News by Lindsay M. and Matt S.
Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s regular catch-up news feature. With each issue we will bring you the best news that you may have missed. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news anchor, Dee Dee)!
The Midnight Sanctuary promises a brand new visual novel experience
By Lindsay M., News Editor
Developed by Cavyhouse, localised by Carpe Fulgur, and published by Unties, The Midnight Sanctuary has been dubbed a 3D animation novel. The story — based in the occult and folklore — can apparently neither be experienced through cinematic storytelling nor VR technology. Here’s a trailer:
The story takes place in an isolated Japanese hamlet, originally built by persecuted Christians. The protagonist arrives to catalogue local history, and finds themselves in far deeper than they ever knew possible.
The Midnight Sanctuary will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch this (Northern) summer. It supports both cinematic and VR novel modes. In the VR mode, players experience events as though from the middle of a stage, with events happening all around them.
Sekai Project is bringing us Tokyo Chronos and any wait is too long
By Lindsay M., News Editor
VR content company MyDearest has developed Tokyo Chronos, which it describes as a VR mystery adventure title. This information, combined with the below promo image, has me instantly hooked.
Little is known so far about the title, minus this overview:
For how long, and why, have the been separated?
A group of eight who were friends since childhood.
The time came for the mystery to be revealed.
Time stopped, and the eight were trapped in a Shibuya where no one else existed.
In an unusual space where one person disappears at a time.
—I died. Who is the culprit?
Tokyo Chronos will be released for PlayStation VR, Steam VR, and Oculus (both Go and Rift) this December with English, Japanese, and Chinese language options. More information is expected at Los Angeles’ Anime Expo in early July.
Square Enix set for E3 showcase this year
By Lindsay M., News Editor
Square Enix is promising “exciting news and announcements” at its E3 2018 showcase. The showcase is a digital event, reminding me more of Nintendo’s approach to the Western video game exposition than that of, say, Microsoft or Ubisoft.
The stream will be available here beginning on Monday, June 11 at 10 a.m. PDT. That means 18:00 in London, or 02:00 on June 12 if you’re in Tokyo — that’s three in the morning for all of you in the same time zone as Sydney, so have your coffee pots ready!
And now the fun begins, as we all wonder what will be announced. I’d expect at least something to do with Final Fantasy XV, but how about Thanos coming to FFXIV? That seems to be trending. Personally, I’d love to see a spotlight on upcoming Square Enix Collective titles.
The PlayStation Vita still has one very exciting horror game on the way
By Matt S., Editor-in-Chief
You may remember NightCry – a successfully crowdfunded horror game from the man behind Clock Tower, Hifumi Kono. The game was meant to get a PC, mobile and PlayStation Vita release, but after the PC version came out, further news on the game went quiet, leading many to believe that the other versions had been quietly scrapped.
Thankfully that looks like it’s not the case, with the publisher confirming that the game will still get a release on PlayStation Vita this year. It’ll set players back around $25.
Now we just have to hope that release extends to the west as well, because we haven’t had an announcement on that as yet. In our review of the game, we wrote: Your enjoyment of NightCry is going to depend a lot on your perspective, which is why I suspect this is going to be one of the most divisive horror games since Deadly Premonition. To judge NightCry at face value would be to grossly overlook all the work that Nude Maker has done to create an authentic Clock Tower-style, classic stalker horror experience for the modern day. You’re going to have to look past the game’s often ugly exterior to see the beauty behind every design choice, every camera angle and every mindblowing plot twist, and you’re going to need to be a horror fan who isn’t spoiled on the modern trends of jump scares and instant gratification. The ambition and the unique vision of NightCry genuinely make me excited that there is a future in traditional gameplay. My character can run terrified down a hallway being chased by a relentless scissor wielding maniac while I sit in awe, hoping that Hifumi Kono is proud of his work.
