Dies Irae Visual Novel's English Version Launches on Steam

views Co., Ltd. released its English-localized version of Light's Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~ visual novel for PC via Steam on Thursday.

The common story route is free to download and play. Kasumi, Marie, Kei, and Rea's routes must be purchased and downloaded separately as DLC.

Light launched a Kickstarter campaign to localize the game in December, and it reached its US$160,000 goal in January.

The localization is based on the Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~ PlayStation Portable and PC versions of the game, and features expanded resolution options, widescreen support, and enhanced effects. Violent scenes are uncensored from the Japanese version, and the game will have a separate patch for adult content.

views Co., Ltd. describes the game's story:

May 1, 1945- Germany.On the eve of Berlin's collapse, a group of men and women carried out a certain ritual. To them, suffering defeat in the war meant nothing. If anything, the countless lives lost in the battle served as a catalyst to their sacrificial ceremony. Whether or not their attempt bore fruit ― not a soul knows. Following the war, they faded from sight, mind, and eventually into the realm of myth.

61 years later ― Japan, 2006. Ren Fujii, a young man attending high school in Suwahara City, finds his friendship with his old buddy Shirou Yusa shatter to pieces following a certain incident, ending in a vicious fight that sees Ren hospitalized for two months. The season shifts from autumn to winter ― to the dawning weeks of December, with Christmas on the horizon. Having lost his best friend, Ren leaves the hospital with the intention to rebuild his new life without Shirou. But even that plan soon falls apart. Irrationality that defies the realm of common sense begins to assault and devour the city. Abnormalities soon seek to destroy everything Ren holds dear before his eyes with overwhelming violence. He must change, even if it means crossing the boundary between the ordinary and the extraordinary. His desires are hardly anything grand. All he wants is to return to those days of old. Back to those days filled with simple, everyday joy. The battle with the Longinus Dreizehn Orden. A continuation of that war full of madness, carnage, and maledictions. What future awaits Ren at the end of his road...?

Light previously streamed an English-subtitled promotional video, the game's opening movie, and a 47-minute video of the game's prologue, fully localized in English in December.



The game is getting a television anime adaptation slated for this fall. The English Kickstarter project for the original game revealed that Light has "decided to distribute [the anime] in English-speaking regions as well."

Kazuomi Minatogawa (M3 - Sono Kuroki Hagane/M3 the dark metal manga) is drawing a long-term manga adaptation that debuted in Kadokawa's Dengeki Maoh magazine in January 2016. Light plans to have the manga continue on even after the anime has finished airing. Additionally, Nitroplus Blasterz scenario writer and School-Live! scriptwriter Ryō Morise wrote a novel adaptation that shipped last spring.

The original Dies irae -Also sprach Zarathustra- adult visual novel shipped for PC in 2007. The Dies irae Also sprach Zarathustra -die Wiederkunft- game with additional scenarios also shipped for PC in 2007. The Dies irae ~Acta est Fabula~ and Dies irae ~Acta est Fabula~ -Scharlachrot Grun- games then shipped for PC in 2009. Light shipped the Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~ game on the PlayStation Portable in June 2012 and on PC in August 2012, and then released a smartphone port for Android and iOS devices. The publisher released the Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~ side-story spinoff game in March 2016.