Plot Twist, a Melbourne-based games studio, has announced that the visual novel Ashes will launch in Early Access this May, with a full launch planned for December. This period of time will be used to finish the story, refine the existing minigames/add new ones, and provide new narrative content. The game blends graphic novel panels with interactive puzzles.…
Not A Cat Studios has announced STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age. The dark fantasy romantic visual novel is set in a world on the brink of disaster, and players must use an Emotion Palette to read others’ true emotions and intentions, influence relationships, and uncover the truth behind a brutal murder.…
Publisher Idea Factory International has announced a preorder date of April 22…
The first otome visual novel that I played – in fact, the…
Urban Myth Dissolution Center is an interesting game. Set in modern-day Tokyo, this ADV from developer Hakababunko and publisher Shueisha Games features a series of episodes involving the titular Urban Myth Dissolution Center, an organisation that specializes in solving peculiar cases involving such anomalies. University student Azami Fukurai had a…
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Kotaro Uchikoshi will be remembered as one of the finest writers to work in the visual novel (and VN-adjacent) space. He is of course best known for the Zero Escape series and, more recently, the two utterly exceptional AI titles. Right at the start of his career, however, he worked in…
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When retro-inspired visual novels like Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog pop up on my radar, I jump at the chance to play them. These games remind me of my childhood when the outside world never felt “safe.” Like many others in the same position, I found my place in other…
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Idea Factory International (IFI) is great about physical releases and special editions of its titles, and its plans for Battlefield Waltz are no different. The publisher has announced the physical Plus Edition and the Digital Deluxe Edition of the otome visual novel, and that’s on top of the digital and…
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Last month, PQube announced that it will bring Iwakura Aria to Western territories later this year. I do not know why I’m only receiving a press release now, dated for today, so I’m a bit bummed I didn’t get to talk about this pre-holidays! Iwakura Aria is a suspense visual…
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Grizzly Man is the fourth title in LCB Game Studio’s Pixel Pulps series, beginning a second trilogy titled “Pixel Pulps DTV Collection.” (DTV is short for direct-to-video.) It is a psychedelic slasher game about a former MIB agent who was severely injured in a mysterious attack, waking up with full…
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Idea Factory International is bringing otome visual novel Battlefield Waltz to the West over a decade after its original Japanese launch. First announced during IFI’s Summer Festival 2024, the game will be available in physical and digital editions.) It follows a young woman named Lan on her journey as the…
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Delays in the game industry are a dime a dozen, and the indie rookie detective game Paper Perjury is no different. It was planned for an October 2024 release, which was bumped to a November launch date and then to a December launch window. Hopefully, the announced December date will…
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The Infinity Series are well-known visual novels by Kotaro Uchikoshi that sit firmly in the science fiction, suspense, and adventure game genres. It began in the early 2000s, branching out to three mainline games, one spin-off, and one reboot. Today, Spike Chunsoft announced that remastered versions of the series’ first…
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It’s such a tough gig to be an indie VN developer. It’s a niche genre at the best of times, and the resources that you have to dedicate to it are going to be limited. It’s a question of what you throw money into to try to make your project…
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