Publisher PQube has announced they will be bringing the PlayStation 3 and Vita ports of the celebrated Japanese visual novel Steins;Gate to North America and Europe next year.
The enthralling sci-fi, time travelling mystery follows techie college students that gain the ability to change the past using text messages and naturally things go wrong. The group finds themselves involved with a conspiracy surrounding SERN, a science research organization inspired by the real-life CERN. The visual novel features a nonlinear storyline with a “phone trigger” gameplay system in which the outcome is affected by whether you choose to respond to texts and phone calls or not.
No confirmation on if it will see both a digital and physical release, but PQube head of marketing Geraint Evans told Gematsu, "I’m a big advocate of physical releases. So we’ll do our utmost to make sure it happens on both formats and in both territories.”
Steins;Gate is lauded by many as one of the best visual novels ever crafted. Famitsu awarded the game their Game of Excellence award for 2009 and ranked as the #6 most “tear-inducing game” on their 2011 online reader poll. The game spawned a popular anime series along with a movie, novel, and manga.
On March 31, 2014, JAST USA released a localization for North America of the original PC version, which sits at an 87 on Metacritic. As of now, it’s not clear if the PS3 and Vita versions will be using the same translation as the PC release. The build of Steins;Gate that PQube came directly from MAGES, the parent company of the game’s developer, 5pb. Games.
With so many visual novels available for the PS3 and PS Vita, I’m thrilled more are being localized for the West, especially one as celebrated as Steins;Gate. Let us know in the comments if you share my excitement and stay posted to PSU for updates.