A hundred years after the Roaring Twenties, we’re transported back to a time where women were liberated by underground nightclubs that had a lasting impact on American life.

In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution outlawing alcohol. This began a 13 year period known as the Prohibition Era. While often thought of as just a colorful footnote in U.S. history, the continued demand for alcohol saw rise to clubs known as speakeasies, creating a dramatic shift in the way women drink.

It seems only natural to me that Open Late Games’ woman-led company would bring us Speakeasy as their first game. This very spicy, 18+ otome is attempting to normalize sexual content in romance games targeted at women, and what better setting than one that courted women in order to gain notoriety for being a place where the good times didn’t have to end just because society didn’t approve.

I found myself with the unique opportunity to learn more about the group following in the footsteps of America’s speakeasies by creating a living allegory. While they are not the first to attempt to sate the thirst of fans in a desert of adult content within otome games, they’re certainly making a splash with their teasers and demo release. You can find Oona’s thoughts on the Speakeasy demo here.

Welcome to the Club

“Join Cora West for a whirlwind of forbidden romances found in the depths of a decadent illegal jazz club in Prohibition-era Los Angeles. Direct the heroine’s actions and determine whether she will make it out with her heart intact or lose herself in the glamor and excess.

Will you fall in love? Rule the city?

Or damn it all and descend into ruin? The choice is yours.”

– Official Game Description (itch.io)

Speakeasy is an erotic visual novel with a female protagonist – in our little world of romance, this is considered an otome, a game targeted at women with a heavy emphasis in romance. There are currently four routes to be released with the game, but two more possible when stretch goals are met during the upcoming KickStarter. If the full game is actualized, it will feature 18 possible ends and around 35 hours of gameplay.

The demo for Speakeasy was released on May 31st, and can be found on Open Late Games’ itch.io site, along with JAST USA’s site. Sweet & Spicy Reviews’ Oona Tempest penned a demo review you can check out for more info on the game. Speakeasy’s projected KickStarter launch is July 1st, you can follow the preview page to be notified on launch day.

☆ Game Name: Speakeasy
☆ Developers: Open Late Games
☆ Platforms: itch.io, Steam, JAST USA
☆ Genres / Vibes: Romance, Erotic, Historical
☆ More info: Kickstarter, Twitter, Website, Artist Socials
☆ Age rating: 18+

Content note: Speakeasy is an R18 game that features dark and mature subject matter. The developers describe content within the game to include: tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, violence, prostitution, nudity, explicit sexual content, death (including murder and suicide), kidnapping, sexually charged humiliation, consensual violence, and adultery. Content that is discussed but NOT depicted in the game include: child abuse, queerphobia, sexual assault, and wartime atrocities.

Speaking Easy

Open Late Games is a US-based game studio founded in 2020 on the premise of providing games with immersive stories and high production value to players. Speakeasy will be their first released game projected for Q4 2023. The studio consists of two people, Aura and Lux, while the freelance artist for Speakeasy, Riss, was hired on for the project.

Let’s save worlds and build harems.  

Aura

Aura is the founder of Open Late Games. She holds degrees in Media Arts and Project Management. Aura manages the business operations and works on game concepts, scripting, and art direction.

Lux is a team member at Open Late Games. She holds degrees in literature and economics and has worked in a variety of creative industries. Lux works on game concepts, scripting, programming, as well as marketing and social media.

This is your first otome, and first game from the team, what made you pick Speakeasy? Was there something about otome, or the 1920s aesthetic that spoke to you both?

Lux: Aura and I actually met online through our shared love of otome games! As we got to know each other, we realized we shared a similar taste in VNs – dark and gritty, with a well-defined atmosphere and mature, unusual romances. When we talked about collaborating, we brainstormed many different settings and periods that spoke to us, and we both had a deep love for this era and its glamour and debauchery. It seemed like the perfect setting for the kind of story we wanted to tell. 

Aura: I’m trying to remember which other concepts were shortlisted at the time. There was an 1800s gothic romance and a modern-day work romance, for sure. But there was something about the Jazz Age that was just begging to become an ultra hot otome.

Were you influenced by any other games? I don’t think I’ve seen another otome based in this era.

Aura: For the setting and time period, we were trying to come up with something unique that hadn’t been done for a full-length otome game. So many great stories have been told already in this genre and we wanted a concept that would allow us to stand out. As for what truly was an inspiration for me, the games Togainu no Chi and Lamento by Nitro+CHiRAL set the bar that I wanted to reach. Wanting to create hard-hitting narratives, riveting and unique characters, and not shying away from sexual content in all its many forms were really the driving forces behind Speakeasy.

Lux: Yes, pretty much the same thoughts! We weren’t really influenced in terms of the plot and setting so much as inspired by the fearlessness of certain stories and the risks taken by their creators. 

What got you into deciding to write and develop a game? You guys came out of nowhere with a polished piece of work that speaks of professionalism and a life-long love for creating.

Aura: Thank you! Creative endeavors have always been a big part of my life, both professionally and personally. I worked in the film and television industry and also wrote novels, so transitioning into creating games was a really natural progression. What pushed me to want to develop an otome was not being able to find the kind of content I really wanted to play in this genre. I figured if it isn’t out there, I might as well create it.

Lux: That is so kind! I’ve always been writing and obsessively playing games and reading books for as long as I can remember. It was actually playing indies and realizing how many resources were out there for first-time devs that really made me realize, oh, this is something I can do too.     

How would you describe the finished game? Did the original concept start similar, or did it develop into what you have now while you two worked on it?

Lux: It has changed so, so much since the first iteration. Actually the very first version of Speakeasy wasn’t a speakeasy at all, it was a circus. And Cora, our MC, was originally going to be a crime family heiress, the daughter of a mob boss. So things have changed quite a bit over the two-ish years we wrote it. One thing that I would say remained fairly constant, however, was our conceptions of our characters in personality and behavior. As a vast oversimplification, Milo was always a flirt, Maxim a kuudere, Dahlia a tsundere, Silas a cinnamonroll, Will a rascal, and Vincent was … Vincent. Their histories did change a bit as we teased out more depths of their motivations and experiences. Along the way, it was like the characters were revealing themselves and their backstories to us. 

Aura: Ahh, the old circus. Silas was an animal trainer so that hasn’t changed. Maxim was an acrobat and Nika was his criminal sister, Dahlia was still a fortune teller, Milo was still “security,” and Will was actually a sadistic red-headed clown named Killian. Vincent has always run the show. There’s a little homage to the original concept in Silas’s route to look out for. 

Who was your favorite to write for? There’s a lot of yummy characters, and some stretch goals that I’m looking forward to. Do you have a bias?

Aura: Milo was the first route I wrote and I got so attached to him as I was developing his story. His bad end happened to be the first of the three endings I wrote and I cried through it. Honestly, I really did. At its core, Milo’s story is so similar to Cora’s–they’re two people living lives that have been shaped by others and they’re desperately trying to find their own way and figure out who they are. Cora is set up as naive and out of touch, but in this route she’s able to help Milo navigate this messy separation from who he’s “supposed” to be, and in turn goes through incredible growth herself. It was really satisfying being able to write her as the strongest character in this route when Milo’s persona is so forceful and self-assured.

Now, for my own personal taste in love interests… Maxim+Nika and Vincent are who I would absolutely be drawn to if I were playing the game. Tasty long-haired poly men and an oresama daddy? Yes, please.

Lux: You’re asking me to choose between my children?! It’s so hard to say… Silas was the first route I wrote, and will always be my baby. Dahlia was my second route and I related to her a lot, with her struggles around queerness and sexuality in a world too often hostile to her kind of love. But I think at the end of the day, I’d have to choose Vincent. He’s one of the most unique characters I’ve ever read, let alone written. The way he oscillates between sadistic psychopath and sweet puppydog, ruthless businessman and connoisseur of the finer things, every side of him is completely natural and 100% him. Life is anything but boring at Vincent’s side, as our heroine will find out in more ways than one.   

Riss: Silas. OH, SWEETEST SILAS. His story just tugs on your heartstrings and now he has a really special place in my heart.

Your game is adult, with plans for a clean version if the stretch goal is reached, why’d you go this way instead of adding additional 18+ content like other developers I’ve seen?

Aura: This definitely goes back to wanting to create something that isn’t easy to find in this genre. Speakeasy was always meant to be a little darker and a lot sexier than what’s typically offered. We went back and forth on even offering a toned down version without the R18 content since this was such a big part of the core vision and what Open Late Games will offer as a studio. But we ended up coming to the conclusion that this is a worthwhile story to be told and we feel we created something that will hold up beautifully even in a more modest form.

Lux: Like Aura mentioned above, we always aimed to create the game that we always wanted to play. As queer women, we felt there was a significant lack of high-quality erotic games that catered toward people like us. Sex and sexuality is such a core component of Speakeasy that it was hard to envision the game without that content. Of course, if the stretch goal is reached, the SFW version will be just as gorgeous and romantic. But we wanted to make it clear that in this game, the adult scenes aren’t just tacked-on fan service. They are critical to the choices you make, the relationships you develop, and the conclusion you end up with. 

How steamy does it get? For those that haven’t played the demo, what should they expect from both that and the finished game when it’s released?

Lux: Somewhere between very and extremely. Each LI route has between 3-4 sexual scenes, for a total of almost twenty. Although I want to be clear that the sexual content is not just formulaic PIV penetration. Every single one of the scenes is distinct from one another in tone and content, not just within a route but between each LI. For players who haven’t yet played the demo, you can expect a few lengthy text-based sexual scenes, featuring male characters shirtless and female characters in bras and panties. The full game will have more explicit art; depending on how many of the stretch goals we hit, we will be able to feature more and more NSFW CGs (something we are SO looking forward to – thank you to our genius artist).

Aura: Lux pretty much covered it. There’s a lot to marinate in during the full game. We strived to create full, luxuriously written erotic scenes that featured different experiences each time. We played with everything–from interesting locations, to different tones, and even a diverse range of kinks. No scene is alike and each LI has their own way of doing things. 

Let’s talk about art, did you have a clear concept for each character before you started working with Riss?

Aura: Yes, we absolutely had a clear idea of what we wanted these characters to look like. Before we approached Riss about doing the art, we had entire inspiration sheets prepared for each character including color palettes, any special features, clothing choices, facial expressions, and hoards of reference pictures. Riss is a phenomenal artist who has been able to take our vision and refine it so that it comes out even better than we expected.

Lux: Echoing Aura, we did indeed have very detailed ideas about what each character would look like, down to hair color, eye color, expressions, and outfits. However, Riss has managed to bring something magical to each of them that we didn’t necessarily expect or envision, yet when we saw them we were like, “Oh, yeah, that is EXACTLY right.” She also read all about each character, their personalities and backstories, and of course the game itself, all of which went into her incredibly thoughtful design of the cast.  

Who was the most reworked? Usually concept art goes through several phases before reaching the final version, who of our lovely LIs (or Cora herself) was the most nitpicky in design?

Lux: Probably Vincent. What’s interesting about him is he’s our least physically unique character in theory (tall, dark, and handsome, been done a million times, right?), so I think he took extra work to make into the utterly one of a kind man he is. The result Riss came up with is so spot on – capturing all of his charisma and charm along with his danger and darkness. 

Aura: Yes, Vincent had a lot of back and forth to get him just right since he was the first character Riss did and we were all learning how to work together. Another would probably be Milo. Originally we had requested a mullet and I probably drove Riss nuts asking for different hairstyle choices so we could find the perfect one. 

I enjoy the easter egg with your studio’s name on all the underwear, whose idea was that? It’s brilliant.

Aura: This came from the genius mind of Riss, our character artist. 

Lux: Yes, all Riss. It’s so much fun seeing all the surprises she comes up with.

Riss: To be honest, I just wanted to mess around and have a good laugh while drawing the sprites because I had initially assumed that they were only going to appear shirtless and not fully nude- but I was wrong! Now I’m super relieved that it’s well-received though!

While I’m at it, let me also reveal another tiny easter egg! If you look at the numbers on Momo’s golden tag “LA1-5654”, and according to how they’re arranged on a phone’s keypad, they stand for 1(A)ura, 5(L)ux, 6(Open), 5(Late), 4(G)ames. I was reading up on how 1920s phone numbers work back then and thought it would be a cute tiny way to commemorate the lovely game developers’ hard work!

Aura: WHAT?? Okay, bombs being dropped here. We’re just learning about this now as well. Have we mentioned we have the best artist?

Lux: MY JAW JUST DROPPED. I had wondered about the meaning of the collar, but I never knew this little detail. My heart is so warmed, awww.

This one is for Riss, who did you enjoy drawing the most? The least? Why?

Riss: It’s a little tough to answer.. because each of them have certain aspects I enjoy drawing. But if I had to choose, I’d pick Will, a.k.a. Willothee Chalamet. While the others are just as enjoyable, Will’s inspiration board really unlocked my core memory of the various prince charming I’d daydream about when I was younger, but most of the influence on my choices also come from a twist in his story, which you’ll have to find out once the game releases!

To answer the latter question, I think challenging leans more towards how I’d describe them! Them being: Silas’ tattoos and Cora’s accessories and clothing embroideries. It took a while to arrange them and find proper patterns, but once the design got finalized, everything else just fell into place!

How’d you all manage to meet? I admit I have no idea how to put together a team for something of this caliber, was the process of finding each other difficult?

Aura: Great story. We met on r/otomegames. I was working on another game solo and was posting updates. Lux and I got to talking there and then ended up joining a small social discord server together for otome and BL playalongs. One day I said, “hey, want to make a game?” and the rest is history there. Riss was actually found in the depths of a forum for visual novel creators and we ended up reaching out to her to ask her to do the game after her name being on our potential artist list for a good couple months. 

Lux: We did indeed meet on r/otomegames! Once we became friends, Aura shared the first draft of her solo game with me and it totally blew me away, I was so impressed. As I was fangirling she suggested we work on another game together. I was like, you want to work with me?! I don’t know anything about making games! But for some reason unknown to me at the time, Aura was confident I could do it, and that really meant so much to me. And now look at us! 

For me, I think it was Aura generally being so supportive of me and my writing.

Lux

Time to spill some tea, what sort of (not really big) drama did you guys have through the development of Speakeasy? Does one of you ask for more edits than the other, or drive the project harder?

Aura: Okay, okay. I’ll own up to this. I can be pretty intense about quality and pushing for things to be the absolute best that we’re capable of. I have no problem scrapping days or weeks worth of my own work and starting over. Having worked on projects solo prior to this collaboration with Lux, I didn’t have to worry about this causing problems. But working in a team setting, this style can and did come across as abrasive. 

Lux: And for my part, having never worked on a team project of this scale before, I can definitely be more like “oh, I’ll get to it later,” on stuff and not end up following through when I need to. Similarly, this is something that can be okay working on your own, not so much with others, because it can be super frustrating on the other side. Communication, expectation setting, and directness were all things I had to work on – and I’m still working on!
 

Okay, now what is it that you really love about each other? I’d like to hear about a moment that you realized that you were in this together and knew it was going to come to fruition.

Aura: I’m dying over this question, because you have no idea that we actually jokingly prepared for this almost exactly two years ago. We were cracking up over a read-through I’d just done on some Silas chapters that Lux wrote where it was confirmed that the carpet does, in fact, match the drapes. This was really early on in the writing phase and we were still figuring out how to work together, as well as figuring out how much we wanted to push the writing in Speakeasy. I think after this point some hesitation between us broke down and paved the way for the open and honest communication that’s needed when doing a collaborative project like this.

Lux: HAHAHA. Ohh my god, this was totally a pivotal moment. For me, I think it was Aura generally being so supportive of me and my writing. There were times when I sent over a draft and I was so nervous, like she’s going to think I’m weird! But then she loved it, and it made me feel both more confident in myself and also more comfortable in my working relationship with her. 

What sort of future do you envision for Open Late Games?

Aura: I’d love to keep creating sexy, fun games while also branching out into more interactive gameplay. I love visual novels, but I also love puzzles, RPGs, idlers, and so much more. There’s no reason we can’t have an open world action RPG that is also sexy as hell and filled with gorgeous LIs. Let’s save worlds and build harems.

Lux: Totally agree. I’d like to explore all kinds of settings too. There are so many opportunities to bring in all kinds of gameplay to mix with a deeply narrative story like a VN. 

Can we expect more otome going forward?

Aura: Yes! And BL! We have an entire virtual whiteboard filled with game ideas.

Lux: Absolutely. This genre is so near and dear to our hearts, and it’s so much fun to write. We have so many ideas planned. All of them R18.

Can you speak on any other projects you have in the works or plan to have in the works?

Aura: Speakeasy is actually the second game that went into development by Open Late Games. The first one is called Vow of Shadows and it’s an epic set at the end of the Sengoku era, starring an incredibly fierce shinobi MC who’s thrust into the center of an intricate political plot and is facing life and death in each route. This is another game with six routes, just like Speakeasy, but it’s quite a bit darker and explores some pretty extreme themes and situations–while also being very R18, of course. The love interests for the final route are a pair of twin brothers, which I cannot wait to write…

Lux: God, I can’t wait for Vow of Shadows. The plot Aura’s developed for that is extremely complex and layered, with each route revealing one more piece of the puzzle. We are also currently in the planning stages for a shorter BL project to follow up Speakeasy.

Just to give people a feel for who you are, what are your favorite otome and non-otome games?

Aura: I’m a major Tetris nerd. I’ve owned it on every single console I’ve had going back to the NES and Gameboy days. In the last couple years, I’ve dumped many hours into Hollow Knight, Elden Ring, Beat Saber, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Sekiro. For joseimuke specifically, I have to go with Togainu no Chi, Lamento, Olympia Soiree, Boyfriend to Death, Variable Barricade, ITYH, Samurai Love Ballad Party, Men of Yoshiwara (Ohgiya and Kikuya), and most recently I really loved the first release of Obscura. 

Riss: Alright, I really, really had to answer this question. Surprisingly, my favorite otome thus far has been My Horse Prince by USAYA. What initially started off as a laugh really turned into my obsession. The things they came up with were insane, it’s actually addicting.

Lux: Non otome: Breath of the Wild, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing (every version going back to Gamecube), Hades, Nier:Automata, Fire Emblem, Little Nightmares, and Bioshock. I also love shorter indie games like Transistor, When the Night Comes, Oneshot. And probably a ton more I can’t remember. For otome, I adore Collar x Malice, Nightshade, Olympia Soiree, Piofiore (Yang gang), Psychedlica of the Black Butterfly/Ashen Hawk, Mystic Messenger, Hatoful Boyfriend. BL and general VNs, Togainu no Chi, Sweet Pool, Dramatical Murder, Hashihime of the Old Book Town, and Fata Morgana are deep loves of mine as well. 

Last Call

I had a great time talking to the team of Open Late Games, and I really appreciated the time they gave me for this interview. To say I’m looking forward to Speakeasy is an understatement. I’m counting down the days to the start of their Kickstarter, and hoping that the end of the year comes sooner than it feels at the moment.

I asked for some parting words from Open Late Games, and they had this to say:

Aura: This has been such a whirlwind adventure and we’re so incredibly thankful for the response Speakeasy has received. We knew there were a lot of otome fans out there looking for mature romance, but seeing so much positive feedback has been really awesome.

Speakeasy went into development in 2021 and we made it a point not to announce the game or consider a crowdfunding campaign until we had a solid body of work to show everyone. The scriptwriting and editing is done, the backgrounds (all 130+ of them) are complete, and the first phase of the character art is finished as well. We’ve already begun programming the full game and the additional sprite poses, expressions, and CGs are currently in process. Running a Kickstarter and then planning for a game release within six months might seem ambitious on the surface, but in actuality the bulk of the work happened before anyone even knew about Speakeasy. It was important for us to first prove to ourselves that this was a feasible, worthwhile project before we asked others for their support. After all, if the developers don’t stand behind their work 100%, how can they expect anyone else to? We didn’t want to be one of those studios that announced a game early and ran a successful Kickstarter, only to experience years of delays or eventually folding if the project became too difficult. So we did the hard parts first, like writing the full game and learning how to program.

I don’t want to make any wild promises and we haven’t released this information anywhere else yet… but we’re aiming to go into beta testing in October. 

Aura

Lux: I could not be more grateful for the warmth and excitement people have been so generously welcoming Speakeasy with. We’ve been working on this game for so long, the characters are like real people to us at this point. It feels so surreal to see our creation just out in the world, people interacting with the story, playing the game, sharing their thoughts. It’s really already more than a dream! So thank you to everyone who has played a part in Speakeasy’s debut. And yes, to echo Aura – we waited until the game was fully written before sharing a peep on social media. The writing is by far the most time consuming part – the story is the soul of the game, after all – that from now until release feels more like the home stretch. 

Game Info

☆ Game Name: Speakeasy
☆ Developers: Open Late Games
☆ Platforms: itch.io, Steam, JAST USA
☆ Genres / Vibes: Romance, Erotic, Historical
☆ More info: Kickstarter, Twitter, Website, Artist Socials
☆ Age rating: 18+

Thank You

~☆ Patrons ☆~

About the Author

Contact Us

For media, PR, and all other enquiries, please email us at: sweetnspicyreviews@gmail.com

Twitch | Patreon | Twitter | Facebook | Reddit | Discord

• Twitch
• Patreon
• twitter
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Link

More like this…