The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
Kud Wafter is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Riki Naoe. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. Kud Wafter follows a branching plot line with multiple endings; depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made.
To view all plot lines, the player has to replay the game multiple times and make different choices to bring the plot in an alternate direction. Throughout gameplay, there are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Riki and Kudryavka having sex. Key released a version of Kud Wafter without the erotic content.
Story
Kud Wafter's story revolves around Riki Naoe (直枝 理樹, Naoe Riki; voiced by: Tomoe Tamiyasu (epilogue only)), the male protagonist from Little Busters! and Little Busters! Ecstasy, and Kudryavka Noumi (能美 クドリャフカ, Nōmi Kudoryafuka; voiced by: Miyako Suzuta), one of the main heroines of the same games and the title character of Kud Wafter. Kudryavka has her story expanded upon than what was seen in Ecstasy, which was itself an expansion on the story featured in Little Busters!.
Kud Wafter begins at the onset of the summer vacation after the events of the peaceful field trip from Little Busters!. The other members of the Little Busters have returned home for the break, leaving Riki and Kudryavka to spend their vacation living at the school dormitories as they form a romantic relationship. However, the male dormitory is undergoing renovations due to a problem with the plumbing, leaving Riki without a place to stay. As Kudryavka has no roommate, she suggests to Riki that he live with her until the renovation on the male dormitory is finished, and Riki accepts.
Development
After the release of Little Busters! Ecstasy in 2008, Key decided to produce a spin-off of that game, which focused on the heroine Kudryavka Noumi. The project's planning was headed by Kai, who returned to Key after he last contributed to the scenario of Clannad released in 2004. , in which he wrote the scenario for Kudryavka.
The artists Na-Ga and Itaru Hinoue were the art directors and character designers, both of whom previously worked on Little Busters! for Key. Jun'ichi Shimizu composed the game's music and was supervised by Jun Maeda.
Reception
In May 2010, Kud Wafter ranked first in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The limited-edition version of Kud Wafter ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in June 2010. In addition, Kud Wafter was reported to sell the most copies of any PC game in Japan for the first half of 2010. At some stores in Akihabara, Kud Wafter was sold at midnight the day of its release, which is cited as not happening very often for games sold in Akihabara.
Kud Wafter premiered as the No. com, a major redistributor of visual novel and domestic anime products, during the month of its release, and at No. 26 in July. The game would go on to be the No.
