Renai which means ‘romantic game’ is an interactive computer game based on themes of love and sex. The protagonist could be a male or female, and various controls allow manipulation of the 3D environment and the characters. These are popularly called dating sims or visual novels.

A visual novel presents pictures with text at the bottom and deals with romantic themes. Dating sim games allow more interaction with event planning.

Artificial Girl 2, or Jinkou Shojo 2, is a three dimensional interactive game featuring a single girl and a boy. The object of the game would be revealed later, but the graphics are said to be a bit poor. The virtual environment consists of natural surroundings with woods and hills as the backdrop. There is an option to keep the background blank, the reason for which is explained below.

The controls allow the user to manipulate various aspects of the game. These include the physical features of the girl, walking movements, locations, etc.

At first it may seem like a silly, romantic game where you take the girl for a walk through the woods, or kiss her on top of a hill.

The ‘advanced’ features of the game would however reveal the real objective of the game – to have 3D sex with the animated girl, and watch it from various angles.

That is why the background can be blanked if required!

There are other features of the game that could be pleasing to the user – the ability to choose the surroundings and see the characters take a walk, sit together, hold hands, and kiss.

What can we make of Renai games? The fantasy aspect of the game is quite prominent. The themes are libidinous. The content is more of a play with imagination.