Welcome to another week of Nook News. Unfortunately, our regular news writer is away and as such, we only have visual novel news this week.
Visual Novel News:
Shiravune has kept up the constant barrage of announcements. Recently revealing the upcoming English and Chinese release of the remake of ONE, and Nukitashi not long before, they’ve now revealed two new upcoming localizations.
WHITE ALBUM: Memories like Falling Snow (White Album -Tsuzurareru Fuyu no Omoide-) by Aquaplus is coming to Steam and Johren in the third quarter of 2023. This is an all-ages version based on the 2010 Playstation 3 version of White Album.
Shiravune have previous localized the Utawarerumono series and are due to release dungeon crawlers Dungeon Travelers 2 and Dungeon Travelers 2-2 by Aquaplus soon, with the first Dungeon Travelers title to follow later. No official comment has been made at this time on the potential release of a localization of White Album 2, or other well known Aquaplus titles such as ToHeart or Tears to Tiara.
WHITE ALBUM is a story of love in many forms. Toya Fuji is an ordinary college student but for one thing: His connection to the popular singer Yuki Morikawa. That popular singer, you see, is his girlfriend… and the more popular she gets, the less time the two can spend together. Will they stay a couple, or will their ways part? As winter falls and the air grows colder, the two lay down new tracks in the album of their love… This album will be as white as snow, and as poignant.
Shiravune’s next announcement was the release of The Shell (Kara no Shoujo). This will consist of HD Remasters of the three core titles in the Kara no Shoujo series. The first title will be titled The Shell Part I: Inferno and is set to release on 28th July 2023 on Steam and Johren in English and Chinese. These are well-regarded titles by the visual novel community and while and non-HD versions of Part I and 2 have previously been available via MangaGamer, this will be the first time Part 3 is available in English.
Finally in Shiravune’s updates, they revealed the release date of Nukitashi. It will be released on Johren and Steam on the 23rd June, 2023. The Steam version will be heavily cut, so using the free adult patch is highly recommended.
Moving onto other publishers, NekoNyan made a surprise rescue licence announcement; They have licensed Onikiss “Onii-chan Where’s my Kiss” from the developer Tinkle Position/Sister Position. This was previously published by now-defunct localization company Sol Press. NekoNyan have stated that the developers Tinkle Position (and several other developers) never received any royalties from Sol Press in a blog post, so this is a way to ensure they receive some funds from the localization.
“Onii-chan, let’s kiss a whole lot today, okay?” I was still a child when I noticed something was off about our house rules. Perhaps thanks to the influence of our mother, the kiss demon, my four sisters and I would take pretty much any excuse we could to share a kiss. Good morning kisses, goodnight kisses, and of course, kisses before picking up a call or going to the bathroom.
Since they were all girls and I was the only man in the house, the rules said they had to kiss me.
VisualArts/Key have not yet announced a release date for LOOPERS on PC, but indicated that it will be announced over the upcoming weeks. They have however launched their Steam Store page. It is already available in English on Nintendo Switch.
Despite initial excitement from western visual novel fans, with a rating of with a rating of 6.71 and ranking of #2344 of VNDB, LOOPERS is one of Key’s lower rated works and the lowest one officially available in English.
Crimson Moon Studio have announced a new free visual novel. With the developers describing it as a compelling psychological-horror inspired narrative with branching storylines, this visual novel has you fight for your life as a mysterious witch takes over the college.
It was supposed to be just another day in college – you would hang out with your girl, joke with your friends, fall asleep with lectures… just like any average student. But when a stunningly beautiful new professor shows up, your average day takes an unexpected dark turn. As it turns out, her angelic face is just a facade for her true identity – she is a witch. But not the nice kind. This one is out for blood. You and the other students are now all trapped in this classroom, waiting for death to pick you off one by one. Can you find a way out? Foil the Witch’s cruel game? Save the girl you love? … can you even make it alive?
More Visual Novel News
- Speakeasy has announced themselves as the first R18 Otome title that will be hosted on the JAST USA Store
- Sugar Sweet Temptation (Shugaten) has missed it’s new release date of ‘delayed by one week’ from 26 May, 2023. No public statement has been made, but speaking to someone working on the project, the release date is still ‘To Be Decided’.
- Call Me Under, an LGBTQ+ visual novel has released it’s first chapter
- Dangerous Fellows, an Otome visual novel has released on Steam
- The Queer Games Bundles, which includes visual novels, has launched on Itch
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
