This was a little fanservice pet project to make a Higurashi no Naku Koro ni game for my niece, though willing to share with other Higurashi fans just so I can improve it. Hopefully, MangaGamer will release their game soon, so that translated Higurashi games become more available and I would not need to rely making my own.
Story
At start of the game you begin with Akasaka on a undercover mission to rescue a kidnapped victim. On his journey he meets Rika, who seems to know what the future will hold. Rika is trying to find a way to break her fate by visiting the parallel versions of Hinamizawa, each will end with her death. In this game she mostly stands back and watch the events unfold since she lost hope of ever changing things. By playing through the chapters, she will learn that she has to keep fighting her fate.
Characters
Keiichi Maebara
Keiichi Maebara, a young boy who has recently moved to Hinamizawa with his family, and begun to adapt to life in the countryside. Keiichi has a natural charisma which allows him to make friends easily. Since Hinamizawa is a small town of about two thousand people, with only a single school, there are not many children around his own age; he easily meets the others his age and becomes friends with them.
Weapon: Baseball bat
Abilities: Skills
Rena Ryuugu
One of these good friends is a girl named Rena Ryuugu. She, like him, is new in Hinamizawa, having only returned from Ibaraki a year before the story begins. She has an obsession with things she considers to be cute generally, others do not agree and she will often scavenge for such things at the local dump and bring them back home. Before she met Keiichi, Rena became friends with a girl one year older named Mion Sonozaki.
Weapon: Bill Hook Cleaver
Abilities: Becomes Powerful when in "Cute Mode"
Mion Sonozaki
Mion Sonozaki acts as the leader of the group and is the president of their club. Mion has a tomboyish personality, a facade for a girlish side she keeps hidden from the others. Mion has a twin sister, Shion, who lives in the nearby town of Okinomiya. Although their personalities are quite different, she and Mion have switched places in the past, and the change is nearly indistinguishable.
Weapon: Dual-Water Pistols
Abilities: Sonozaki Arsenal of weapons and defense
Satoko Hojo
A clever girl who is quite skilled at setting traps when playing games with her friends. She usually has an energetic and mischievous personality, but this hides a past full of trauma. Satoko also had an older brother named Satoshi.
Weapon: Skipping Rope Whip
Abilities: Traps!
Special: Gives friends ability to lure enemies into traps when in party.
Rika Furude
She is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine and plays the role of a shrine maiden in the annual Watanagashi Festival. Despite her young age, she sometimes expresses a type of wisdom which would normally be beyond her years, and is quite fond of sake. Rika is also the girl who becomes the central figure, so that Hinamizawa can avoid a tragic end. Helping her is Hanyu though only Rika could see her.
Weapon: Knife
Abilities: Control Time
Mamoru Akasaka
He is a young police investigator of the National Security Forces. He befriended Rika while investigating a case in Hinamizawa four years ago, where he learns of a prophecy. He is likely Rika's best chance to break her fate.
Weapon: Martial Arts
Abilities: Martial Arts
Natsumi Kimiyoshi
Natsumi just arrived in Hinamizawa, she has to stay at a family friend's place till her mother got better after a nasty divorce. She has shrugged off the beliefs and culture of her ancestral home at Hinamizawa, as well as the warnings from her overly-superstitious grandmother. It does not take long till she is embroiled in Oyashiro's curse.
Weapon: Mother's Kitchen Knife
Abilities: Rituals
Game Features
This game is mostly visual novel-based, there are some rpg intermissions to create extra depth and features for fans of the series. I am working with both the anime and manga, hand in hand, though I do have to leave some of the scenes out due to not meshing or too elaborate to redraw.
The game has a lot of hours of gameplay (about 6-7 so far), and covers character levels 1-10.
Currently the game contains seven story arcs and a free-play area.
Screen Shots
[1][2][3]
Download
Game takes 15 mins to download(~200MB, very visual heavy), self-contained. Winrar format. Had to put a fix in.
Link To Latest Update Blog Entry
Controls
As for controls usually it is straight forward, directional buttons to move. Enter or Space to select. X or Esc for Menu/Cancel. F1 brings up help for controls, though keyboards uses a lot of keys that are not used in the game. Alt-Enter for full screen.
For Returning Playtesters
Reminder: To install new updates it is better to pull out save file from the game and then delete the existing game. Then install new and throw the save file inside. Most of the time there should be no drastic change to effect where you last left off.
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