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There is no game that sticks with me to this day in an unsettling manner as much as Saya no Uta. Also known by its English name, The Song of Saya, this unforgettable visual novel still remains to this day the most horrifying game I’ve ever played. If you’re looking for a horror game that will truly keep you up at night this spooky season, this is the one to play.

Despite playing Saya no Uta for the first time well over a decade ago (at the time of writing), its riveting and shocking storyline still haunts me to this day. Without spoiling much, the story begins with a man who ends up in an accident. This messes with his vision and causes him to perceive the entire world as this fleshy, Scorn-like disgusting place.

The protagonist’s accident even makes humans appear as these terrifying, grotesque monsters. As you might expect, this leads the protagonist to madness. That is, until he stumbles upon a girl who looks surprisingly normal named Saya. From there, the story descends into utter hell, both in the nightmarish visuals and the actual writing.

To an extent, this visual novel feels like everything it does is purely for shock value. Name a terrible crime or sin and it probably happens in extremely detailed fashion over the course of this story. And the wildest part is it isn’t even that long. I think it took me about three hours in total to get through Saya no Uta from start to finish.

Even though it is so short, I couldn’t stomach more than 30 minutes at the time when I played it. This is not the type of experience to binge. That is why it took me just over a week of playing for about 30 minutes each day to finish this visual novel when I first played it. Unlike other horror games, I couldn’t exist in that world for too long.

My method of breaking up Saya no Uta over a week ended up being a mistake, too. There wasn’t a single night I went to sleep without a nightmare due to playing this just before bed. No other horror game gave me this many consistent nightmares in a row. And that is all before considering the actual quality of the experience.

While the art and story are spectacularly horrifying at times, it left a surprising mark on me by the end. The conclusion of Saya no Uta is oddly beautiful in a way with the shocking commentary it has. I could spend a whole article’s worth of time just dissecting the finale and the intriguing direction the plot goes in. In a way, this is the necessary evil of visual novels. Every visual novel fan should fight through the madness to the end if they can.

After all, this is the most horrifying and haunting game I’ve ever played. ittedly, I’m not the horror aficionado. This is far from my best and favorite genre in games. But even the genre giants and spooky games I’ve played don’t even come close to this experience. Titles like Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 7, Slender, Amnesia, The Evil Within, Phasmaphobia, and so on didn’t terrify me how this game has. If you like visual novels and horror, and even if you are like me and don’t prefer scary games, Saya no Uta is the ultimate marriage of the two everyone should try.

Saya no Uta is available right now for PC.

The post Saya no Uta Still Remains the Most Horrifying Game of All Time appeared first on Siliconera.

Cyberpunk visual novel Tokyo Necro will get an officially licensed international release. Localization firm JAST USA is producing it, and pre-orders have opened on various PC game storefronts. It is set to release in early 2023. [Thanks, Kars!]

JAST USA also created an English version of the Tokyo Necro opening sequence, which you can check out below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjVXPMRSIOs

Tokyo Necro was developed by Nitro Plus (aka Nitro Origin), the developers of Saya no Uta and Full Metal Daemon Muramasa and co-developer of Steins;Gate. The game was developed for the studio's 15th anniversary and released in Japan in 2016. The story takes place in a near-future Tokyo that's been turned into a snowy wasteland. The reanimated dead threaten the living amongst the ruins. Those who protect the living are the armed and cybernetically enhanced "Living Dead Stalkers", super-soldiers that execute undead and the necromancers that control them. So'un Nagaoka and Ethica Kibanohara are veteran operators working for the Karasuzumi Living Dead Stalker office. One day they encounter a strange girl named Iria Hogyo, who was for unknown reasons become taret of a mysterious and powerful group of necromancers.

With a sci-fi-tinged action-heavy storyline, Tokyo Necro features a number of presentational flairs to set it apart from other visual novels. It includes "fully-animated" 3D fight scenes, and an "interactive display"-style screen where players can view the actions their character takes in first-person perspective. The JAST USA localization will English language text, as well as Simplified Chinese text. It'll also include 18+-rated content, as in the original release (an all-ages edition was sold in Japan in 2018).

Tokyo Necro releases for PCs in early 2023. Pre-orders via open via the storefronts of JAST USA, GoG, and Steam.

The post Cyberpunk VN Tokyo Necro English Release Arrives in 2023 appeared first on Siliconera.

At a at Anime Expo last night, visual novel publisher JAST USA announced that they will be releasing Nitroplus and 5pb’s Steins;Gate in the West, as well as a number of other titles that they announced alongside the game.

Steins;Gate happens to be just one of several games by Nitroplus that JAST USA are in the process of translating. Siliconera caught up with the company’s founder, Peter Payne, to ask a few quick questions about the slate of Nitroplus games.

What have negotiations between JAST USA and 5pb been like? What were their concerns and what were yours?

We've worked exclusively through Nitroplus with regards to Steins;Gate. They've handled the talks with 5pb. From our experience, 5pb is a great company.

You've been working on bringing Steins;Gate over for a while. What changed that makes it possible to bring over now?

I think they were just taking their time making sure they made the right decision about what to do with Steins;Gate for the English market. There's a lot involved since it's part of an extended media mini-empire that was created by two different, extremely talented companies (5pb and Nitroplus).

Who's translating the game?

Steins;Gate is being translated by the same team that released a partial fan translation in 2011. The translation will have been polished and edited for the official release, with complete translation of tips, e-mails, song lyrics, and other items. There will also be numerous system improvements, such as full compatibility with English Windows.

Do you think picking up a big name title like Steins;Gate will give you more room to negotiate with other visual novel developers in Japan?

Our goal has always been to increase the quality of the titles we offer each year, bringing in more of the games our customers want us to bring out. Our relationship with Nitroplus has been a big breakthrough for us, one that has led other game companies to be more likely to want to work with us when we them.

You've developed quite the relationship with Nitroplus. Are they different to work with from other visual novel companies?

They're definitely very focused on quality, which is good because it lets us bring customers the best possible product. They also have a strong interest in overseas expansion, driven by changes in the Japanese market. And they have a very nice office in the SkyTree building.

Outlaw Django is another Nitroplus game. Is that being worked on yet or are you waiting to clear other projects off the slate first?

The other Nitroplus games currently in our catalog are Hanachirasu, Django, and Sumaga. We've been taking pre-orders for Hanachirasu since 2011, so we intend to do Hanachirasu next. After that, we will assess the situation and decide how to proceed with Django and Sumaga. We definitely want to get these out to fans ASAP.

Have you discussed Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas with Nitroplus at all?

Not at present. If they ask us to consider it, we will.

It's neat that you're making an effort to bring over games with a more "grown up" art style. How's the scene for those in Japan nowadays? Are they harder to find?

We consider ourselves a "mirror" that reflects the overall Japanese visual novel market, and if we can reflect what's being done in the industry, we're okay with that. We know that there are lots of fans and we try to include as many genres as we can, e.g. stuff for casual gamers, games for more serious VN fans etc.

You've been doing this a long time. What's changed in the last five years? Has anything changed?

I think the interest by Japanese VN companies in working with us to publish their games has increased in the last five years, which is something that we're very excited about. As the market is changing, we're doing our best to help Japanese companies see the benefits of releasing to a wider global audience.

The post JAST USA On Steins;Gate And Their Other Nitroplus Games appeared first on Siliconera.

JAST USA founder, Peter Payne, has been selling visual novels in English for a long time. Recently, the company licensed and released their first all-ages title, Aselia the Eternal, a visual novel RPG developed by Xuse.

We caught up with Payne to discuss his company's future goals, its day-to-day dealings, and how the negotiation process with Japanese publishers goes.

I wanted to begin by talking about “image,” which is somewhat of an uphill battle for companies publishing visual novels and eroge. How do you want to shape JAST’s image over the next few years as a publisher?

JAST USA founder, Peter Payne: It's definitely a problem. Basically, America is a difficult place to try to widen the awareness of a genre like adult PC games, because we are a freedom-loving society that was nevertheless founded by Puritans, and both traditions are struggling to defeat the other. Our goal is to be a professional publisher of unique visual novels and eroge from Japan and do whatever it takes to get more people playing these games, which we believe are an awesome way to interface with Japan.

You have so many different labels between Jast Densetsu, G-Collections, Peach Princess and so on. Do you plan to stick with these same labels for the foreseeable future or maybe re-categorize games based on their characteristics?

We often take our cues from Japanese companies, and one thing a lot of them do is create brands for publishing of different games. Some of our "brands" came about as a result of our history, for example G-Collections was established as a separate company by CD Bros. before we took it over.

We'll probably continue the brands but change how they function as we go forward, with each doing slightly different kinds of titles.

Aselia the Eternal is going to be an “All-Ages” game, and is being pushed as more of a role-playing game. Provided that reaction to Aselia is encouraging when it goes on sale, what other all-ages games do you have your eyes on?

Aselia is out now and we're very happy with it. We certainly want to reach out to more fans, and hope that titles like Aselia will do well for us. It depends on what games might be available to us and of course if the companies involved would be open to us publishing their title outside of Japan.

I have to ask about your relationship with Nitroplus. In Japan, Nitroplus have a close relationship with 5pb. with Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate. When we spoke to 5pb’s president, he said they were keen on bringing their games overseas. What are the chances that we’ll see you bringing over 5pb’s games in the future?

It'd all be up to them. They know that we're interested in doing any titles they'll allow us to do. Nitroplus is a hugely successful company in Japan and are also a very cautious one. They would basically like us to publish a title, wait two years to see how the sales are, then decide the next title to publish. This is too slow for us and for our customers so we're pushing them to let us release more games, several of which we've announced and published in our 2011-2012 game catalog.

How many people work at JAST USA and how have you managed to remain profitable despite issues such as the size of the market and piracy?

Two main staff, not counting the guys in our San Diego company who ship out the games and manage our wholesale s.

Definitely one of the most important things to us is being able to reach the customer directly, to have a great relationship with them directly and make it easy for them to buy titles from us directly. If it weren't knowledgeable for the Internet, there'd be no English visual novel market, since there are no retailers who will carry adult PC titles, so reaching our customers directly becomes very important to us. I think one thing we did right was build something besides the visual novels, which is J-List. Being able to sell a Hello Kitty shoulder massager to someone and possibly interest them in a visual novel down the road has been a big help. They've helped us survive the many changes the wider anime world has gone through since 1996.

A word on piracy. Obviously we're against it, being a tiny publisher of very specialized "indie" PC games as we are. Piracy will obviously exist for every kind of "soft" media and we make sure we don't let fear of it stop us from moving forward, but it is a huge frustration all the same. People who are ionate about something, as I know many eroge fans to be, should be purchasing the games they want to see more of so we can make more and better games in the future.

When I see extremely knowledgeable fans who follow artists, voice actresses and scenario writers of visual novels posting on pirate sites it really gives us pause. Bottom line, companies like Nitroplus are very focused on the raw number of copies sold as a bellwether to success, so fans who fail to cast their "dollar votes" for titles they want to see more of in the future will be sorry later.

When you approach Japanese publishers with the prospect of licensing their games, what do you usually say to them? What’s the pitch like, and how does your approach differ, depending on the company?

We basically approach them, explaining our history and knowledge of the U.S. market and what we can do for them, allowing their game to be legitimately played by fans all over the world.

It usually comes down to the personality of the president of the company. If he's an outgoing person who wants to see lots of people play his games, that's usually all it takes. Companies that are afraid of any possible downside will usually not consider our proposals -- this is one of the most frustrating things about working with Japanese companies. A single possible downside to any new idea is often enough to kill it.

There's also a frustrating "catch-22 zone" where a game is so famous in Japan, it could never be licensed by anyone for any amount of money. This is a combination of the realities of the Japanese market -- the company is selling 100,000 copies a year at $110 per copy and is fearful of disrupting this flow of money for any reason. So we have to wait and try in a few years or move on the other titles. Also sometimes other licensing issues complicate things.

When a mainstream game or anime is made based on an 18+ title, the new company has some rights over that title, making it hard for us to get it. The only thing harder than getting one Japanese company to agree to a proposal is getting two of them to do it.

Can you give us a few examples of which ones have turned you down outright when you approached them with the prospect of bringing their games overseas?

Each company is different, and has different goals. As fans know, some companies are terrified of their own shadows, and block foreign IP addresses from viewing their websites (*cough* AliceSoft *cough*). When we encounter a company like this, all we can do is move on.

Doujin publishers have been receiving more exposure in recent years. Is bringing doujin games from Japan over part of the plan at any point?

We're definitely open to it. A lot of interesting games are being made in the doujin space.

PC is your primary publishing platform at the moment, but the iOS market is generating buzz and that’s another way to make these games more conveniently available. Are you looking into publishing on phones?

Yes, although there are no concrete plans in the immediate future.

The difficulty of publishing adult titles on restricted platforms like that is frustrating, and the "make the game, then we'll tell you whether or not you can sell it in our app store" model is also one that gives me pause. I wonder if HTML 5 will ever offer a way around this.

A lot of visual novels in Japan these days tend to have a very cute or “moe” sort of look to them, which could potentially turn people off them. Do you ever see this as a challenge and think about chasing games with a more “grown up” art style?

The visual novel space is quite well developed, and there are character styles and designs and stories for every taste. We'll always try to offer a range of products and will continue in the future. Perception is an odd thing though -- honestly, chainmail bikini-clad sword-bearing heroines found in Western games are just a removed from reality as a 1000+ year old girl who happens to be the embodiment of the Necronomicon from the Cthulhu universe, as Al from Demonbane is.

We want to move forward in new and interesting directions so we'll keep your comment in mind, though some Westerners will always look at anime-style characters in a strange way. I've seen fans describe K-On! characters as "loli," which doesn't seem quite accurate to me, but that's how they viewed things.

What’s a typical day at the JAST USA office like?

Some of your readers are likely familiar with J-List (https://www.jlist.com for all products including NSFW ones, or https://www.jbox.com for PG-oly products), our online shop that just celebrated its 15th anniversary.

We post a lot of items to the site, from bento boxes and figures to Japanese imported eroge titles and anime art books, and the JAST USA side helps us get each update out, providing recommendations about what "moe" products to carry and so on. We're getting busy these days. To paraphrase the Starks of Winterfell, Christmas is coming.

Note: This interview was conducted in November. Thanks to Siliconera reader, MiauMiaut, for contributing to this feature.

The post JAST USA’s Peter Payne On The Daily Dealings Of His Company appeared first on Siliconera.

Recently, Siliconera had a chance to interview JAST USA founder, Peter Payne, also responsible for founding online retailer, Jlist. One of Payne’s primary jobs for the past several years has involved publishing visual novels in English, primarily of the adult variety.

Recently, JAST USA published an all-ages version of visual novel RPG, Aselia the Eternal, following which we got in touch with the company to learn a little more about what makes them tick. Naturally, the question of piracy and profitability came up, and Payne gave us his thoughts on the former.

According to Payne, while JAST USA don’t allow piracy to deter them from their goal of publishing more games in the visual novel space, it does make negotiations with Japanese companies far more difficult.

“A word on piracy. Obviously we're against it, being a tiny publisher of very specialized "indie" PC games as we are,” Payne said to Siliconera. “Piracy will obviously exist for every kind of "soft" media and we make sure we don't let fear of it stop us from moving forward, but it is a huge frustration all the same.”

“People who are ionate about something, as I know many eroge fans to be, should be purchasing the games they want to see more of so we can make more and better games in the future. When I see extremely knowledgeable fans who follow artists, voice actresses and scenario writers of visual novels posting on pirate sites, it really gives us pause.”

“Bottom line, companies like [Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer developer] Nitroplus are very focused on the raw number of copies sold as a bellwether to success, so fans who fail to cast their "dollar votes" for titles they want to see more of in the future will be sorry later.”

This shouldn't come as a surprise to fans that keep up with visual novel news. The difficulties of working with Japanese visual novel publishers have been documented before, even by MangaGamer's president, Hiroshi Takeuchi, who has pointed to companies such as Innocent Grey and Visual Art's being skeptical of actual sales opportunities in the west.

You’ll be able to read more about the negotiation process with Japanese companies and the day-to-day workings of JAST USA when our full interview is published later this week.

Thanks to Siliconera reader MiauMiaut for contributing to this feature.

The post The Effect Of Piracy On English Visual Novels appeared first on Siliconera.

Translated "Yumina the Ethereal," JAST USA's newly licensed title involves more than just dating-sim elements -- it's also an RPG. The company announced the acquisition at their during Anime Expo this past week.

Kikouyoku Senki Tenkuu no Yumina is a dungeon-crawling, sci-fi role-playing game crossed with a dating-sim. The game is based around the protagonist, transfer student Akashima Ayumu, who is sent to the school of Midorishita Yumina, in order to protect the girl. Eventually the two of them end up in outer space.

Tenkuu no Yumina is scheduled to release in 2011. The game is developed by Eternal, a part of visual novel publisher, Will, responsible for publishing Yume Miru Kusuri in Japan. Proceed here at your own risk (NSFW) for more screenshots.

The post JAST USA License Tenkuu no Yumina appeared first on Siliconera.