Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome is the perfect dating game fans who are looking for an adult otome game. Little Miss Lonesome is made to play on almost any PC running Windows 7 or newer and if available in both a digital and physical edition. If you’ve been looking for a cheap romance game with witty dialogue and great menu design, then this game will be perfect for you.

Like most otome games, the purpose of Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome is centered around telling a tale of romance between the heroin and the beautiful men she has to choose from. The game features multiple routes and endings to unlock to learn more about the characters. The game will unlock playbacks of each scene you experience, and you will have a gallery that expands as you view different scenes.

Overall, this is a pretty easy otome game, especially if you’re trying to get the “true endings.”
It’s pretty easy to figure out the right choices within the game to get with your desired man. There is even a polygamist route that will open up after your play through both of the men’s routes. Be warned that Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome is a bit short when compared to other PC otome titles; it took us about twelve hours to go through all three routes.

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome revolves around a girl named Emma who wants to stay out of everyone’s way. She is much taller than other girls in Japan and was teased when she was younger because of her giant appearance. Even with her attempts to avoid attention in high school being mostly effective, she still accidentally stumbles upon a confession while eating lunch one day.

As it happens, the confession is happening between a classmate and a boy named Miki, who has recently returned to Japan from America. Miki harshly rejects the girl saying, “she isn’t his muse” before walking away and noticing Emma. Miki instantly approaches her; this quickly turns into Emma running away and trying to find. Soon enough, though, she ends up in an empty room with Miki’s arms around her, proclaiming that she is his Muse; he even wants her to come by his house to try on clothes.

Perplexed and terrified by this interaction, Emma tries to go home peacefully but is concerned by Saito, who drags her to Miki’s house against her will. Once there, she begins to learn that Miki is a fashion designer who simply wants to get his clothes known by the world, and Saito is his rough, but kind best friend who wants nothing more than for Miki to realize his dreams.

Before long, Emma finds herself on the path to becoming a top model and falling in love with the two boys. Will you pick the gentle, but submissive Miki or the aggressive Saito to be your one and only?

In the UI category Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome excels. The game allows players to skip dialogue easily and create multiple saves throughout the game. The dashboard doesn’t feel clunky at all, making skipping through reading dialogue or moving to the next dialogue choice easier on the players. The options allow you to adjust the dialogue speed and perfectly control the volume of voices, background music, and the sound effects of the game.

These features make replaying through your second and third route a breeze without you dealing with clunky options that can make you miss new dialogue. The game itself, along with your saves load fast, so that you can quickly jump between parts of the story to unlock all the ending without having to sit through walls of dialogue.

The story itself has a unique premise that stills uses familiar tropes such as the loner who is approached by hot men. The fashion and modeling aspects that are thrown into Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome are enough to make the game pleasurable to play without feeling like your re-reading the same old transformation story. With that said, though, the game does leave a lot to be desired for otome lovers.

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome crafts some truly likable characters out of the trio. The story is part comical and part romance with witty dialogue that will pull you through every route. Sadly, though, we don’t get to see much of Emma’s life outside of her interactions with the two men. There is no best friend or parents for her to vent to or add to her overall character. Emma is simply a loner with no friends or fashion sense.

While you may be able to overlook Emma by projecting yourself, the same can’t be said for Miki and Saito. You do get to see Miki’s dad later in the game, but other than Saito and a stylist friend who makes a brief appearance, Miki falls flat in several ways. The boy is only shown worrying about his fashion, and even in some of his romance scenes with Emma, things feel a bit empty as it's a bit hard to really grasp his feelings for her.

The problem is the same with Saito, but it felt a bit more empty. Since he constantly mentions working for his family who you never meet. You do get to visit his workplace and interact with his co-workers, this is a step-up from Miki in some ways, but since Saito appears to be a family man, it just doesn’t feel right for Emma not to come in contact with them.

The music, while good, isn’t very memorable, and the art style won’t blow your mind. Fashioning Little Miss Lonesomes music isn’t annoying, but doesn’t exactly add to the scenes it's used for. The only animation in the game is the opening movie, which still mostly has still art. The lack of animation is a bit disappointing, and even some of the still scenes can feel a bit off. In many of the kissing scenes, the character’s lips don’t even properly meet.

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome is perfect for rom-com lovers who need a quick romance fix. The game is welcomed to the English market as one of the only PC otome games for women available on platforms like Steam. You just shouldn’t expect to get the 30 plus hours that many visual novel type games usually contain. This can be a bit of a letdown as the main characters feel a bit more hollow than they should. Throughout the story, you find yourself wanting to know more about Saito and Miki, only to be ushered into more modeling talk.

You may also find the unnamed side-characters to be a bit annoying as they only show-up to badger Emma. It would have been great to see more growth on her part or even carry the show on past her first major modeling gig. The dates and sex are also a bit rushed; you don’t really build up a relationship with the boys over time, and even with joke endings, it’s incredibly easy to get their romance ending with little to no knowledge of how otome games work. While this isn’t bad, the bonus polygamy story also suffers from little content and easy choices. Emma’s modeling career can also feel a bit empty as the story as you reaching fame in a comical way.

Thankfully, it is easy to skip around the game to quickly activate the routes you haven’t unlocked yet. This makes replaying the game enjoyable; you even are given the option to directly skip to already unlocked dialogue choices once you’re done reading the newly unlocked dialogue. The options give you a wonderful amount of control over text speed and volume options to make the game perfectly fit your playstyle.

If you can get Little Miss Lonesome when it’s on sale, then it’s a great game that is sure to please the otome fanbase. Many gamers will enjoy the witty comedy, and the short length makes it a perfect choice for those new to otome games. Experienced players of otome games will enjoy the easy to use UI. In addition, the adult scenes are download only, so buying the Steam version allows you to choose whether you want nudity in your playthrough or not. If you like this game, be sure to check out the rest of our gaming section for similar titles.

by Jessica Roar