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Karifean's Blog of Visual Novels

Steam Store Page for Umineko (Arcs 1-4) is up!

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http://store.steampowered.com/app/406550/
(The preview pictures contain spoilers, especially the last 3)

So it seems MangaGamer has decided on releasing Umineko four arcs at a time, with the question arcs being released on July 9th!


The pachislot art will take some getting used to for me (look at those eyes), but chances are the UmiTweak patch - meaning PS3 art + voice acting - will be adapted for the Steam release soon enough. It only took them a couple weeks for the Higurashi releases at least. I'll probably still read it with these new sprites once, or perhaps even go back to the originals (I'm quite fond of them).

What even is Umineko? Well it's a story of 18 people being trapped on an island. At nightfall a letter from an unknown sender known as the 'witch' arrives, taunting and challenging them. Soon enough people start dying gruesomely, in peculiar situations that make you feel like the crime would have been impossible for any of the survivors to commit. And so Umineko's core question arises: Is the culprit actually a witch using magic? Or are witches and magic mere fantasy and the culprit is actually a human using tricks? ...and will the survivors be able to stop the killing before it's too late?

If you've been following me you surely know that Umineko is my #1 favorite visual novel, and favorite literary work in general. It has the best story, the best cast of characters and the best soundtrack I've ever seen in a game, and it's affected me personally in many ways. I consider myself a happier, better person for having read it.

Being a spiritual successor to Higurashi, it's probably best if you read Higurashi before tackling Umineko, but it's not necessary by any means; the stories are not connected beyond taking place in the same universe and having one common character. While I would recommend ideally reading Higurashi first to have the best possible Umineko experience, it's quite a high barrier to entry given that Higurashi is almost as long as Umineko AND it's not fully released yet either.

Now excuse me while I go squee, listening to this song on repeat.

Updated 05-21-2016 at 01:04 PM by Karifean

Categories
Miscellaneous , Video Games

Comments

  1. Fynn's Avatar
    Neato! I will make sure to pick this up!
  2. Shauna's Avatar
    #neat

    After all that effort I went to getting the unofficially translated one working. xD
  3. Karifean's Avatar
    You did? Oh well, it'll still help you if you want to continue to Chiru before it's out =P
  4. Shauna's Avatar
    I never even turned the damn thing on, I just got it installed because of the hassle and left it.
  5. Karifean's Avatar
    Oh.