Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation’s new girl Reika was created entirely by the international dev team
Aloof competitive swimmer Reika is the newest character to make a splash in Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (DOAXVV), having just been added to the game in June. A recent Famitsu interview with the game’s producer and DOA series veteran Yasunori Sakuda provided some interesting insights about Reika and how she was created by the game’s international development team.
Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation is a gacha-based volleyball management sim for the PC (Steam). You are an owner of a beautiful tropical island and you must help the equally beautiful girls you invite to the island to win the Venus Festival. Although it is a sports game, the main focus is on interacting with the girls and building up your Satisfaction Level with them through helping them win volleyball games. Getting close to the girls unlocks new character episodes as well as a gravure mode and more.
Although Dead or Alive is a Japanese franchise under the Koei Tecmo umbrella, DOAXVV also has an international development team based in Singapore. The international version of the game is usually running a year behind the Japanese version (although special events and exclusive swimsuits have been developed by the international team in the past to make up for this delay). As a result, when the new additions to the Japanese version finally make it to the international version, there is no element of surprise.
However, Reika was created to solve this problem. Producer Sakuda explains how the idea for her came about; “The development team for the international version had an enthusiastic desire to give them (players of the international version) ‘a surprise that they had never seen before,’ and we decided to produce it.” He explains that the international dev team thought up Reika’s name and were responsible for every aspect of her design and model. The supervising Japanese team were involved in the dialogue and scenarios to make sure Reika’s appeal was conveyed well in Japanese.
Sakuda was surprised that the Singapore-based team chose to make the character Japanese. “I wasn’t sure players of the international version would be pleased with her, but the international dev team was convinced that a character with Reika’s appeal would definitely please them.”
According to Sakuda, it can sometimes take DOAXVV players a bit of time to warm up to a new girl; “The (new) characters often get reactions like ‘I wasn’t really interested in her at first, but actually once I invited her (to my island), I started to like her a lot.’” Sakuda adds that he feels like Reika also got this kind of reception. He also notices that social media plays a role- players often react to other users’ posts and content about new characters with “Oh, maybe I’ll try inviting her too.”
Despite Reika being created by the international team, Sakuda says “I felt that fewer (international) users understood Reika’s appeal, compared to Japanese users.” Unlike DOAXVV’s more bubbly and straight-forward characters, Reika seems aloof and distant at first. “On the other hand, Reika’s appeal in that she is ‘difficult,’ as in it takes time to get to know her, immediately struck a chord with Japanese players.” explains Sakuda. This is probably due in part to how often the tsundere character type appears in Japanese anime and dramas. However, Sakuda is confident that players’ love for Reika will increase in the future; “I’m sure more people will accept Reika as time passes, especially once they see her episodes.”
We previously released a guide on how to get this gorgeous Venus to visit your tropical paradise– if you haven’t already.
