Today ixtl announced a partnership with Sekai Project to relaunch its sci-fi visual novels Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative on Steam. In fact, both games just reappeared on Valve's digital distribution service.

Muv-Luv can be found here, including the twin games Muv-Luv Extra and Unlimited. The sequel Muv-Luv Alternative can be found here. On top of this, the price of the first game has been permanently dropped to $29.99, and both games are discounted by 30% until March 15th.

Sekai Project CEO Christopher Ling accompanied the announcement with a comment:

"It is my absolute pleasure to be able to work with ixtl on the Muv-Luv project. We understand the fervor of the fans of this groundbreaking franchise and it is simply an honor to be a part of all this. On the behalf of Sekai Project and our staff, please enjoy Muv-Luv!"

The games were removed from Steam in January due to the expiration of the deal with the previous publishers, but all's well that ends well.

If you're unfamiliar with the games, the series starts with what appears your traditional romantic visual novel but takes a radical turn into a complex, epic, and brutally tragic sci-fi story that will make you cry, a lot. I actually finished replaying Unlimited yesterday night, and I bawled like a schoolgirl. Those who have played the game probably know what I mean.

The relaunched version comes with an updated script, which won't affect your save games. On top of that, the 18+ Director's Cut patch is also back courtesy of Denpasoft, for a discounted $4.99, but if you already bought it, it'll work with the relaunched version without needing a new purchase.

If you are a backer, new keys for both games have been added to your BackerKit. If you purchased the game on your own, Valve is currently looking for ways to grant the new AppID version to original owners. If the problem isn't solved by the end of March, ixtl will use the Steam API to solve the issue.

On top of it all, we also get instructions to transfer your save game to the new versions:

  • Uninstall previous Muv-Luv games (the save folders should be left intact)
  • Copy the original AppID save folders somewhere as backup.
  • Install the new versions of Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative.

For each new version of the game, do the following steps:

  • Run the game once, and open all save slots. To do this, at the very beginning of the game, just simply click save and fill up every single save slot with the same scene to “unlock” them.
  • Once all save slots are occupied, close the game and turn off Steam Cloud sync, located under Steam “Properties”→”Updates”→.then unchecking “Enable Steam Cloud synchronization”.
  • Copy the previous Muv-Luv save folder over to the new version's local directory located inside "steamapps/common" folder.
  • Turn Steam Cloud sync on once again, and all original save data should be transferred to the new version.

Considering that personally, I hold Muv-Luv as the best visual novel series ever created (or to be more precise, ever localized, as I prefer its prequel, Schwarzesmarken, which for now is available only in Japanese), I'm definitely happy to see it come back possibly to new fans.

Incidentally, if you prefer the games on a portable console, we'll get a PS Vita release this summer.