Send messages through a microwave to the past to change the future with Steins;Gate Elite

Spike Chunsoft Inc have announced that seminal visual novel Steins;Gate is being remade for the Sony Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam for the west. It is called Steins;Gate Elite and it will be available in both physical and digital formats. In addition, depending on platform of choice, gamers will get some special DLC. For the PS4 clan there is an HD remake of Steins;Gate Phenogram which is a collection of ten additional stories. Nintendo Switch owners will receive Steins;Gate 8 bit, a special 8 Bit graphics and chiptune version of the original game.

Steins;Gate was originally released in 2009 and has since spawned a manga, an anime, drama cds (a Japanese thing), a movie, a live action stage play, a radio show and the list goes on. The story follows a group of students who discover a way to send text messages to the past via a microwave (by accident initially) with unintended and sometimes scary consequences. The themes of the game are highly focused on concepts of time, time travel and cause and effect. A classic ‘change the past to change the future’ story tangled with conspiracy theory, evil corporation and morality. Featuring multiple endings and branching routes.

Steins;Gate Elite is described as the ultimate definitive version. A complete remaster, it is completely animated using scenes from the anime plus specially created additional scenes for the game. This is intended to break the monotony of typical visual novels however presented some challenges for the developers. It was initially scheduled to ship in March this year however was delayed till later in 2018 so some tweaks could be made.

I personally genuinely enjoyed the original and in my opinion it was one of the best games available for the PS Vita. The twisting storyline and suspense was very well done and created a real atmosphere of tension as to how the story would turn out. Probably most suited to the Nintendo Switch rather than the PS4, this is certainly a game to look out for and the fully animated nature may help it to appeal to gamers who usually give visual novels a miss.