By Andi Nuruljihad for Gamesforum

BTS Universe Story is the follow-up to 2019’s BTS World set in what fans know as the BTS Universe, the alternate reality where BTS’ music videos and short films take place. At first glance, it doesn’t look like much more than your average visual novel, but if you tinker a bit with what’s under the hood, you’ll find a surprisingly complex platform for creating and sharing BTS fanfiction. You just have to ignore the trudge of the main campaign to find it.

Dark & Wild

Things get kicked off with a short prologue introducing the seven members of BTS and the strange time-traveling mechanic that drives the game’s story. Kim Seok-Jin, the BTS member you’ll be in control of throughout BTS Universe Story’s saga, finds himself trapped in a time loop. Having just returned from his studies abroad, Jin comes home to Korea to find his close friends from high school are all wrestling with deep, personal issues. Until Jin somehow finds a way to solve all of their problems, he’ll never wake up to a new day.

It’s like Groundhog Day with teen heartthrobs. But don’t expect any zany antics or hilarious situational comedy; BTS Universe Story starts off crazy and it only gets wilder. The kind of troubles the boys are dealing with range in seriousness, from poor temper management to full-on, isolated-in-the-psych-ward insanity. At one point, one member’s apartment is set ablaze with him inside of it, and you find another just moments before he leaps off a building to his death.

BTS Universe Story is full of the kinds of over-the-top situations soap operas and telenovelas are made of. Yet, despite the craziness and melodrama surrounding him, Jin is surprisingly unruffled by the emotions and violence. Jin’s flat reactions alongside the spotty pacing and repetitive animations somehow make a story that’s absolutely mad into something that’s almost dull. The straightforward translation of the original Korean text doesn’t help either; some things just don’t hit the same way in English as they do in Korean, making for a clumsy reading experience.

A Place to Share Your Stories

Many of the community-made stories are better written and more interesting than the official episodes.

All these shortcomings would have bothered me a lot more if these official episodes were all that BTS Universe Story had to offer. Thankfully, there’s a huge library of high-quality content outside to explore, and it’s all community-made.

Fanfiction about boybands has existed for about as long as boybands have. How appropriate, then, that the standout feature in BTS Universe Story is its Story Creator. Not only is it intuitive and easy to work with, but if you try the Advanced mode, a whole suite of tools becomes available to you that allow for the creation of some truly impressive visual stories. Making something as simple as the running slideshows of the official episodes is easy enough, but you can implement cool camera tricks and visual effects to rival any visual novel or dating sim you’ll find on the mobile market.

I hope the in-game filters work.

Each member can be customized individually from head to toe with clothing and accessories either unlocked through play or purchased through the in-game shop. You can change the backgrounds and music of your scenes, pick from a wide selection of supporting characters, and even choose the shape and colors of your dialog boxes. Honestly, there’s very little that isn’t customizable in BTS Universe Story. It’s this customizability that powers its monetisation model.

Monetisation Model

BTS Universe Story focuses heavily on in-app purchases to generate revenue. Everything from the boys’ makeup to the different sets and background music can be bought from the in-game shop. It’s a model that has proven popular with fans of the seven-man group -- combined, BTS World and BTS Universe Story have reportedly generated close to $50 million in revenue for its developer, Netmarble.

There are three currencies in BTS Universe Story: 1) Coins, which is the free currency earned by completing Episodes; 2) Jewels, the premium currency that you purchase with real money from the in-game shop; and 3) Tickets, the stand-in for “energy” that’s spent every time you want to view an Episode.

You can watch rewarded video ads twice a day to get free Jewels.

One ticket is spent every time you view a Episode in a community-made story. Much like “energy” systems in other free-to-play games, your tickets regenerate over time. You can also purchase them by spending some of the premium currency, Jewels.

A limited number of Jewels can be earned by completing achievements in the game. You can also get up to three Jewels by watching a rewarded video ad, but you’re only rewarded for the first two viewings every day. Jewels are used to purchase costumes, accessories, backgrounds, and music that you can equip to the different members of BTS. You can also use these unlocked items in the Story Creator mode.

Premium costume sets are limited-time draws that you spend Jewels on for the chance to get a random costume from the full 7-person set. Each draw costs 375 Jewels and you can only earn 2-6 Jewels per day from rewarded video ads, so there’s no way of earning complete sets for free before they’re taken off the market.

As is standard practice, Jewel bundles are available, but never in the precise amount you need to buy what you want. By combining bundles, you can pay as $9 for a pack of 275 Jewels (plus 31 Bonus Jewels) and then, three packs of 30 Jewels at a dollar a pop, giving you 396 Jewels to spend on a premium set draw. Of course, you still wind up spending money on more Jewels than you needed to.

Coins are the only currency that you can’t buy with real money. They’re earned by completing Episodes and achievements and can be spent on the in-game Coin shop which is hidden away at the bottom of the in-game shop. Compared to the premium shop, the selection of items in the Coin shop is meager -- only a few masks and some rather unattractive sunglasses to choose from.

MIC DROP

BTS Universe Story is an excellent title if you’re just in it for some really good BTS-inspired fanfiction. Just don’t expect the ability to binge-watch entire stories from start to finish -- each Episode costs a ticket and you only get a maximum of four at a time. If you’re looking to create your own stories, prepare to spend a little cash on Jewels for new costumes and settings.

BTS Universe Story is very clearly designed for a specific niche audience: BTS fans. It combines the dress-up features of popular doll games with a bit of slice-of-life drama and light interaction in a way that allows for almost limitless fantasy fulfillment, which is something even non-fan like myself can appreciate the value of. Its robust Story Creation tools and active community guarantee a longevity to BTS Universe Story that wasn’t possible in BTS World. As long as it has players, there will always be new chapters in the BTS Universe.