Back in May, Steins;Gate Elite was announced for the PS4 and Vita in Japan.

Very few details were revealed, but it sounded like some sort of enhanced remake of Steins;Gate.

Now the Switch has been added to the list of platforms, and Steins;Gate Elite has been described further as “a full animation adventure game.”

All of the animation from the Steins;Gate anime will be used, along with new animation for the routes that weren’t in the anime.

No one seems quite sure what to make of this.

I loved Steins;Gate and also enjoyed its sequel/midquel, but I don’t quite see the point of making a fully animated visual novel.

Is it like an expanded version of the anime, except you can answer Okabe’s phone and make choices to lead to the different routes, like in the visual novel? That’s interesting, but is there really an advantage over reading the visual novel? Is it intended for people who don’t like visual novels but don’t want to just watch the anime? Who is the target audience?

Steins;Gate Elite will be out in 2018 in Japan, so we’ll see what it’s like then. No localization news has been announced so far.

What do you think of this idea? Am I just missing the appeal? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.