Japanese studio MyDearest launched the Kickstarter campaign for a project led by Kazuma Miki, producer of Sword Art Online and A Certain Magical Index, previously Dengeki Bunko editor-in-chief.
Here’s its first trailer:
With Tokyo Chronos being a VR game, it’ll allow players to look around to discover new details and find new things each time while listening to the surroundings through a dynamic sound system. With that, the characters are said to come alive right before your eyes to deepen the experience.
Here are some of the staff behind the project:
- Kazuma Miki (Producer): Sword Art Online Producer
- Kou Segawa (Scenario Writer): A Mystery Schoolgirl Series Mystery Writer
- Haruki Kashiwakura (Director): Rakuen Tsuiho –Expelled from Paradise- Motion Director
- LAM (Character Design): Illustrator
The developer MyDearest is based in Tokyo, Japan, and they specialize in virtual reality entertainment, specifically adventure games. After its establishment in 2016, the company has released several titles including the interactive VR novel, Innocent Forest. The publisher is Sekai Project, most known for their large catalog of visual novel classics with releases across major platforms such as PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Here’s what the team aims to accomplish with Tokyo Chronos:
Tokyo Chronos is a true next step in the evolution of the adventure game genre. For many, the dream of diving into the world and story of an authentic Japanese animation project has long been at the top of the wish list for VR project, and now we have the chance to finally experience it.
This is an adventure game where the player truly gets transported to a brand new world, and will become infatuated with the numerous characters, plot twists and mysterious to solve throughout the game. With a world class staff and voice acting talent, this will be as close to living in an animation that you’ll get! We always strive to bring the greatest gaming entertainment from Japan to the world for all to enjoy.
With Tokyo Chronos, we have an opportunity to not only ensure that the game becomes available worldwide in multiple languages, but also across multiple platforms, making sure everyone will get a chance to dive into this experience, no matter what VR platform they prefer.
This is what the funding allocation looks like:
Here’s a synopsis for Tokyo Chronos:
When, and why, have we become separated?
A group of eight childhood friends —
The time has come for the truth to be revealed.
Trapped in an empty, deserted Shibuya where time has frozen over.
A strange world where the eight disappear one by one.
— I am dead. Who killed me?
Check out the character introductions below:
Kyosuke Sakurai (CV: Yuto Uemura)
Protagonist. 16 year-old attending high school in Shibuya. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the “Chronos World”, an empty, deserted Shibuya where time has frozen. Has a peaceful and caring personality. While the others become suspicious of one another, he tries his best to trust them. Back in his elementary school days, it seems that he was the leader of the 8 childhood friends, but…
Karen Nikaido (CV: Yui Ishikawa)
A quiet and mysterious girl. Calm but strong-willed. Wears a red ribbon as her trademark. Moved in when she was in elementary school. She was alone until Sakurai invited her into his group of friends. In the “Chronos World”, she acts curtly against Sakurai but…
Yu Momono (CV: Ibuki Kido)
A girl with a simple and innocent personality. Has known Sakurai for the longest. Lived nextdoor to Sakurai, and grew up together like siblings. Even as a high school student now, she always sticks to Sakurai. She is in the Camera Club, and brings with her a pink camera at all times.
Yuria Togoku (CV: Shoko Yuzuki)
Despite the childish look and actions, she is a genius physicist acknowledged by the government. Carrys around a strange stuffed animal that she named Patty. She acts at her own pace, but when something happened within the group of friends, she has always helped solve the problem using her intelligence.
Tokyo Chronos is expected to launch in February 2019 for PlayStatipn VR as well as Oculus and HTC Vive via Steam. It’ll support Japanese, English, and Chinese language options.
