Amata Games has locked in a release date for its creepy urban photography project. The studio announced on Monday that Shinjuku Anomaly, a horror visual novel set in Tokyo’s most restless nightlife district, will launch for PC via Steam on September 30. A trailer accompanied the announcement.
A part-time job you probably shouldn’t have taken
The premise is deceptively simple. The player has picked up a night shift photographing the anomalies that lurk around Shinjuku after dark, working for an agency that hands over a camera, a limited supply of film, and a short list of rules to follow.
Those rules, as laid out in the game’s description, are:
- If you see an anomaly, take a picture of it.
- When taking a picture, get close enough to capture a clear image of it.
- However, be careful not to get too close.
- Return to the agency once you’ve used up all of your film.
The tension baked into that list is the whole pitch: the job demands proximity to things that very clearly do not want to be documented, and the margin between “clear enough” and “too close” is where the horror lives. Rule-based horror has become one of the most reliable structures in the indie scene in recent years, and pairing it with a visual novel framework and a real, instantly recognizable Tokyo ward gives Shinjuku Anomaly a strong hook.
Language support and where to find it
Amata Games confirmed that the release will ship with support for English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese, meaning international players will not have to wait on a separate localization pass. The game already has a Steam store page live ahead of the launch, and Amata Games posted the date announcement on its official site. The news was also picked up by Gematsu.
Amata Games’ bigger swing: Ace Attorney in VR
Shinjuku Anomaly is not the only thing on the developer’s plate. Amata Games is also developing an officially licensed VR version of CAPCOM‘s Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. Titled Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies VR, the project is being built for Meta Quest headsets as well as the newly announced Meta VR Glasses, and is due next year.
That version will carry a notably wider language slate than Shinjuku Anomaly: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. Dual Destinies originally arrived on Nintendo 3DS as the fifth mainline entry in CAPCOM’s courtroom adventure series, introducing rookie attorney Athena Cykes alongside returning leads Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice. Putting its exaggerated cross-examinations and witness stands into a headset is an unusual fit for a text-heavy adventure game, and it makes Amata Games one of the more interesting small studios to keep an eye on right now.
A busy stretch for Japanese genre media
Horror-tinged Japanese storytelling has been having a moment across formats, from streaming thrillers to theatrical releases. Readers tracking the wider release calendar can see how crowded the slate has become in our recent live-action and film briefs roundup, while the Japanese box office continues to be dominated by very different fare, as our report on Chiikawa holding the top spot shows.
For now, Shinjuku Anomaly is the near-term item on the calendar. Players who want to test their nerve against the four rules will be able to do so on September 30.
Featured image: Amata Games via Gematsu
Source: Anime News Network