Aksys and Spike Chunsoft’s Showcases Recaps

Over the weekend, our cluster of game showcases concluded with the panels at Anime Expo 2022.

Bandai Namco’s contained nothing new beyond the announcement that Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher, which we discussed last week, will get an official release in the west.

That left Aksys and Spike Chunsoft, and both turned out to be well worth watching.

Aksys Games

Aksys Games did not stream their showcase, but a fan in attendance streamed it, so I was able to tune in and see the announcements live. I didn’t expect much to be announced, but I hoped we’d get either a new otome announcement or Shibito Magire localization news.

They began with an overview of their upcoming games (including the release date of Piofiore: Episodio 1926 being moved up from September 22 to September 8) and soundtrack CDs available with some of them.

Update: the September 8 release date was a mistake; it’s still set for September 22.

Then they got into the announcements. The first game shown was Pups & Purrs Pet Shop, which I thought had been already announced, but apparently this is a series and I was probably thinking of the previous Pups & Purrs game.

The second game announced was Inescapable, a “social thriller” coming to all major platforms next year. It seems to have a death game sort of premise, and I’ve seen it described as Danganronpa-inspired. So that’s definitely something I’m interested in.

Then it was otome time!

Norn9 is coming west for the Switch. I played Norn9 on the Vita and found it to be enjoyable, though I disliked the incomplete feel of the story and said I’d pick up its fandisc Last Era if it was ever released in English, since Last Era is supposed to fix a lot of those issues.

…and sure enough, yes, they followed the Norn9 trailer with a trailer for Norn9: Last Era, which is being translated at last.

Yes, they’re separate releases instead of a dual pack, but I’m just happy that we’re getting Last Era.

Then they showed another trailer, for another otome, Radiant Tale. This one is about a girl becoming the producer for a circus troupe in a fantasy world, and what stands out to me the most is how beautiful and colorful it looks.

The next game was also otome, one I’ve seen a lot of people hoping would be localized, Shuuen no Virche ~Error:Salvation, which is on the other end of the spectrum in that it appears to be about death and darkness and despair.

(I’m intrigued.)

Then the final trailer began, and when I saw “Shibito Magire” appear on the screen, I nearly screamed.

Yes, the third Spirit Hunter game is being localized under the title Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II. …Which I’m sure will cause no confusion whatsoever with the second game in the series, NG.

That was the last of the announcements, and they spent the rest of the showcase providing more details about the announced games. I went into it hoping for at least one otome or Shibito Magire, and I got four otome announcements AND Shibito Magire.

In short, 2023 is already packed for me with games to look forward to, and I’ll play NG soon.

Spike Chunsoft

Spike Chunsoft also didn’t stream their showcase, and again it was streamed by a fan who was there.

They mainly highlighted already-announced games, but they did confirm that Chaos;Head Noah will be coming to PC on October 7 alongside the Switch launch of the Chaos;Head Noah / Chaos;Child dual pack.

Their showcase also had one other announcement: Anonymous;Code localization. Yes, the newest entry in the Science Adventure series is coming west in 2023 for Switch, PS4, and PC.

I’m excited to play Chaos;Head Noah and Chaos; Child, and I’m looking forward to Anonymous;Code as well… although I still need to get Robotics;Notes in the meantime!

Miscellaneous

Apparently Sekai Project had a ton of visual novel announcements at Anime Expo, including Nekopara After and the Nekopara spin-off Inapura: Dog’s Paradise. Type-Moon was also there and confirmed that Witch on the Holy Night is not only getting an English translation (which we discussed) but also a western release on December 8.

And there were plenty of other announcements of visual novels I’m less familiar with. In short, as a visual novel fan, this was a crazy weekend for announcements. The upcoming lineup from Aksys alone already has my backlog crying out in pain.

What do you think of the games that were announced at Anime Expo 2022?