Entergram and 07th Expansion revealed the release date and tons of new details for Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope. Also known as Kaleidoscope of phantasm Prison, or Gerokasu, the new horror visual novel written by Ruykishi07 will be launching in Japan on November 28, on PS Vita, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope was fully revealed on August 16 with an update of its official site at 18:00 JST. The release date, some screenshots and story details ended up getting published a few hours earlier, as online shops started listing the game for preorder. However, the official site has tons of new info, including profiles for the characters, screenshots, and artwork. Information on the game's Limited Edition and a new message from Ryukishi07 were also published.Let's start by taking a look at the official story pitch:
Four closely acquainted girls were locked up in a disturbing-looking room. The 4 girls had no clue about where they were, how did they get captured, who did it, and why. Before long, the girls noticed they each had a steel collar on their necks. Each collar was connected to a steel chain, linked to four differents chairs in each corner of the room. These chairs were ominous-looking, torture chairs.
The group of four was getting frightened, locked down with no means of escape. At that time, a large cage descended from the room's ceiling. A small boy wearing a hospital gown was locked inside. The boy stayed silent and expressionless, but he was probably a captive, just like the girls...
"Anyway, we need to find a way to escape!"
"I will tell you how"
An eerie voiced resonated in the room.
"I have two different fates prepared for you girls. In the first one, everyone in this room will die. In the other one, three of you girls will survive. This is a trial to test you girls' destiny."
"When times runs out, everyone in this room will end up dying."
As such, the girls end up playing a death game. The game's time limit is 5 minutes, and the girls each end up getting a card from the boy in the cage, defining their roles.
There are three different types of cards, and four cards to pick. There are two "Judgment" cards (written as "executioner" in Japanese), one "Pierrot" card, and one "Prisoner" card (written as "condemned to death" in Japanese). The player decides which girl gets which card, and this is what will decide what kind of events will occur in your playthrough.
On the official site, Entergram described Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope as a game depicting the limits of mankind when faced with unimaginable cruelty. And yet, it's also stated that fully clearing the game will undoubtedly reveal a warm message full of love, and how it's the kind of story which can only be written by Ryukishi07. Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope is also fully voiced and features plenty of illustrations and expressions by Itaru Hinoue, displaying the emotions of the imprisoned girls. The game's OST is handled by the Higuumi Sound team:Â Dai, xaki and Luck Ganriki.
The official site also mentions the game has a "Grand opening song", titled "I'm a Great Pretender", sung by Naomi Tamura. This must be the true opening sequence which plays once the horrific elements kick in.
Next, brand new comments from Ryukishi07 were published. Ryukishi07 talked about how the girl you give the Prisoner card to will be the one meeting the cruelest fate, her face distorting in despair. He also mentioned he finished coming up with the game's concept "after drinking three cups of sake".
Ryukishi07 explained how each girl's behavior will drastically change depending on the card you gave them at the beginning. Despite always starting with the same situation, you will get very different results, a different side of humanity, different angles of view, like a Kaleidoscope.
Depending on the card you picked for them, a same character can either stay calm or become extremely violent. He also mentioned how the girls' behavior will change when seeing which card another girl got. Because it's possible one of the girls was only pretending to be friends with another until now and actually hate her. Each girl can turn out to be ruthless, scheming, an angel or a savior.
Ryukishi07 also mentioned that as you keep restarting Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope and try different card combinations, a certain incident hidden in the girls' past will be revealed. I guess this will be the key to reaching the game's equivalent of a true ending and the "warm message full of love".
Ryukishi07 asked us to play the game and solve the mystery of the incident beyond the 4 girls' kaleidoscope. He finished by saying he loves board games and the Werewolf game, so he always wanted to write a game like Gerokasu and had a lot of fun with it: "If you're intrigued about the "best writing experience" I ever had, please pick up this game".
Next, we've got full profiles and descriptions for the four girls. The profiles are pretty funny and tongue-in-cheek, as they include the girls' three sizes, as if we'd get to date them like in an innocent galge:
Fuuka Gojo, voiced by Himika Akaneya
School Year: 2nd year of high school
Birthday: April 20, Taurus
Height: 158 cm
Blood Type: A
Three sizes: 83-58-82
Likes: Collecting perfumes
Dislikes: People who reject diversity
A gentle, well-mannered girl with a personality so bright she can melt your heart just by spending time with her. Fuuka is nice, great at studying, and is fully trusted by the teachers. She's also caring, has an interest in fashion, and is trusted by everyone. She's the perfect girl.
Fuuka's quote says "Please tell me if anything is worrying you".
The artwork for Fuuka on the official site is different than the one they previously showed. Her pose is different. So I've included both.
Karin Tamaru, voiced by Minori Suzuki
School Year: 2nd year of high school
Birthday: August 13, Leo
Height: 163 cm
Blood Type: 0
Three sizes: 80-60-80
Likes: The Kamen Kendo series
Dislikes: Doing her homework
Karin seems like a perfect, beautiful, and cute girl, until she starts talking. Karin has a fiery and brave personality forged by her parents and is manlier than boys. She never forgives boys who bother girls. Karin has been a huge fan of a Sentai series called "Kamen Kendo V6 Arashi" Since grade school. She's always imitating and practicing the show's action scenes. Nowadays, besides the fighting scenes, she seems to be into the handsome actors playing Kamen Kendo before they transform.
Karin's quote says: "My heart forever belongs to Kamen Kendo".
Mina Yuasa, voiced by Moe Toyota
School Year: 2nd year of high school
Birthday: November 3, Scorpius
Height: 148 cm
Blood Type: B
Three sizes: 79-54-79
Likes: Cute and fluffy things
Dislikes: Bugs, getting sunburnt
Mina is like a small animal. She's absent-minded and quite clumsy, always missing her steps, tumbling and crying. Mina has zero physical skills. She also loves to be pampered, to get head pats, and gets attached very quickly to others. Since grade school, she always liked to dream about a life she never had. She used to imagine she's a magical girl, always carrying her magical transformation toy wand. Now that she got into high school, she likes to imagine she's a princess chosen by destiny.
Mina's page also introduces Kuu chan, a stray cat living in an empty lot. The four girls decided to take care of it.
Mina's quote says: "I wish we could all transform into small cats and become Kuu chan's family".
Doremi Hanabusa, voiced by Asami Seto
School Year: 2nd year of high school
Birthday: February 2, Aquarius
Height: 160 cm
Blood Type: AB
Three sizes: 90-63-85
Likes: Beni shoga, buying food put on discount because it's close to its expiration date
Dislikes: Cleaning
Doremi is a silent girl who rarely displays her emotions. In turn, she's very good at listening and has a high tolerance for listening to people complain. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Doremi looks cool, but she's an incredibly clumsy girl. This is why she gets along especially well with Mina, as they both have this problem. Doremi is also overly obsessed with gyudon.
Doremi's quote says: "If it can help you, I'll always be here to listen to your worries..."
Absolutely nothing was revealed about the fifth character who was shown in the first opening sequence, Sora Motoki. After the official site updated, her seiyuu Fuuka Haruna tweeted: "They're super secretive about my character lol".
It's also worth noting how all of the girls' given name's kanji uses elements. This will probably be related to the story somehow. Fuuka could be translated to "Flower wind". Karin is the "Cold fire". Mina is the "Empty water" and Doremi is the "Beautiful earth". Sora is the "Sky". Maybe the true ending features the girls summoning Captain Planet to escape, with Sora appearing and revealed to be the "heart".
Jokes aside, Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope's Cero Rating wasn't published yet, meaning the game is still under development. The Cero rating will be a good piece of information as it'll tell us how graphically gory the game will be. Gerokasu is also pretty cheap. The game will be sold for 4000 yen plus tax physically, and for 3960 Yen tax included digitally. A Limited Edition for 7000 Yen plus tax was also announced.
Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope's Limited Edition will contain four bonuses:
- A Voice Drama CD depicting a different, more comedic-sounding story. The girls end up playing a "Death Quiz Tournament". They need to answer four questions in a row under five minutes or they'll die. You'll get to witness another side of the characters' personalities when listening to this Drama CD.
- An Official Design Works book titled "Phantasm Object". It'll include artworks, and comments from the seiyuu and the staff. It'll also include the script of the drama CD.
- A set of cards, recreating the four cards found in the game.
- An Acrylic art panel showing Fuuka and Kuu chan.
Entergram is also organizing an RT+Follow contest on Twitter to win autographs from the game's seiyuu. The contest ends on September 12. Needless to say, if you win, they'll only be able to send you the autograph if you're in Japan, or know someone there to receive it.
A full-resolution version of the game's cover artwork and screenshots published by Entergram are included in the gallery below.
Another new game by Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion, Ciconia When They Cry Episode 1, is launching on PC on October 4. A new version of Umineko containing a new episode also launches the same day. Ciconia Episode 1 is supposed to launch in English simultaneously with Japan.
07th Expansion and Ryukishi07 have been working on Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope and Ciconia simultaneously. It's exceptional we're getting two new Ryukishi07 penned games in such a short timeframe and I can't wait to try them out.
Gerokasu made a comeback early August after its initial announcement in March 2018 under the code name Sangeki Sandbox. You can read more about all that including comments from the seiyuu and staff in our previous article.
Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope wasn't announced in the west but will definitely come over, seeing Ryukishi07's popularity.