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1516780cookie-check428: Shibuya Scramble, FMV Visual Novel Heads To Steam, PS4 This Summer
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2018/03

428: Shibuya Scramble, FMV Visual Novel Heads To Steam, PS4 This Summer

Spike Chunsoft announced at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California that the 2008 Wii FMV visual novel, 428: Shibuya Scramble, is coming to the PlayStation 4 and to Steam on PC this summer.

The intertwining mystery drama covers the tale of four stories set around the Shibuya ward in Tokyo, Japan. Things kick off with a ransom for a kidnapping that takes place that morning, and involves multiple characters get caught up in a conspiracy that unravels with sometimes unforeseen results.

A decade ago the game received some high praise from Japanese media for its non-linear approach to storytelling, and forcing players to get involved with the character dynamics in order to figure out what was really going on. For the generation of gamers who never knew that this Wii gem existed (especially since Spike Chunsoft porting the game to PSP meant that practically no one played it) there’s now going to be the possibility of a whole new market of gamers being introduced to 428: Shibuya Scramble and its FMV-inspired storytelling mechanics.

DualShockers posted up the announcement trailer for the Steam and PS4 ports, which you can check out below.

Now before you get worried that the entire game is one long embarrassing FMV sequence, keep in mind that they’re mostly used sparingly and only to help setup certain parts of the story. This is definitely more visual novel than pure FMV gameplay. A lot of the interactions and story elements unfold through still images of real-life people and locations.

The game features multiple paths and various endings associated with those paths, so players are encouraged to play through 428: Shibuya Scramble multiple times in order to uncover all of the story routes and different endings.

If you’re in the mood to expand your library of visual novels for your Steam library or PS4, you can do so starting this summer when Spike Chunsoft brings 428: Shibuya Scramble to the West for PS4 and Steam gamers.

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