Steins;Gate (Japanese: ??????????, Hepburn: Shutainzu G?to) is a Japanese science-fiction visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. It is the second game in the two companies' Science Adventure series following Chaos;Head. The story follows a group of students as they discover and develop technology that gives them the means to change the past. The gameplay in Steins;Gate follows non-linear plot lines which offer branching scenarios with courses of interaction.
Steins;Gate was released for the Xbox 360 on October 15, 2009. The game was ported to Windows on August 26, 2010, PlayStation Portable on June 23, 2011, iOS on August 25, 2011, PlayStation 3 on May 24, 2012, PlayStation Vita on March 14, 2013, and Android on June 27, 2013. The game is described by the development team as a "hypothetical science ADV" (????ADV, S?tei Kagaku ADV). JAST USA released the PC version in North America on March 31, 2014, both digitally and as a physical collector's edition, while PQube released the PS3 and Vita versions in North America and Europe in 2015. Additionally, the iOS version was released in English on September 9, 2016.
A manga adaptation of the story illustrated by Sarachi Yomi began serialization in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine on September 26, 2009. A second manga series, illustrated by Kenji Mizuta, began serialization in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Blade on December 28, 2009. The manga has been licensed in America by Udon Entertainment with the first graphic novel released on January 12, 2016. An anime adaptation by White Fox aired in Japan between April 6, 2011 and September 14, 2011, and has been licensed in North America by Funimation. An animated film premiered in Japanese theaters on April 20, 2013. A fan disc of the game, titled Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling, was released on June 16, 2011. An 8-bit sequel to the game, titled Steins;Gate: Hen'i Kuukan no Octet, was released on October 28, 2011. Another game, Steins;Gate K?soku no Phenogram, was released on April 25, 2013. A follow-up game, Steins;Gate 0, was released on December 10, 2015 for PS3, PlayStation 4 and Vita, with an anime adaptation in production.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Gameplay
Steins;Gate's gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent on reading the text that appears on the screen which represents either the dialogue between the various characters or the thoughts of the protagonist. Like many other visual novels, there are specific points in Steins;Gate where the user is given a choice to affect the direction of the game.
For these decision points, Steins;Gate presents the user with the "phone trigger" (????????, f?n torig?) system which is similar to the "delusional trigger" system that was introduced in Chaos;Head. When the player receives a phone call from somebody, the player can choose to answer or ignore the call. Incoming text messages will have specific words underlined and highlighted in blue, much like a hyperlink on a browser, where the player can select one to reply to the text message. Most phone calls or text messages do not have to be responded to though there are certain points in the game where the player is required to take action. Depending on the player's choices on how to respond to these phone calls and text messages, the plot will progress in a specific direction.
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Plot
Setting and themes
Steins;Gate is set in the summer of 2010, approximately one year after the events that took place in Chaos;Head, in Akihabara. Physical locales of Akihabara like the Radio Kaikan building can be spotted in the game. According to Chiyomaru Shikura, who headed the planning of Steins;Gate, Akihabara was chosen because it is an easy place for acquiring hardware parts, which makes it the ideal place for people interested in inventing and tinkering with things. The notion of time and time traveling are the main themes of the game. The concept of cause and effect is featured prominently in the game as the protagonist travels back in time numerous times to perform different actions in an attempt to alter what has happened in the future.
Main characters
Story
True End route
The following summary is based upon the True End route.
Steins;Gate takes place in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. On July 28, 2010, Rintar? Okabe and his friend Mayuri Shiina head towards the Radio Kaikan building for a conference, where Rintar? finds a girl named Kurisu Makise lying in a pool of blood. As Rintar? sends a text message about the incident to his friend, Itaru "Daru" Hashida, he experiences a strange phenomenon and the people around him disappear, with no-one else noticing anything had changed. After later running into Kurisu, who is strangely alive and well, and discovering the message he had sent to Itaru had arrived a week before he sent it, Rintar? soon deduces that the 'Mobile Microwave' he and his friends had been developing is, in fact, a time machine capable of sending text messages to the past. He and his friends soon learn that SERN, an organization that has been researching time travel for some time, has actually succeeded in sending humans into the past although they seem to have all resulted in the test subjects' deaths. Rintar? begins experimenting with "D-Mails" (D???, D m?ru, short for DeLorean mail), which begin to cause major differences in the timeline. Kurisu also manages to create a device to send a person's memories through the microwave, allowing that person to effectively leap into the past.
However, SERN learns of the time machine and sends a group to retrieve it, killing Mayuri in the process. Using Kurisu's time leap machine, Rintar? travels back in time numerous times to try to save Mayuri, but to no avail. As Rintar? reaches wit's end, he is approached by Suzuha Amane, a girl from a future ruled by SERN due to their possession of a time machine, who tells him that he needs to return to a Beta world line in which Mayuri won't die. By undoing the effects of the D-Mails that caused shifts in the time line, Rintar? regains possession of an IBN 5100 PC that they lost earlier, allowing them to crack into SERN's systems and delete the evidence of Rintar?'s original D-Mail. However, Rintar? realizes that by doing so, he would have to return to a world line in which Kurisu is dead. After realizing their feelings for each other, Kurisu tells Rintar? to save Mayuri. Reluctantly, Rintar? agrees and deletes the evidence of his D-Mail from SERN's database, returning him to the Beta world line.
Some time later, Suzuha appears before Rintar?, having arrived in a time machine from the future. She tells Rintar? that the only way to prevent World War III in the future is to prevent Kurisu's death at the hands of her father, Dr. Nakabachi, who stole her time travel theory to publish it under his own name. However, this operation ends in a disaster as Rintar? ends up killing Kurisu himself by mistake. After this failure, Rintar? receives a message from his future self, telling him that the way to save Kurisu without altering the events that led to him developing a time machine is to fool his past self into believing Kurisu had been killed and thus achieving the final divergence value of 1.048596%, which he dubs the 'Steins Gate'. Returning to the past again, Rintar? puts his own life in danger in order to save Kurisu's life, prevent Nakabachi from successfully escaping with the time travel theory, and fool his past self, setting him on his journey through time. Returning to the Steins Gate world line, safe from the threat of a third world war, Rintar? and Kurisu manage to reunite by chance (or by fate) in the streets of Akihabara.
Alternate endings
The player's choices throughout the game may result in alternate endings.
In the Suzuha Amane Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that would prevent him from pursuing Suzuha. In order to prevent Mayuri's death, he re-lives the final two days before her murder through constant time-leaping. After countless leaps, Okabe loses all emotion and personality due to re-living the same two days for all eternity. Eventually, Suzuha notices Okabe's behavior. She tells him that he will slowly "die" on the inside, and the world's set divergence will continue as planned. Both of them decide to travel to the past together and vow to stop SERN's dystopian future, despite the possibility of both losing their memories on arrival.
In the Faris Nyannyan Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that results in the death of Faris' father to try to stop the loss of the IBN 5100 computer. He instead sends a different D-Mail in an attempt to convince Faris' father to not part with the IBN computer. Beyond 1% divergence is achieved, but the divergence meter gives a strange output and none of Okabe's friends have any memories of him. In this worldline, Okabe and Faris are a couple and live together, participating in Rainet Access Battlers card game tournaments. Although disappointed that none of his friends remember him, Okabe is still satisfied that he was able to prevent Mayuri's death. He decides to build a new life with Faris at his side.
In the Luka Urushibara Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that reverts Luka back to a guy. He fully accepts Mayuri's expected death and makes no more attempts to save her. Okabe and Luka decide to spend the rest of their lives together, both of them sharing a guilt and sadness that only they would understand.
In the Mayuri Shiina Ending, Okabe must choose between saving Mayuri or Kurisu. Realizing that he harbors romantic feelings for Mayuri, Okabe and Kurisu decide to return to the Beta worldline in which Kurisu's murder continues as planned. After hacking into SERN's database with the IBN computer, 1% divergence is achieved. Okabe vows to remember his memories of Kurisu, and spends his time with Mayuri as lovers.
The Kurisu Makise Ending follows a similar route to the True End. To achieve this ending, one must have had several conversations with Kurisu throughout the game. Doing so allows Okabe and Kurisu to realize their inner feelings for each other. Unlike the True End, Kurisu's death is not prevented after the credits.
Development
Steins;Gate is the second collaborative work between 5pb. and Nitroplus after Chaos;Head. The game was created with the concept of "99% science (reality) and 1% fantasy" in mind. The planning for Steins;Gate was headed by Chiyomaru Shikura of 5pb. The characters were designed by Ryohei Fuke, also known as 'Huke' (known as one of the illustrators of Metal Gear series, and the creator of Black Rock Shooter franchise) whereas the gadgets were designed by Sh@rp. Naotaka Hayashi of 5pb. wrote the scenario with assistance from Vio Shimokura of Nitroplus. Tatsuya Matsuhara from 5pb. was the producer and Tos? Pehara from Nitroplus was the art director. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo of 5pb. and Toshimichi Isoe of Zizz Studio. Shikura, Hayashi, Matsuhara, Abo, and Isoe had all previously worked on Chaos;Head. The title "Steins;Gate" had no specific meaning, being coined from the German word "Stein" meaning stone, and tying in with famous physicist Albert Einstein.
Prior to the game's announcement, a teaser site was featured on 5pb.'s website that simply referred to the game as Project S;G and stating that it was going to be a collaboration between 5pb. and Nitroplus. Nitroplus's website had also hinted at this on its 10th anniversary website. Matsuhara, who was also the producer for Chaos;Head, had previously stated that the game would be centred on Akihabara and that the project with Nitroplus would be the second part in a series around the theme "Science Novels (?????, Kagaku Noberu)". On June 12, 2009, the countdown expired and the name Steins;Gate was revealed.
Matsuhara, who came up with the concept of the phone trigger system, stated that he initially wanted to incorporate the player's own mobile phone into the system. However, the idea was abandoned due to concerns that it might clash with Japan's privacy laws. When asked if the phone trigger system would be used in a possible sequel to the game, Hayashi stated that he hoped this would not be the case and recalled saying "who thought of this system!" while writing the contents of the text messages. While Shitakura did not directly contribute to the script itself, Hayashi stated that Shitakura helped with the overall plot and provided assistance with the second half of the story. In particular, Shitakura helped a lot on the time traveling aspects of the story. Hayashi stated that while he did not want the script to repeat the same text over and over again, it was ultimately unavoidable due to the player having to travel back in time so he tried to place emphasis on the overall tempo of the plot's development and how the plot unfolded. With regards to the theme of time traveling, Hayashi had felt that it seemed like a topic that was overdone and expressed concern over it when he first heard the idea from Shikura.
Kana Hanazawa stated that she was happy to have been selected to be in Steins;Gate as she felt that it was not common to be able to play a part in a serious game. She also thought that the game gives the player more of a thrilling sensation rather than a frightening one and it entices the player to continue reading.
Release history
Steins;Gate was first declared gold on September 18, 2009 with a demo of the game being made available a few weeks later on the Xbox Live Marketplace on October 7, 2009 for Xbox Live Gold members and then publicly on October 14, 2009. The demo allows the player to play through the prologue and the game's first chapter. Steins;Gate was released in both limited and regular editions on October 15, 2009. The limited edition contained the game itself, a toy named "Future Gadget #3 Lie Detector" from the game and a small hardcover artbook that includes various illustrations and background information about the game's universe as well as comments from the staff members. A Windows port of the game was released on August 26, 2010, and included additional CGs. A PlayStation Portable port of the game was released on June 23, 2011. The game includes elements from the downloadable contents of the Xbox 360 version as well as a new opening movie, a new opening theme and a new ending theme. The game was also released for Apple iOS devices on August 25, 2011. A port for PlayStation Vita that includes the original game as well Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling, was released on March 14, 2013. All copies came with a free movie ticket for the upcoming film. At Anime Expo 2013, JAST USA announced that they would be licensing the PC version of the game in North America. The game was released on March 31, 2014 in a Limited Edition, as well as digitally. The Limited Edition contained a deluxe collector's box, a fan book with artwork, a set of replica Future Gadget Laboratory pins, the manual, and game disc. A physical Standard Edition later followed. On December 16, 2014, PQube announced they would release the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game in North America and Europe in 2015. Physical versions were exclusive to Amazon.com in the United States, while in Canada, they were only available at VideoGamesPlus.ca. The PC version was made available on Steam on September 8, 2016.
The success of Steins;Gate spawned additional sequels.
Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling was released on June 6, 2011, and is similar to Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu! in terms of style. The story for this sequel is unrelated to the original game, and is more comedic in tone. It was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, though ports later followed for PS3, PSP, and PlayStation Vita. A version for iOS was later released on October 3, 2013 as well.
Steins;Gate: Hen'i Kuukan no Octet is a non-canon extension of the True End of the original game. Unlike the modern visual novel format of the original game, this retro game mimics the style of graphical text adventure games from the 8-bit PC era (e.g. PC-88), with the player typing short commands to interact with and explore the game world. It features all backgrounds and characters drawn in a low-color pixelated style with emulated scanlines, and chiptune music played through an emulated FM chip with no voice acting. The premise of the game features Rintar? Okabe receiving a D-Mail from himself in 2025 that states that he must save the future by reclaiming an IBN 5100 from a person under of the alias "Neidhardt". This person is Takumi Nishij? of Chaos;Head, as he runs under the same player name in his favorite MMORPG, and the D-Mail stating that "Neidhardt" lives in Shibuya and has "inherent, supernatural abilities", a reference to his power as a gigalomaniac. Although non-canon, the game contains many easter eggs and references that connect Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate together. The game was released on October 28, 2011 as a PC exclusive. A game demo is currently available. An official manga adaptation of the game's story has also been released. Much like the main game, it also received an unofficial English fan translation.
A third spin-off game titled Steins;Gate Senkei K?soku no Phenogram, was released on April 25, 2013 in Japan for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game offers alternative stories that vary in terms of canon, some from the viewpoint of other lab members besides Okabe. A PlayStation Vita port of the game was released on November 28, 2013. A true sequel, Steins;Gate 0, was announced in March 2015. The game was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. It was originally scheduled to be released in Japan on November 19, 2015 but the release date was moved to December 10, 2015.
An enhanced remake of Steins;Gate, titled Steins;Gate Elite, was announced in 2017.
Appearances in other games
Kurisu and Mayuri appear in the Nendoroid crossover game, Nendoroid Generation, which was developed by Banpresto for the PlayStation Portable and released on February 23, 2012.
The 2D fighting game Phantom Breaker featured Kurisu as a guest character and was released in Japan on June 2, 2011. Kurisu was additionally included as part of DLC for its spin-off Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds.
Related media
Internet radio show
An Internet radio show to promote Steins;Gate named "Steins;Gate Radio Future Gadget Radio Show (Steins;Gate ??? ??????????, Steins;Gate Rajio Mirai Gajetto Denpakyoku)" began broadcasting on September 11, 2009. The show was streamed online on every Friday, and was produced by HiBiKi Radio Station. The show was hosted by Asami Imai, the voice actress of Kurisu Makise, and Kana Hanazawa, the voice actress of Mayuri Shiina. Guests that appeared on the show included Y? Kobayashi, the voice actress of Luka Urushibara, and Ayano Yamamoto, the voice actress of Nae Tenn?ji (????, Tenn?ji Nae). The last show was aired on October 30, 2009. A CD containing a special Comiket show with Haruko Momoi, the voice actress of Feiris Nyannyan, as the guest was released on December 29, 2009. A collection of all eight broadcast Internet radio shows, the Comiket show, and one new show was released on February 3, 2010, in a bundle together with the soundtrack of the game. The Internet radio shows are recorded in MP3 format.
Manga
On September 26, 2009, a manga adaptation by Sarachi Yomi began serialization in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive's November 2009 issue. Although the manga was released before the visual novel, the story is inspired from the game.
Four side-story manga series are currently being serialised. Steins;Gate: B?kan no Rebellion (STEINS;GATE ????????, Shutainzu G?to B?kan no Reberion, "Steins;Gate: Death Ring Rebellion"), illustrated by Kenji Mizuta, began serialization in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Blade's February 2010 issue. The manga focuses on Suzuha Amane as it tells the events of the story from her point of view. Steins;Gate: Onsh? no Braunian Motion (STEINS;GATE ??????????????, Shutainzu G?to Onsh? no Buraunian M?shon, "Steins;Gate: Love/Hate Braunian Motion), illustrated by Takeshi Mizoguchi, began serialization in Famitsu's Comic Clear web magazine and it takes the point of view of Y?go Tenn?ji. Steins;Gate: Shij? Saiky? no Slight Fever (STEINS;GATE ??????????????, Shutainzu G?to Shij? Saiky? no Suraito F?b?, "Steins;Gate: The World's Strongest Slight Fever"), illustrated by Yuzuhana Morita, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq's February 2011 issue and was transferred to Monthly Sh?nen Ace in its October 2011 issue. The manga focuses on main heroine Kurisu Makise as the events are told from her point of view. Another manga, titled Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Sweets Honey (STEINS;GATE ????????????, Shutainzu G?to Hiyoku Renri no Su?tsu Han?) started serializing on Comic Blade in its August 2011 issue. It follows the events told in the fandisc. A manga adaptation of the drama CD, Steins;Gate: Aishin Meizu no Babel (STEINS;GATE ????????, Shutainzu G?to Aishin Meizu no Baberu), also told from Kurisu's perspective, is being illustrated by Shinichirou Nariie and began serialisation in Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine from May 15, 2012.
A spinoff comedy manga, titled Steins;Gate! (??????????), was illustrated by Nini and serialized in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive's March 2011 issue.
A book containing information and designs of Steins;Gate was published by Enterbrain on February 26, 2010.
Light novel
A light novel sequel, set 6 years after the events of the original game and titled Steins;Gate: The Committee of Antimatter, was to ship on January 16, 2015. However, due to "various circumstances", it was announced on December 22, 2014 that its release was cancelled.
Drama CDs
Three drama CDs were released on March 31, 2010, April 28, 2010, and June 2, 2010 respectively. The first drama CD takes place in the tenth chapter of Kurisu's route.
Anime
On July 25, 2010, Chiyomaru Shikura announced on his Twitter account that Steins;Gate would be adapted into an anime. Further details about the adaptation were revealed in the September 2010 issues of Newtype and Comptiq. The adaptation was produced by White Fox and aired in Japan between April 6, 2011 and September 14, 2011. The entire series was released in Japan on nine DVD/Blu-ray combo packs. Each set features 2-3 episodes, an art book, and a bonus disc containing music and radio dramas by the Japanese voice cast. An OVA episode was released with the final DVD/BD volume on February 22, 2012. The adaptation was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takuya Sat?, with series' composition by Jukki Hanada and music by Takeshi Abo and Murakami Jun. Funimation has licensed the series in North America and released the series in two Blu-ray/DVD combo sets, on September 25, 2012 and December 18, 2012 respectively. Both box sets were compiled into a complete series Blu-ray/DVD box set as part of Funimation's "Anime Classics" line of releases. It was released on September 30, 2014. Manga Entertainment have licensed the series in the United Kingdom and released it in two parts on July 15, 2013 and September 30, 2013 respectively. A series of original net animation shorts, titled Steins;Gate - S?mei Eichi no Cognitive Computing (????????? ?????????????????????, Steins;Gate Cognitive Computing of Intelligent Wisdom), were released between October 14, 2014 and November 11, 2014 as part of a collaboration with IBM to promote cognitive computing.
An anime adaptation of Steins;Gate 0 is currently in production. To celebrate its release, an alternate version of episode 23 of the first season aired on December 2, 2015 as part of a rebroadcast of the series, depicting an alternate ending which leads into the events of Steins;Gate 0.
Film
A film, titled Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Déjà Vu, was announced at the end of the series. The movie, featuring an original storyline taking place after the events of the series, was released in Japanese theaters on April 20, 2013, and later on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on December 13, 2013.
Music
Steins;Gate has four main theme songs, the opening theme "Sky Clad Observer" (???????????, Sukai Kuraddo no Kansokusha), the first ending theme "Another Heaven", the second ending theme "Unmei no Farfalla" (??????????, Unmei no Farufarra), and the insert song "Technovision". The third song is sung by Yui Sakakibara while the other ones are sung by Kanako It?. It?'s "Technovision" was included in her "Stargate" album which was released on August 26, 2009. "Sky Clad Observer" was composed by Chiyomaru Shikura and "Another Heaven" was composed by Yoshihiro Suda. The "Sky Clad Observer" single was released on October 28, 2009. Sakakibara's "Unmei no Farufarra" was composed by Tatsuhi Hayashi and the single was released on November 25, 2009. The PC version received a brand new opening song, "AR" sung by Kanako It?. Similarly, the PSP and PS3 versions featured new songs as well, all sung by It?. The opening songs were "Space Engineer" (???????, Uchuu Engineer) and "Hisenkei Jeniakku" (?????????, Hisenkei Jeniakku), respectively. The PSP version received a new ending theme titled "In the Moonlit Night of Preghiera" (??????????, Preghiera no Tsukiyo Ni) sung by Yui Sakakibara. All these songs were released as separate singles, then eventually as a vocal collection on June 26, 2013. The composers for the background music consisted of Chiyomaru Shikura, AKIRASTAR, Takeshi Abo, Tatsushi Hayashi, and Yoshihiro Suda; all whom had previously worked with 5pb on other titles. A soundtrack of the game was released on February 3, 2010 across two discs in a bundle of three that includes recorded episodes of the Internet radio show. All the background music of the game was included as well as shortened versions of the original Xbox 360 vocal tracks. The piano score for one of the tracks, "Gate of Steiner", was also included in the soundtrack. In episode 4, the song "Watashi?LOVE na?Otome!" by Afilia Saga East, who also sings the opening to the sequel game of Steins;Gate, can be heard. The PS3 Double Pack Collector's Edition, which contained the original Steins;Gate and Hiyoku Renri no Darling, shipped with a special bonus soundtrack entitled "Steins;Gate Symphonic Material." It collects ten arranged tracks from the game performed by a studio orchestra and was released on May 24, 2012. This release was later expanded upon and released commercially on a 2-disc set, as "Steins;Gate Symphonic Reunion" on September 25, 2013.
The anime features four pieces of theme music; the opening theme is "Hacking to the Gate" by Kanako Ito, the main ending theme is "Tokitsukasadoru J?ni no Meiyaku" (????????) by Yui Sakakibara (in ending credits she is mentioned as FES from Chaos;Head "Phantasm" (??????) band), the ending themes of episode 23 and 24 are "Sukai Kuraddo no Kansokusha" (???????????) and "Another Heaven" both by Kanako Ito. The first two ones are original (created for anime series), the ending themes for episodes 23 and 24 are adopted from visual novel. The background music of the anime was composed by Takeshi Abo, Jun Murakami, and Yoshihiro Suda. It utilizes some themes that were taken directly from the game, but also features original music performed by a studio orchestra. A soundtrack of the anime is not available commercially, but was instead released across two discs that were included with the Japanese Blu-rays. The first album "Butterfly Effect" was released alongside Volume 2 on June 27, 2011 while the second album "Event Horizon" was released with Volume 8 on January 25, 2012.
Board game
A real-life version of the in-universe board game, Rainet Access Battlers (?????????????, Rainetto Akusesu Bator?zu), was made by GigasDrop and was released in Japan on December 28, 2011.
Live action play
A live action Steins;Gate play Living ADV: Steins;Gate finished its eight-day run in Tokyo's Zepp Diver City Theater on October 20, 2013.
Reception
Senji Ishii of Famitsu Xbox 360 praised the scenario for its detail and noted that events that were overlooked as insignificant later returned to affect events of the future. Due to the way the plot ties the many different events of the game together, Ishii believes it must have been a lot of work to write the scenarios. In 2009, the Famitsu Awards gave Steins;Gate an annual Game of Excellence award. 4Gamer.net commented that Steins;Gate is comparable to 428: F?sa Sareta Shibuya de and felt that it is a gem that has not been seen in recent years. ITmedia Gamez noted that players should be attentive to all the details in the story as the twists will surprise the player in many different ways. It was also suggested to the player that the characters' voices be left turned on as the voice acting is very good. The review did caution that players who have played through the demo and who did not enjoy the atmosphere of the game were not likely to find the rest of the game interesting. Steins;Gate has also been praised by Square Enix producer Tomoya Asano, who described it as having "appealing and likable characters and a scenario that surprised players"; this led to Steins;Gate writer Naotaka Hayashi writing the plot and characters for the role-playing video game Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. In 2011, Steins;Gate was voted #6 in Famitsu's poll of "most tear-inducing games" of all time.
The later English release of the Steins;Gate visual novel has also been well received. It currently holds aggregate review scores of 88% and 87/100 on GameRankings and Metacritic, respectively. On Metacritic, it is the seventh highest-rated PC game of 2014, and the highest-rated PS Vita game of 2015. USgamer also gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, concluding that it makes "excellent use of the visual novel medium to tell its story" and "is a beautifully crafted piece of interactive fiction that blends character drama, sci-fi and critique of popular culture into a compelling and memorable whole." GameFan praised the plot as "outstanding", "well written" and "the best storyline in a game released this year, period." They stated the "twists and turns, branching plot points, multiple endings and plot development is amazing" and "an interesting phone-based choice system makes the game feel far more engaging than similar games in the genre". Dealspwn praised the plot, characters, artwork, "excellent" writing and localisation, and the phone trigger system for giving "real choices with huge consequences", but criticized it for having a slow start and "lots of" technical jargon. GamesMaster said it was smart, "with an unforgettable protagonist", and is one "of the great visual novels." Syfy called it one "of the best Visual Novels of all time," stating that, while "bad guys exist," "by trying to save the future, you become one yourself", making "choices whose devastating consequences you couldn't predict." Official PlayStation Magazine said "it's a story you'll want to see through." Steins;Gate was nominated for the 2015 Golden Joystick Award in the "Best Handheld / Mobile Game" category.
Sales
Steins;Gate placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009. Steins;Gate placed fourth in overall Xbox 360 game sales on Amazon Japan on the year starting on December 1, 2008 and ending November 30, 2009. The PSP version of Steins;Gate debuted at 2nd place on the Japanese game charts, selling 63,558 units in its first week. As of June 2011, 300,000 copies have been shipped across the PC, Xbox 360 and PSP platforms. As of 2014, Steins;Gate sold over 500,000 copies. On the UK charts, as of June 8, 2015, Steins;Gate topped the PlayStation Vita chart, came third place on the PlayStation 3 chart, and entered at #18 on the All-Format chart. The Android version has sold between 50,000 and 100,000 downloads, as of 2015. As of December 2015, the Steins Gate visual novel series has sold more than one million copies, including 100,000 copies of Steins;Gate 0.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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