Yesterday, developer Happymeal Inc. held an event where they revealed the name of the second Ise-Shima Mystery Guide text adventure game that was successfully crowdfunded earlier this year – The Frozen Silverbell Flower. The game will release on Nintendo Switch in early Summer 2020. [Thanks, 4Gamer 1, 2!]
Like the first game, The False Black Pearl, The Frozen Silverbell Flower is a suspense drama text adventure harking back to the Famicom days of the Famicom Tantei Club series (which are also getting remakes next year, in fact). The second game will be set in Akita in the Tohoku region of Japan.
According to the developers, the meaning of the silverbell flower in flower language has to do with the mystery in this game. Check out some development screenshots below:
The main character’s junior, Ken, will return as the protagonist’s partner, while some new characters include the ace cop of Akita, Kisaragi; and the veteran detective Shigeki who’s near retirement. There’s also the mysterious Akita beauty, Rin. All these characters have been designed by Kiyokazu Arai, who was the character designer of the first game, and is known for the character designs for some of the Famicom Tantei Club games.
Finally, the theme song of The Frozen Silverbell Flower is titled ‘Twilight~ To the Lost Tomorow’ and is sung by Sana Hoshimori, returning from the first game as the theme song singer.
In related news, it was announced that the first game, Ise-Shima Mystery Guide: The False Black Pearl is getting a physical version published by B-Side Games Store exclusively. It will release in early Spring 2020.
Secondly, Happymeal Inc. is going to launch a second crowdfunding project on Campfire, hoping to amass funding needed to go ahead with a ‘pixel suspense drama DVD’ project. Basically, it’s a dramaticized version of the first game’s story, presented entirely in pixel graphics, and presented in episodes similar to how a TV drama would.
If successful, the TV drama DVDs will release in limited quantities to backers only. The project can be found here, and aims to crowdfund 6 million yen in 54 days.
Ise-Shima Mystery Guide: The Frozen Silverbell Flower will release for Nintendo Switch in early Summer 2020. Other platforms will get the game after the Switch version releases.
