition of Love Elysium: Secret of the Goddess. Why the completely altered title? Who knows! What does this complete edition offer? The inclusion of a digital art book. Where can you find that? Well, you unlock the option after the finale, but must still enter Nintendo's store to download the artwork, whereas almost all VNs have a gallery as a simple mode… and for some reason, even after waiting for quite some time, the one writing this can't access said DLC. Being the first chapter makes its price tag quite high as well, so it would be recommended to wait for a very, very good discount, like the one that was available during the writing of this article.