Developer(s) Light Designer(s) Takashi Masada Writer(s) Takashi Masada Initial release date 21 December 2007 Mode Single-player video game | Publisher(s) Light Artist(s) G Yuusuke Composer(s) Keishi Yonao Genre Visual novel | |
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Platforms PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows Similar Visual novel games, Other games | ||
Dies irae (Japanese: ディエス・イレ, Hepburn: Diesu Ire) is a visual novel video game developed and published by Light. There are several different versions of the game.
Contents
Gameplay
As in most visual novels, the gameplay mostly consists of reading text on the screen (representing narration or dialogue) accompanied by images showing characters and locations. At certain points in the story, the player can choose options which influence the path, or "route", the story takes.
Synopsis
Prior to the events of the story, the Longinus Dreizehn Orden, a group of sorcerers, perform a ritual in Berlin during World War II, using the lives lost in battle as a sacrifice for their spell. After the war ends, they disappear, but are rumored to return. In present-day Japan, Ren Fuji is released from the hospital after recovering from a brawl with his friend Shirou, when the Longinus Dreizehn Orden returns.
Release
Reception
Also sprach Zarathustra was the twelfth best selling PC game of 2007 on the web shop Getchu; Acta est Fabula was the twenty-fifth of 2009. The PlayStation Portable version of Amantes amentes sold a total of 5,669 copies during its debut week, making it the third best selling PlayStation Portable game of the week in Japan, and twentieth best-selling game in Japan across all systems.
The game has won awards: Also sprach Zarathustra was given an Award of Excellence in the Background Music Division of the 2008 Bishoujo Game Awards, and Acta est Fabula won the gold award in the background music category in the 2010 Moe Game Awards.
Anime
A Dies irae anime project was financed through a crowdfunding campaign ending in July 2015, through which ¥96,560,858 was raised, over three times the target figure of ¥30,000,000. The anime was announced in December 2015, and is scheduled to air on television in Q2/Q3 2017. It will be produced by the studio Genco, with script supervision by the game's designer, Takashi Masada.