Genso Manège Review

A review code was used with many thanks to PQube.

La Foire du Rêve

Genso Manège is set in beautifully elegant France, we get to know Emma, our FMC (Female Main Character). Seven years ago, Emma had a traumatic experience. She was left orphaned and has partial memory loss. However, she does remember her parents and the fact that she and her mother are witches. But the traumatic experience has made her lose her powers. After her loss, she is fostered by a kind family and their son, and they move to the countryside.

One day, Emma visits the travelling amusement park La Foire du Rêve. She is immediately drawn to the park and quickly finds her way towards the manége, which is an exact replica of a model her father made when he was alive. There, she meets the director of the park and finds out the employees of the park are trapped in the park by magic. The director hopes Emma has the magic to free them from the park. But will she be able to unlock her powers as a witch again and uncover lost memories to help out the park employees?

The title screen for Genso Manège features an elegant, white carousel design against a dreamy, pastel-colored background filled with star-like sparkles. The game's title is written in an ornate, flowing script, inviting players to "Press Any Button to Start." Published on: LadiesGamers. — The starting screen of the game

Les Monsieurs

We have six routes in Genso Manège, with Arnaud’s route locked at the start. To unlock it, you have to finish Hugo’s Amour ending. The developers of the game have recommended the following route order: Hugo -> Serge -> Crier -> Lyon -> Luciole -> Arnaud.

Hugo

Hugo is the amusement park director and also the leader of the group. He has worked with Rêve for many years and started as the park’s engineer. When Emma meets Hugo in Genso Manège, he instantly makes her feel comfortable. After a sudden reappearance of Emma’s magic, Emma reveals she is a witch, and Hugo is her biggest supporter. He encourages her to start practising her magic again and offers her a job. Hugo has a calming demeanour and never raises his voice. Every employee also has the highest respect for him, and they will follow his command if need be.

This was a good starting route. It had a nice set-up of everyone’s stories, and we got to see how Emma’s magic works. I wasn’t a big fan of the romance in this game, for one reason: the 8-year age difference between them. In this case, it was just a bit weird, and Emma was just too childish for Hugo at that point.

A silver-haired man with a sly smile wears a stylish white suit with a top hat. A glowing chain encircles his neck, and a star-shaped tattoo is visible on his collarbone. The golden light of sunset behind him adds a mysterious yet alluring aura. Published on: LadiesGamers. — The director of the park Hugo. He is chained to Rêve.

Serge

Serge is the administrator of the group and is in charge of the money for Rêve. He constantly worries about their profits and makes sure everyone is keeping to their budget. He puts up a hard front, being the most serious member of the group, he rarely smiles. Except when it comes to his long-time friend Hugo. It’s not that he isn’t nice or not interested, but it just doesn’t come naturally to him.

Emma and Serge have a big age difference, just like Emma and Hugo. But somehow I was less bothered by the relationship with Serge. I even liked their romance in Genso Manège much better. Serge’s route also had some action in it, which was very welcome as I like changing up the pace in every route.

A composed young man with dark green hair and glasses stands in the rain, playing a grand piano. He wears an elegant white and gold military-style uniform, and the backdrop of pillars and lush greenery creates a serene, enchanting atmosphere. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Serge is the administrator. He also plays the piano on rainy days.

Crier

When performing at the Rêve Crier seems happy and bubbly. But when Emma speaks to him, that exterior quickly changes. He is a softer version of the tsundere character, he acts like he doesn’t like Emma, but behind the scenes, he does nice things for her. Crier is the odd one out of the group because he can leave the amusement park when he likes. So next to doing performances for the park guests, he has to do the shopping for the other park members. But during shopping, Crier always has time to taste some sweets. Safe to say he loves good foods and sweets.

Like Hugo’s route, this one was pretty tame. There weren’t any big plots or reveals instead an overarching theme of forgiveness and chasing dreams. Overall the route was sweet and I liked seeing Crier and Emma fall in love, they were so adorably young together.

A blond-haired young man with bright blue eyes smiles cheerfully while enjoying a slice of golden, flaky pastry. He wears a blue bow tie and an orange vest, exuding a friendly and inviting demeanor in a sunlit café setting. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Crier is a performer at the park. He isn’t a big fan of Emma, but he does love his sweets.

Lyon

Lyon in Genso Manège is a bit of a weird creature. Lyon always, and I mean ALWAYS, wears his bunny costume. We never see him without the costume, and whenever discussed, the answer is that he just enjoys the suit. Lyon is the mascot for the park and tries his best to make the guests happy. Lyon is absolutely precious, kindhearted, almost always happy and calm. He is one of the employees who takes an immediate liking to Emma and makes her feel welcome. This route had a bigger plot than some of the other ones, mostly revolving around the magic in Rêve. Lyon and Emma do some detective work around the park and uncover a lot of secrets along the way, even some secrets about each other. This makes for a super sweet romance between the two where they support each other and the secrets they both hold and each of them wants the other’s dreams to come true.

This bad ending though… be prepared for a sad, bittersweet ending. Or just play the Amore route and finish Lyon’s story on a good note.

A small, rabbit-like creature with long ears and a golden star on its forehead is dressed in a matching white and gold uniform. It enjoys a meal, holding a fork delicately while seated at a dining table filled with food. The soft lighting adds to the warm and whimsical charm. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Lyon always wears his bunny mascot suit. We have never seen him without it.

Luciole

In the prologue, we don’t see much from Luciole. He is the park’s engineer and will only show himself when there is an absolute need for his work. Luciole is like a teenage boy, not wanting to come out of his room unless he is bribed. Right away, he lets it be known that he has an aversion to magic and even discourages Emma from freeing them from Rêve. Right away I knew this was going to be the topic of his route. And it did not disappoint. This route in Genso Manège was different from the others in so many ways, especially the romance. It happened over a longer time and pretty slowly which I enjoyed. Eventually, of course, they fall in love and I loved seeing Luciole’s protectiveness.

A young man with teal hair and piercing green eyes peers through an open window, holding a wrench in one hand. He wears a white and gold military-style uniform with a hood, illuminated by the soft glow of a lantern. The background is a blend of starlit hues, enhancing the mysterious ambiance. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Bit of an oddball, Luciole. He is the park’s engineer.

Arnaud

Arnaud is the first LI (Love Interest) we meet in Genso Manège. His family took Emma in when her father died and he has lived with her ever since. He works as a journalist and has travelled the world reporting on all kinds of stories. Arnaud is super protective of Emma and he constantly worries about her. At first, it just seems like brotherly love, but quickly, it’s clear he loves her. Even in every other route, he supported Emma with whatever decisions she made and sometimes made decisions for her benefit, even though it was not always the right choice.

I was into Arnaud’s route immediately. Arnaud made jokes about loving her from the beginning and I was all for it. The romance mixed in with the action-packed plot was a good choice for the final route. This was the perfect ending to the game and probably my favourite character.

A screenshot of Genso Manège: A pink-haired young man in a dark uniform and beret smiles warmly at the protagonist, who appears flustered in her elegant white and gold uniform with a tiny crown on her head. They share a close moment, with his hand resting on her shoulder against a bright sky backdrop. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Arnaud is Emma’s foster brother and a very good journalist.

Visuals

Wow, this is where the game truly shines. The game is set in alternative France, so everything has a delicate and soft look. Every character has his own colour palette and the CGs look super soft and aesthetically pleasing.

But the star of the show is the Opening song video clip. The design of Genso Manège is combined with a 3D model of Emma’s manège and all kinds of objects levitate around it. Sometimes I just watched it for fun to admire the graphics.

Overall Thoughts

Emma

Emma was the least enjoyable character in the game. Most of the time she had no personality and wandered around clueless for most of the stories, not wanting to be a burden to anyone. Or just not listening to anything her coworkers were telling her, and working herself into trouble. They could have given her a little more personality or at least made her more sassy to spice things up.

System

At first, the system of Genso Manège was difficult to work with. The layouts of the menus differed from the ones I had seen before, so navigating everything was a bit of a struggle at the start. And NO chapter select OR skip to the next choice, these two things are important to me when playing an Otome game because you want to skip the parts that you have read already. So every time you start a new route, you have to hold L to skip through the Prologue.

But the system looks amazing. It fits the game perfectly and I can see that a lot of time and dedication went into making the graphics of Genso Manège.

Text

When playing certain routes, the text in the dialogue box didn’t fit at times. Lines are cut off and continued in the next dialogue box. I think this might be due to translations, but it looked weird and made the reading difficult.

A young girl with soft pink hair and striking blue eyes gazes forward with a look of wonder. She wears a white sailor-style blouse and holds a glowing, crystalline star in her hands. The background is filled with a dreamy, celestial atmosphere of hexagonal light flares and swirling star patterns. Published on: LadiesGamers. — The mini-game. Tap when the star is in the right place.

Mini game

Emma is a witch and when she practises her magic, we get to do a mini-game. You get 30 seconds to collect as many stars as you can to get a perfect score. Then there’s a big star with scale itself and we have to tap at the right moment to make it fit. Adding a mini-game was welcome, it gives you something else to do when playing the routes. But the game was the same every time, so after a while it got redundant. A bonus is that after completing the mini-game the first time, you get the option to skip it and it will not have any effect on the story.

Conclusion for Genso Manège

There are a lot of good elements there in Genso Manège. There are also some tiny details that bothered me, and if fixed, would make the game a lot better. That being said I still think that it’s a fun and adorable Otome game. It is beautiful to look at, has great characters and even an interesting story. If you are a fan of Otome games, you will enjoy this one.

Final verdict: I like it