AIdol

About

AIdol is a single player casual simulation game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by MysteryCorgi and was released on April 23, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

A young high school student goes on an adventure to save her favorite virtual idol, Aiko, from malfunctioning, and gets help from the most unexpected of places.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

70%

Audience ScoreBased on 46 reviews

story10 positive mentions

gameplay2 negative mentions

The game features charming, relatable characters with depth and engaging personalities, especially the protagonist Hana.
Artwork is cute and colorful with a consistent anime style, complemented by a catchy, upbeat soundtrack including an original voiced theme song.
Multiple endings with meaningful choices add good replayability, and the story conveys heartwarming themes of friendship and idol culture.

The story can feel uneven and sometimes awkward, with abrupt scene transitions and a tendency to sidetrack on less relevant side characters.
Writing quality and tone are sometimes juvenile or bland, lacking complexity and sometimes featuring unpolished or repetitive dialogue.
Technical issues include occasional bugs like save feature problems, UI glitches, and limited character animations; romance and gameplay depth are minimal.

story
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
82%
4%
Aidol features a simple, wholesome, and family-friendly story about a shut-in girl, Hana, trying to save her favorite virtual idol, Aiko. While the narrative is often charming with likable characters and charming side plots, it can feel juvenile, somewhat cliché, and occasionally disrupted by side stories that detract from the main focus. Overall, it offers a heartwarming experience with multiple endings, though it may lack depth and complexity for some players.
- “Another weird thing about the game is that it basically mixes two story arcs – the troubles of Aiko which Hana has to save her from (this focuses a lot on employees of Lyriq, the company behind Aiko and I wasn't sure where it was going until the seemingly-unrelated story threads came together in the last chapter) and the story of Hana's exit from her self-inflicted isolation.”
- “The primary storyline revolves around the main character, Hana, in her efforts to help her favorite android idol, Aiko, who is trying to get in contact with her original programmer whom she believes to be the only person capable of repairing her and preventing her from malfunctioning.”
- “Throughout the story you will be presented with the ability to befriend various characters you meet on your way; they're quite different and charming in their own way.”
- “The story and dialogues just sadly aren't entertaining.”
- “The story clearly is wanting to be told through Hana's eyes, and then goes off on lengthy segments inside the heads of random side characters that don't matter at all. It doesn't add anything to the story except length, and really, in my experience, breaks me out of it. I'm totally invested in 'being' Hana and solving this mystery, and then all of the sudden I have to be someone else with some problem that I don't care about and ultimately amounts to very little benefit to the story overall, except length.”
- “It's not a bad story but a few things in particular pulled me out of it: transitions are often abrupt – particularly with a needless & tacky jump to a couple of characters shirtless, in a needless love triangle, choices that seem 50/50 but are all the difference between "good" ending or everything goes to hell - instant game over, and a focus on multiple characters - many are introduced & (depending on player choice) not brought up again, despite them being shoehorned into the story.”
music
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
48%
12%
The music in this visual novel is generally praised for being cute, lively, and fitting the idol-themed, upbeat atmosphere, with several catchy and relaxing tracks. While not groundbreaking, the soundtrack features a nice mix of pop, electronic, and somber compositions, often complemented by extras like a music viewer and original theme song with lyrics. Overall, it is considered a charming and enjoyable aspect that enhances the game's appeal.
- “Where Aidol really shines is the upbeat music, adorable artwork, and its multiple well-built side characters and stories.”
- “Likewise, the game features a lovely soundtrack, full of sweet and bubbly tracks with a couple mysterious, somber, and more contemplative compositions for those more serious and heartfelt moments in the game.”
- “There were several tracks that caught my attention, and I think people who like this style of music will find the game’s OST collection worth buying (not to mention that it is pretty cheap).”
- “It's not awful, but there's better out there; bought this on deep discount very long ago specifically for the soundtrack.”
- “Cute visuals and a different but slightly grating soundtrack round out this offering.”
- “It looks average and the soundtrack is pretty forgettable for an idol-themed game (it's not bad though).”
graphics
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
23%
18%
The graphics are consistently praised for their cute, adorable, and well-done artwork that perfectly suits the visual novel style, with charming character designs and appealing backgrounds. While some users preferred earlier, more unique art styles, overall the visuals effectively complement the story and atmosphere. The aesthetic is engaging, family-friendly, and enhances the game's enjoyable and relaxing experience.
- “The artwork is frankly really good for what would be expected of a visual novel, and checks all the boxes being cute and family friendly.”
- “It's a short game that takes about 5 hours to complete fully (all endings and achievements) but it gives you a beautifully adorable and unique art style, catchy original songs, a unique story, lots of characters, and lots of endings.”
- “Cute, well-done artwork -- especially the backgrounds and CGs.”
- “[0.3] graphics”
- “Cute visuals and a different but slightly grating soundtrack round out this offering.”
- “I will admit though that some of the early versions of the game looked more unique and charming with its art style and UI elements compared to what we have now, but that's just a personal preference.”
emotional
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
92%
8%
The emotional aspect of the game is generally described as light-hearted, wholesome, and heartwarming, with genuinely touching and relatable moments that resonate with players. While the story is simple and sometimes cliché, its sincere portrayal of idol culture and fandom, alongside a fitting soundtrack, effectively evokes warmth and occasional bittersweet feelings. However, some players mention a lack of complexity and mixed feelings due to parasocial dynamics and less engaging characters.
- “There are a few genuinely witty, relatable, and heartwarming moments.”
- “Both arcs can be quite heartwarming if you make the right choices, despite no explicit romance.”
- “While the game's tone is predominantly light-hearted and sweet, its deeper, more heartfelt moments tugged at my heartstrings.”
- “A boring story with mostly unlikeable characters and mediocre art.”
gameplay
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The gameplay is minimal, consisting mainly of clicking through poorly written dialogue, offering little interactive or engaging mechanics. Users feel the lack of substantive gameplay detracts from the experience and question the quality of the content presented.
- “As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay; it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which raises the question, 'How did something this badly written end up on Steam?'”
- “Maybe they should have included more gameplay elements.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
Character development was somewhat lacking, though the character designs were praised for being effective and endearing, especially the well-coordinated outfits of the wakahisa sisters. Some CGs were noted as awkward, but overall the visual presentation of characters was appreciated.
- “Could've used more character development.”
- “I liked the character design, but some CGs looked awkward.”
- “Character designs were effective and endearing, particularly the Lolita-wearing Wakahisa sisters, who had proper coordinates.”
- “Could've used more character development”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The game runs on the Ren'Py engine and generally offers stable performance, though some users noted occasional performance issues and minor bugs. However, these problems are not severe enough to significantly impact the overall experience.
- “Some performance and engine issues.”
- “I'm surprised at the performance issues and bugs I encountered, since Ren'Py is usually pretty stable, but these weren't game-breaking by any means.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The humor in the game has moments of genuine wit and intrigue but is often weighed down by overly long writing, repetitive tropes, and questionable moral choices, resulting in a mix of entertaining and unfunny content.
- “The writing stretches on longer than it needs to, with some unfunny humor, questionable morals (for individual characters, relationships, & the climax itself), and repetitive, tropey antics.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in this game is seen as tedious and slow, likened to reading a novel where players must click repeatedly to progress text. The primary gameplay time is spent on repetitive card farming, making the experience feel laborious.
- “Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best... imagine the best novel you ever read, be that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or 2001: A Space Odyssey or Twilight (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then translate that to a format where the words dribble out and you have to click your mouse every time you want to read the next sentence, instead of just turning the pages.”
- “Play time is mostly from card farming.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits some stability issues, including intermittent crashes when accessing the gallery and a non-functional auto text feature, which detracts from the overall experience.
- “It's also a touch buggy, with an intermittent crash within the game engine when opening the gallery from the main menu.”
- “The auto text setting doesn't work at all for me, regardless of the text speed I set in the options.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere effectively complements the game's idol and "friendship-is-magic" themes, though it may not appeal to everyone's personal taste.
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers strong replayability due to its multiple endings, encouraging players to explore different choices and outcomes.
- “Multiple endings make for good replayability.”