News Round-Up for the Week of July 27

What’s new this week in the world of visual novels?

Kickstarter Launch: Sinsations

Frigid Delight Studios has launched their Kickstarter for Sinsations, an 18+ supernatural BL visual novel with full voice acting. The campaign ends September 10. The demo is available to play on itch.io.

Rocket Adrift Games Announces Raptor Boyfriend

Piofiore: Fated Memories to Launch for Switch in the West

The otome visual novel from Otomate and published in English by Aksys Games launches October 8th on the Switch for $49.99. First run copies in North America will include a set of six exclusive character cards.

First Trailer for New Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York Standalone Expansion

Draw Distance has released the first trailer for Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York, their upcoming expansion to Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York. According to their Steam page, the game can be enjoyed without having played its predecessor or other games in the World of Darkness media franchise. Shadows of New York will launch on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch in 2020.

Necrobarista Announces Post-Launch DLC

Developer Route 59 announced on the game’s Steam page that free DLC is currently in development. The first DLC release will focus on gameplay and systems. Additional releases will focus on providing new chapters set within the Terminal and expanding the stories of a number of side characters.

Higurashi When They Cry Getting Mobile RPG Spin-Off

D-techno and Smileaxe have announced Higurashi When They Cry Mei, a free-to-play RPG for iOS and Android that will feature in-app purchases. A release date has not been announced.

North American Release Announced for Cooking-themed Fate Spin-off

Everyday♪ Today’s Menu for Emiya Family has a confirmed North American release according to the Japanese twitter account. The game is not a visual novel; rather, it is a cooking game featuring the characters from the Fate series. Due to COVID-19, the release has been delayed in Japan, and the follow-up English release is expected to be, as well. It will release on the Switch.

Bokuten Removed from Steam Months After Release

After being specifically revised for a Steam release without sexual content, adult game Bokuten—Why I Became an Angel from Overdrive and MangaGamer was pulled from the storefront without notice seven months after release. Developers on the project say they received no warning before the ban and had made no changes to the game after the initial Steam review that approved it.

A letter from Steam to MangaGamer’s PR director John Pickett, however, claims adult content was added after the initial review, something Pickett refutes. Additional comments by Valve’s VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi clarifies that Bokuten was removed for allowing access to adult content with underage characters through an external patch. Pickett, in response, compared this to an adult mod for Skyrim, stressing that no adult content for the game was ever released via the Steam storefront. Pickett also denied that the activated 18+ patch involved any underage characters engaging in sexual acts. This story is ongoing.

Western Release of Rewrite+ Delayed

An announcement on Sekai Project’s Kickstarter for Rewrite+ announced that additional translation quality control has delayed the release from November 2020 to January 2021.

Mobile Visual Novel Maker Kocho Gets iOS Release

In the r/visualnovel subreddit, the developer of Kocho, a mobile visual novel engine and distribution network, announced an iOS version of the app that’s already available for Android in the Google Play Store.