Aksys Games announced today that XBlaze Code: Embryo, a visual novel based in the BlazBlue universe, will be available this summer on PS3 and PS Vita in North America. Shortly after the announcement, Amazon put the game up for pre-order (PS3, PS Vita) and Aksys confirmed the release date as June 24th, with a price of $39.99 on either version.
XBlaze Code: Embryo takes place nearly 200 years before the events of BlazBlue and stars Touya Kagari, “a mostly unremarkable high school sophomore with a remarkable past, and his transformation from a typical teenager into the target of secret organizations, renegade mages, homicidal maniacs, and curry-obsessed co-workers.”
Embryo is described as a “visual novel with a number of twists on the formula,” with Aksys explaining:
One of the biggest differences is that, unlike most games in the genre that simple use static character images during conversation scenes, story scenes in XBlaze are more akin to an animated feature, complete with shifting camera angles, dramatic music cues, and all sorts of various trickery to make an already great story just that much more engrossing.
Also, players can control the course of the story via the TOi System, the in-game information aggregation program used by the characters in the game. By choosing to read (or ignore) the various articles and blog postings recommended by TOi, different story paths will open and close. Not sure which articles to read? Just pay attention to what the other characters are reading…
Over on the PS Blog, Editor Mike Engel gave a few details about the game:
- XBlaze Code: Embryo will be a physical and digital release on both the PS3 and PS Vita.
- “For voices, it will be Japanese audio only, with hopefully coherent English text.”
- “Knowledge of the BlazBlue story isn’t really a requirement, as the story in Xblaze is more or less self-contained, but if you’re familiar with the exploits of Ragna and Co. there will be a number of “Holy crap, really?!” moments.”
And here’s the highlights from Amazon’s listing for the game:
- From the creators and publisher of the BlazBlue series comes a visual novel prequel set 150 years before the events in BlazBlue!
- Play a new type of visual novel where it’s not about the choices you make, but the information you gather!
- TOi System – Rather than choices, XBlaze Code: Embryo has an inventive new system that affects the storyline! How you gather information will dictate the path and ending you get.
- Branching storylines offer multiple paths and endings.
Think you’ll pick up XBlaze Code: Embryo? Let us know in the comments below.
[Screenshot is from the Japanese version of the game]
