The original promo art.names
Ikemen Vampire: Temptation in the Dark is an otome visual novel game produced by Cybird for Android and iOS. The game takes place in late 19th century France where you, the player, have been transported to from the 21st century. You're stuck in a mansion full of some of the greatest historical figures of all time for a month until you can go back to your own era, but there's a catch - every single one of them is a vampire. There's only one rule for you during your stay, don't fall in love.
There are 15 (originally 12, additional 3 at the end) romanceable characters in the game, with eleven currently available in English:
- Napoleon Bonaparte: The Charismatic Leader. The first character the player meets in the game. He's extremely kind and tries to hide the player from the others when he sees her, but it fails. He has no idea how he even got to the mansion in the first place, and is only a demi-vampire.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Haughty Musician. A cold and abrasive piano player, he starts out hating the player and is very distant towards her, but he becomes attached to her rather quickly after they first meet. He's a pretty big germophobe and hates it when people get his music room dirty.
- Leonardo da Vinci: The Ingenious Deceiver. He's always sleeping around the mansion and the residents 'tend to just step on him.' The game description says that he's hiding something from the other residents and is a lone wolf, and he's the only character who doesn't have a listed vampire type.
- Arthur Conan Doyle: The Frivolous Playboy. A flirtatious author who takes every chance he gets to flirt with the player, and one of the characters that appears the most. He starts off simply teasing the player, but their relationship grows deeper later.
- Vincent van Gogh: The Gentle Angel. A painter who's described as kind, but often void of emotion. He's polite and sweet, in contrast to his brother, and the player's character explicitly says that he's a lot nicer than Theo.
- Theodorus van Gogh: The Enterprising Devil. Vincent's younger brother. An art dealer who's good friends with Arthur and is very forward with his feelings towards the player. He's not overly fond of her, but he warms up to her more as he gets to know her.
- Osamu Dazai: The Indulgent Charlatan. The less serious of the two authors in the mansion and very charismatic, he likes to tease people and only ever enters the mansion through the windows. He's very playful and never talks about his past.
- Isaac Newton: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Often teased by Arthur and Dazai, he's very closed off from everyone and dislikes too much social interaction. He hates being associated with apples, and has issues with eating when compared to the other vampires.
- Jean D'Arc: The Beautiful Heretic. He's hardly ever seen in game and is the only original character that doesn't appear in the prologue, only mentioned by name. He believes himself to be impure, and only really talks to Mozart. The game describes him as beautiful and stoic.
- William Shakespeare: The Possessive Playwright. The only character out of the main twelve that doesn't live in the mansion. Vincent is good friends with him and regularly goes to see him at his villa, much to Theo's chagrin. He's a trickster, but is always polite to the player.
- Comte de Saint-Germain: The Hedonistic Nobleman. The pure-blood vampire and patriarch of the mansion. He's the person responsible for turning all of the other characters into vampires, offering them a 'taste of eternity' at their deathbeds.
- Sebastian: The Stoic (?) Butler. Not only is he the mansion's only human, but he's also the only romanceable character who isn't based off a historical figure. He's a fanatical historian who came to the mansion in order to observe all of the significant people living in the mansion. The player helps him with his butler duties in return for lodging.
- Vlad: The Pure-Hearted Tyrant. An old friend of Saint-Germain and only introduced in Act 2 of the game, he seems to be behind many of the antagonists' appearances across all other routes.
- Johann Georg Faust: The Merciless Philosopher. One of the two men working for Vlad and a priest in a local church, he's obsessed with his experiments and plays a rather large role in Sebastian's route.
- Charles-Henri Sanson: The Solicitous Sinner. Another henchman of Vlad's, he has a very charming and carefree personality and works as a doctor.
Tropes pertaining specifically to the game's characters can be found on the Characters page.
Tropes in the mobile game:
- The Ageless: Though it's not sure if they do die, some vampires have gotten seriously injured on their routes and it takes them a while to recover.
- An Interior Designer Is You: The rewards for passing intimacy checks are pieces of furniture that the player can put in their own personal room with their avatar and a chibi version of any love interest they want, regardless of if their route has been released yet.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: The player has to spend coins or diamonds on items of clothing to pass the avatar challenges, and they get to keep what they pay for afterwards.
- Cash Gate: Similarly to the other Ikemen Series games, during all of the routes there will be moments where the player has to do an avatar challenge or intimacy check. The avatar challenges in particular can be difficult, as the player will have to spend a large amount of coins or diamonds to pass them and continue with the selected route. Though they can be passed for free if they choose to use coins, it'll take a bit of grinding love battles to get the amount needed.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Several of the characters seem to have a running theme with their rooms and clothes. Arthur, Theo and Faust are blue, Saint Germain is gold, Sebastian is black, Vincent is yellow, Dazai is purple, Mozart is white, Leonardo and Isaac are brown, Vlad is black and Charles is red. Jean has blue clothes, but his room is colorless.
- Dances and Balls: A lot of the routes tend to have some form of ball in the second half.
- Dark and Troubled Past: (Some) real world examples. Several of the characters have fought in some form of war, two supposedly died by suicide and Saint-Germain is ridiculously closed off about his past, fitting considering the fact that not much is known about the real-life version.
- Daywalking Vampire: All of the vampires do not have a weakness to sunlight, or any stereotypical vampire weakness.
- Fiction 500: The characters live in a mansion with at least 12 bedrooms, two dining rooms and a fencing hall. Saint-Germain doesn't appear to have any clear kind of work and only Theo is seen actually going out to do his job. The player is also given many lavish outfits and accessories to go to the balls that she's invited to, and Comte seems to be the one financially supporting Shakespeare's villa. He also manages to get ethically sourced blood, but where he gets it from and why it's ethical is never addressed. (Worth noting that the player and Arthur do go out for detective work in his route, but it's just for fun, they aren't paid.)
- Hunk: Tthe game makes a point of describing Theo as manly and muscular whenever it can.
- I Have Your Wife: The MC is kidnapped in most of the routes by one of the Love Interest's past rivals.
- Kiss of the Vampire: Something to be expected in a dating sim about vampires.
- Limited Wardrobe: All of the characters wear the same outfits almost every time they appear in the main story, with their casual clothes just being their normal getup with waistcoats and jackets removed. Exemption for Theo, who wears a pinstripe suit and hat when out dealing art.
- Long-Lived: The lesser vampires are only given "a taste of immortality" and as such won't live forever.
- Must Have Caffeine: Leonardo says that the only thing vampires find more addictive than blood is coffee, and any time the player makes some, she always gets swamped by several vampires who want a cup too.
- Our Vampires Are Different
- Perpetual Frowner: Jean, Sebastian, Isaac, Theo, Napoleon and Mozart all have a resting frown on their sprites.
- Romantic Vampire Boy
- Vampire Detective Series: Arthur's route.
- Vegetarian Vampire: None of the vampires kill anyone to keep themselves sustained, mostly living off the rouge and blanc that le Comte supplies.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: Happens a few times when MC offers herself to the LI.
