Tanto Cuore: Winter Romance brings same-sex relationships and butlers to the Japanese deckbuilder about hiring anime maids

The sequel to Tanto Cuore sounds like it will move away from some of the original card game’s anime stereotypes with a more diverse line-up of characters and the option for romantic relationships.

The 2009 deckbuilder centred around the hiring of maids, with players taking on the role of lords looking to contract private maids for their mansions. Rival lords could apply sicknesses or bad habits to other players' maids, decreasing the victory points needed to become the ‘King of Maids’ at the end of the game.

Although its gameplay was very similar to Dominion, the game’s artwork made heavy use of anime tropes such as the ‘sexy maid’ and often provocative (and controversial) representation of its female characters.

Tanto Cuore: Winter Romance will hopefully balance the scales a bit, with the introduction of male butlers who will presumably be available for hire alongside their female counterparts.

The upcoming set – which appears to be a new edition of the original game, rather than an expansion – also expands the gameplay with the addition of new ‘romantic turmoil’ mechanics.

Players will be able to play mingling cards to bring characters together and ultimately hook them up as couples, described as adding “an exciting new layer of player interaction”.

Couples can be created using any combination of sexes, allowing both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

Co-publishers Japanime Games and Arclight Games haven’t given many more details on what else is in store for the game, briefly mentioning further player interaction mechanics for the 'highly interactive' version, but we’ll likely learn more when its Kickstarter launches later this month.