White Album

Playtime: 40.1 Hours

Finished 14 February 2026.

Played on the Steam Deck; I played a bit of this all the way back in 2023 when it first came out on Steam, but dropped it after a few hours due to a general lack of interest at the time. Decided to stick through with it this time around; definitely had my doubts for the first few routes I did, but I enjoyed it more and more towards the end. Kind of funny that I happened to finish this exactly on Valentine's Day (after midnight on Friday the 13th...), with Rina's route - which happens to be one of my favorites.

Finished all 7 of the character routes, but did not bother trying to get every scene variation or every dialogue option; those will take several more playthroughs which is absolutely not worth it to me. I think I got all of the achievement-related relationship scenes (date, sick visit, Valentine's, etc.) at least, so it's basically a few minor variations that are left. I also didn't do the "Normal" route which basically requires you to avoid doing anything.

Character ranking: Rina = Sayoko >> Misaki = Yuki > Haruka = Akira >> Mana >> Eiji >>>> Yayoi

Route ranking: Rina > Sayoko > Misaki >>>> Yuki >>>> Haruka >> Mana >>>> Yayoi

Having played WA2 first, I think it's kind of interesting to come back to this prior entry to see the similarities and differences between the two. It's kind of worth noting that this release is based off of the 2010 PS3 remake of the original 1998 VN, including completely redone visuals, voice acting, removed H-scenes, and Sayoko's character & route. That said, the overall format of the game seems to be true to the original, and very reminiscent of ToHeart, which came out just the previous year in 1997. As a result, despite some iterations on the formula, the fundamental feel of the game is still more or less that of an old dating sim. The game is based on a calendar, and you can spend each day hanging out with whoever's available, accruing hidden "relationship points" that determine which route you end up on and triggering a number of more plot- and character-focused events for a specific heroine.

A new mechanic specific to this game is the addition of a more elaborate conversation system and stats. Outside of special events, hanging out with someone on any regular day initiates a conversation dialogue, where you can pick one of several different topics to talk about (Small Talk, Hobbies, Entertainment, Literature, Romance). Each character has different dialogue trees for these, allowing you to dig into different aspects of their personalities and lives, and there's quite a number of interlocking triggers between characters; for example, talking about art with Misaki will eventually give you a prompt to take Yuki on a date to the art museum, and various conversations with Rina unlock some chats with Mana, who happens to be a fan. There's also a very vague "stat" system attached to this; as you talk about each topic more, you can level up each of the 5 categories (starting at Level 1, and maxing out at Level 3), unlocking different 'tiers' of conversations with each character. The implementation is generally fairly complex if trying to go for 100% completion, but otherwise does a surprisingly good job at making the world feel more alive, with lots of characters having interactions or discussions with or about other characters.

However, the first WA feels a bit constrained by its format. Piggybacking on the success of ToHeart, White Album also gives you the choice of 7 different heroines to choose from (6 in the original release). As a result, the different routes for each character are fairly short and simple, revolving around a number of short events in a relatively short span of time across the winter months. Since the game doesn't really give you much context for Touya's existing relationship with Yuki, she's not really given a particularly special place most of the time, and she feels kind of inconsequential in a lot of the other routes. Even given that the idea of being separated from Yuki is a central driver of the drama in this game, it's hard to truly care without having anything to contrast against; this was done much better in WA2, where the opening chapter sets up the relationship between Haruki & Setsuna/Kazusa that carries over into the other two parts of the game. Ultimately, both the sheer number of routes and the entire schedule system (despite the interesting conversation system) serve to undermine the overall feel of the game; as an observer of the world, I don't feel like there was enough weight placed on the fact that you're technically in an existing relationship.

As mentioned, there are 7 main routes in the game (plus a normal ending if you stay in your room the entire time I guess), which vary greatly in quality from my experience. By extension, the characters associated with each route are also kind of a mixed bag. The main "True Love" route where you stay loyal to Yuki is honestly kind of boring, given that she doesn't have much of a personality and the story, and because she basically disappears from the day-to-day events halfway into the game. The central drama feels kind of contrived as well, between Yayoi who's pointlessly hostile and Eiji who has some serious rapey Epstein vibes which are at their peak here. I found Rina's route to be much better, as the conflicts and emotions are all internal to the nature of Touya's relationship with her, between her lonliness and his infidelity, and so doesn't need to have any weird contrived shit to destabilize the story. Misaki's route was also very strong, as Touya and Misaki have to directly grapple with the implications their relationship would have on their friend group - not only would this jeopardize Touya's love for Yuki, but would also stomp on Akira's feelings for Misaki. Finally, while Sayoko's route technically doesn't resolve in a romance, I think it does a good job of contrasting the stardom of Yuki & Rina against someone who feels like they've washed out and needs to find new motivation to keep going. I sort of see the ending of that route implying Sayoko & Touya still maintain a close friendship, which is nice because she's one of my favorite characters overall.

Outside of the above 4 routes, the remaining 3 routes are far weaker in my opinion. While I love Haruka as a character, her route meanders around pointlessly with only the barest hint of actual romance, given that Haruka's personality and actions don't change at all from beginning to end. Mana's route is still generally worse, with a ton of events where you talk about nothing in her room and an underlying grossness that you're chasing someone who looks and acts like they might be in 5th grade. The game technically clarifies that she's actually only 1 year younger, but then goes out of its way at multiple points to describe how everyone mistakes her for an elementary schooler... because she basically is one. Ugh. Finally, Yayoi's route is basically completely pointless - blending her meaningless hostility with an absence of any kind of personality, constantly repeated events that try to make her out to be some kind of seductress, and a nothingburger of a conclusion. I'm pretty sure this technically counts as the bad ending if there was to be one, since both Yayoi's character and route are a complete waste of time. She could be deleted from the game completely and it would unironically be better than what we have now.

But something that really mystifies me about the different routes is that you only see an actual breakup with Yuki in two of them. In Rina's route, Rina directly confesses to Yuki about it before the Music Festival as a climax to her feelings and internal conflicts, and in Misaki's route, Misaki is unable to deal with her guilty conscience and so decides to apologize to Yuki. You never have to see the initial shock from Touya's perspective at all, which I find kind of strange in a game where most of the routes technically involve you being unfaithful. Setting aside Sayoko's story (since it never involves actual cheating), the other 3 routes (Haruka, Mana, Yayoi) do some weird-ass gymnastics and never deal with anything head-on, keeping the affair or relationship a secret to her up until the ending of the game. It's probably a part of the reason why those routes kind of suck; they feel inconclusive.

I generally like this game and appreciate that it does definitely feel a lot more serious than ToHeart where you can date robots and psychics, but it's definitely deeply flawed, hamstrung by the package it was forced into. A few of the routes are able to address the implications of their relationships despite the relatively short runtime of each, but the game would have benefited significantly if there were fewer routes to begin with; I'd only consider Yuki's, Rina's, Misaki's and maybe Sayoko's stories essential, and cut the other 3. I'd also delete Yayoi, try to find some way to make Eiji feel less like a rapist and turn Haruka & Mana into active supporting characters rather than heroines. In particular, I think it might be nice for Mana to be loosely attached to Touya's main friend group as the bratty relative of Yuki, which could help to develop both her character and Yuki's more naturally through their interactions. Thankfully, they were able to take a lot of the issues directly to heart (no pun intended) and put out a far better drama across the WA2 trilogy. While not perfect (especially with regards to the infuriating coincidences and baffling personality of Haruki) I think it does a much better job of showing what a relationship drama like this could really be. I'd consider replaying this game for Rina & Sayoko still though ;)