This new romance RPG combines the best parts of NTE, Nikke, and Love and Deepspace

While on my trip to Shenzhen, I got to go hands-on with Chasing Kaleidorider, the upcoming romance RPG from Tencent’s new team, Fizzglee Studio. I’m already a sucker for cute anime girls, but this game’s unique approach to mobile game romance, paired with its slick aesthetics and varied gameplay, has me hooked already.

Chasing Kaleidorider is set in a techno-futuristic city called Terminus that’s currently suffering from the Integration disaster. This sees Hysteria monsters invading and causing chaos, and only Kaleido Riders – cute anime girls with motorbikes and awesome weapons – can stop them. The problem is that these Riders can’t actually see the Hysteria, which is where you as the Navigator come in.

I got to try out the latest test build of the game from July’s closed beta, exploring all of Chasing Kaleidorider’s various gameplay modes. The account I was using was basically fully maxed out, so I didn’t get to experience the story from the very beginning, but I hopped into various story points to see the bread and butter of the game. Like many gacha games, the main story follows the goings-on in Terminus as you meet the various Riders and take on different Hysteria threats. This combines fully 3D animated cutscenes with artistic flashback cutaways, with fantastic voice acting to boot.

Rather than using turn-based combat or even action RPG encounters as you find in games like Genshin Impact, Chasing Kaleidorider uses semi-real-time card-based combat, letting you sling various attacks, skills, and ultimates at the Hysteria as your team of Riders charge at the enemy on their motorbikes. Again, with the high-level account, all of the fights were pretty easy to clear, but this type of combat intrigues me, and I can’t wait to see how strategy plays into it, rather than just wildly flinging cards left and right whenever you have enough power to do so.

Then, there’s the dating side of gameplay, which is arguably the biggest draw for Chasing Kaleidorider. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a girl romance game go for the same kind of connection and intimacy that you find in Love and Deepspace or Tears of Themis, but this is definitely Fizzglee Studio’s aim. The developer on-site made it clear to me that this game isn’t like Nikke – prioritizing ‘gooning’ and sexualization over real connection. Instead, Chasing Kaleidorider aims for “wholesome, fast-paced love stories” with zero violence or NSFW content. I can get behind that.

As a visual novel enjoyer, I’ve played my fair share of dating games, and Chasing Kaleidorider’s date gameplay is a lot more complex than most I’ve seen. You really have to listen to each girl’s preferences and work hard to get her to like you, instead of just having affection handed to you on a silver platter. Each answer has a hidden color value assigned to it, and each girl has different preferences. Plus, you can combo different strings of colors to get a bonus at the end of the date. I somehow did pretty well on my date with UC – purely down to my years of studying the tsundere archetype – and managed to raise her overall mood. Raising the Riders’ moods and growing closer with them unlocks new encounters, as well as combat buffs to help in the main story.

On top of all of this, there are some additional features to help you personalize your experience and grow closer with your favorite Riders. As you strengthen your bonds, you can unlock the option to customize your home screen, add stickers to your profile, and listen to each character’s signature song. The most unique feature, though, is the ASMR audio library. Getting closer with a Rider means unlocking her ASMR track, which you can listen to as you fall asleep in real life. ASMR isn’t for everyone, but it’s increasingly popular, and this is the first time I’ve seen a game integrate it directly, rather than reserving it for social videos as Nikke does.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, this is a free-to-play gacha game with monetization. I’m not sure how much the premium currency will cost, but I got confirmation from the developer that there will be Chasing Kaleidorider codes offering currency for free. As well as using this currency to pull on the banners for different Riders and their bikes, you can purchase additional outfits for the Riders in the shop directly. Another nice F2P feature is that you can upgrade the A-rank version of a Rider’s signature bike to its S-rank version if you don’t pull it on the banner. It’ll take a lot of time and resources, but the option is there. You can expect new banners to run every 48 days, swapping out the boosted S-rank Riders and vehicles.

Aesthetically, everything about this game feels like it was made for me. The character designs are varied, colorful, and make me want to learn more about each Rider. The music and sound design in the game are fantastic, and, as I mentioned earlier, every single Rider gets their own signature track that features in the game. Fizzglee Studio describes Chasing Kaleidorider as “slick”, and I have to agree. For a game with no set release date, it’s polished and full of content already. There are over 25 hours of story content in the game’s current version, alongside all of the date scenarios.

I only have one gripe about Chasing Kaleidorider based on my time with it, and that’s that you can only play as a male Navigator. I know this is pretty standard for these types of games – Love and Deepspace only lets you play as a woman – but as a queer femme, I would love to choose a female Navigator to interact with the Riders. I don’t know how likely this addition is, but seeing as the dev team is already removing an unpopular game mode from the most recent beta test, it seems that they’re open to feedback.

Overall, Chasing Kaleidorider has its hooks in me, and I can’t wait to jump back in and experience more of Terminus. While there’s no release window yet, we do know that it’s due to launch on iOS and Android, as well as PC, with cross-progression from the very beginning. It’s already one of the new mobile games that I’ll be keeping a close eye on. Let us know whether you’ll be giving it a go in the Pocket Tactics Discord server.