In commemoration of Steins;Gate’s 15th anniversary, MAGES. will release the Steins;Gate Elite + Divergencies Assort 15th Anniversary Double Pack for 7700 JPY on April 11th, 2024. The Divergencies Assort was a Japan-exclusive Switch bundle of three Steins;Gate side entries — My Darling’s Embrace, Linear Bounded Phenogram, and Steins;Gate 0. In other words, the 15th anniversary bundle contains four games within the Steins;Gate sub-series. Physical owners, however, will also receive Steins;Gate: 8-Bit ADV (Famicolle) as a download code, making this release a five-game bundle.
On the same day, MAGES. is also re-releasing Steins;Gate Elite for the Nintendo Switch at a lower price in what they are titling Steins;Gate Elite: Good Value Edition. The release will cost 4180 JPY. Both the aforementioned releases are available for pre-order on Amazon Japan and maji-get. On the Nintendo and PlayStation stores, the digital versions of Steins;Gate Elite will also drop to the same price on April 11th, 2024.
They have not announced an English release. Some may be quick to note that all five titles included in the Double Pack have been localized into English. It is worth noting, however, that MAGES. and Spike Chunsoft never localized the Divergencies Assort even though all games bundled within it were all translated for the purposes of other releases. Therefore, one should not expect to see this double pack localized either although anything is possible.
Interestingly, both the cover for the Good Value Edition and the 15th Anniversary Double Pack contain a little hint in their bottom right corners. If you “inspect element” the Steins;Gate Elite website, a similar hint is on the website saying: “S;G to be continue”.
In his interview with Famitsu a few weeks ago, Asada Makoto confirmed that MAGES. had major plans for Steins;Gate’s 15th anniversary, strongly hinting at the long-awaited release of the previously announced Steins;???, the thematic sequel to Steins;Gate. Based on this cover hint, some speculate that this could suggest that the second half of Steins;???’s final title starts with a “G”. After all, the original working title for Steins;??? was Steins;God. However, S;G could very well only be referring to Steins;Gate itself. But at the very least, it does reaffirm MAGES.’ desire to continue pursuing projects for Steins;Gate’s 15th anniversary.
Beyond Steins;???, fans also eagerly await Steins;Gate 0 Elite, which was announced 4 years ago. Some fans also suspect that this Double Pack release might act as a precursor to Steins;Gate 0 Elite’s release. Nevertheless, they have provided very few updates on the project’s status since 2020. Whether Steins;Gate 0 Elite will happen or not remains a mystery.
Steins;Gate is the second entry in MAGES.’ and Chiyomaru Studio’s Science Adventure series (otherwise known as SciADV). SciADV is a long-running, heavily interconnected science fiction visual novel franchise. Each mainline entry in the series features its own unique cast, somewhat self-contained plot, and oftentimes, unique sci-fi theme. But ultimately, they build upon their predecessors to construct an overarching narrative. We recently reviewed the latest SciADV entry, Anonymous;Code, a few months back. You can check out our spoiler-free review here!
Steins;Gate follows a group of students who accidentally discover the means of sending emails to the past through a modified microwave. But as they continue their experiments, they find themselves involved in a massive conspiracy surrounding an organization known as SERN. The original visual novel and several of its side entries are available in English for purchase on Steam.
In 2011, Steins;Gate received a 24-episode anime adaptation, which resulted in the series exploding in popularity. Since the original visual novel’s release in 2009, the Steins;Gate series has sold over 1 million copies to date. Its success spawned various side entries across different forms of media. In 2015, MAGES. adapted prior Steins;Gate side material into an interquel visual novel entitled Steins;Gate 0. In 2018, Steins;Gate 0 received a 23-episode anime, narratively serving as a complement and final route to the visual novel.
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