izigame.me

I'd heard enough vague whispers about Hatoful Boyfriend to know to keep playing beyond the initial few plays and still was a little 'that's it?' when getting into the additional / less lighthearted stories.
Then I chose to fulfil the promise.
OH BOY was everything blown wide open after that. SO much more context was given to a number of characters that added a load of additional emotional weight to their stories (Sakuya my beloved) and completely changed my opinion on some others (Kazuaki sweetie I'm so sorry an ugly *** ***** like this would call your story boring 😭). It was also really satisfying to piece bits and pieces together before the reveals happened.
The one thing to note is that the game is a lot more like a story at the point you get into the 'deeper' plot. For me, I was completely drawn in by the new plot and didn't mind at all. YMMV.
For those wondering, it is a bit of a time sink to get 14 endings before the "real" story opens up and I would be wary of saying "just keep going, keep going till it ''gets good''", but I do think that there is enough going on in some of the 14 endings to keep you guessing and provide enough to make retreading some old ground less tedious (I was wondering for the longest time about the conversation between Kazuaki and Shuu in one ending and the chlorine mentioned in another scene). Even if not, the fast-forward makes it possible to get through all 14 endings quite quickly, even doing the first few playthroughs blind.