Modern-Day Office Otome ‘Sympathy Kiss’ Coming West Early 2024

At their Anime Expo panel, Idea Factory International has just announced that they will be publishing the Idea Factory-developed otome game Sympathy Kiss. It will arrive physically and digitally in North America and Europe in Early 2024 on Nintendo Switch.

Sympathy Kiss is a thrilling office romance and slice-of-life drama where business and pleasure mix in. Explore your career opportunities and work with up to six love interests. See through the eyes of a Japanese career woman and experience full immersion in a contemporary workplace setting where the fantasy can be found in the break room.

The story takes place about a year has passed since the protagonist Akari Amasawa started her new job as a designer at Estario, a mobile app maker. While she doesn’t dislike her job, she’s not deeply passionate about it either. After her yearly performance review, she’s given the opportunity to join the Estarci team.

The company’s namesake app, Estarci, is a news app that made a big splash when it launched, but has since fallen behind rival apps, including apps run by Estario itself. Management has decided to give the app one last chance before shutting it down for good, and Akari and all of her new co-workers will need to give it their all to save the app from the chopping block.

Increase productivity, or dabble in some friendly office banter by maintaining contact with romanceable characters using the RiNG system. Respond to text messages and take fully-voiced calls from your favorite love interests. Some decisions require you to express how you feel through the Emotion Select system. Pick from two of a total of five emotions: Happy, Angry, Troubled, Sad, and Indifferent. Your selected emotions can influence future conversations. Your love interests will always remember to consider your emotions.

Will Akari find true love? Will she find what it is she wants to do in life? Will the app get shut down? Wait, was Akari only given this opportunity because the company was looking for an excuse to fire her?!

The publisher has also released some screenshots. You can view them in our gallery below:

You can view the announcement trailer for Sympathy Kiss below: