gakuen heaven 2
the story of the ace
Asahina Yuki, a young man with no special skills save for good luck, was invited to attend Bell Liberty, a legendary high school for elite students. Immediately after arriving, he was given an armband by a mysterious ninja who begged him to protect the school. That armband is the proof of being the Ace of the school - the student council president!
On July 11, 2014, almost twelve years after the original Gakuen Heaven was first released, Gakuen Heaven 2 (GH2) was released for PC. GH2 was in development for several years - the official Twitter account has existed since May 2011!
GH2 is a top-tier visual novel with all the expected extras (full voice, unlockable routes and bonus scenes, tons of CG art), lots of little extras for fans of the original game, and an extremely polished presentation.
It also has an incredible story, which can be enjoyed on multiple levels: either as the individual character routes, or as the larger, more complex story behind the recent troubles at the school. Half the fun is pieceing together the true story of why the school needs protection, from whom, and who's trying to sabatoge Yuki's attempts to save it. (And who's playing both sides!)
The other half is kissing cute boys. ♥
play order
You really can't go wrong with playing the routes in the recommended order; that will let the story unfold slowly, weaving plot-critical routes with ones that are less plot-heavy, but just as interesting.
This is the officially recommended play order:
(early) Kuya, Tomo ♦ (mid) Joker, Chiba, Arata ♦ (late) Takato, Sonoda ♦ (final) secret ♦ (any time) Yagami
Our personal recommendations for play order:
- Play Tomo first. The common route spoils some of his story.
- Play Yagami after you've gotten to know Yuki a bit. :3
- Play the secret character last. His route contains some spoilers.
If you want to get through the main plot of the game without any detours, play Tomo, Joker, Sonoda, and the secret character, in that order. But you'll be missing a ton of extra information that's sprinkled throughout all the character stories, plus all the funny, romantic, tragic, and amazing moments in each!
This game is full of feels so be sure to play it all, okay?