Spike Chunsoft published a new trailer for Zanki Zero Last Beginning, showing some gameplay of the peculiar real-time dungeon crawler where 8 people keep cloning each other, retaining their memories, as they explore an island in a post-apocalyptic world.

Zanki Zero's team is the same as the one behind Danganronpa, with Takayuki Sugawara on the scenario and Yoshinori Terasawa as producer. Zanki Zero will ask you to think outside battles and has some puzzles to solve too.

Spike Chunsoft also posted on their blog a full list of the changes compared to the Japanese version. Certain elements of the game will be censored as well:

To ensure a release for the West, changes were made to comply with the Western market. These content changes will also be included in the localized PlayStation®4 and Steam® (PC) versions. To reduce content which could be interpreted as sexualization of characters depicted as minors, the following changes have been made:

  • PlayStation®4 Packaging art: In order to conform to public storefront display standards, images that can be interpreted as too sexually provocative must be modified.
  • Sachika Bedroom Scene CGIs: In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, Sachika is wearing pajama bottoms.
  • Sachika CGI in the Opening Scene: In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, the camera angle has been raised to not show Sachika's panties.
  • Child Rinko Extend Machine CGI: In the Japanese release, Child Rinko covers her chest with her arms. In the Western release, the position of her arms has been adjusted.
  • All “Child” bedtime event cutscenes removed

Looking at this list, it's pretty clear rather than changes brought through Sony's new censorship policy, which is really inconsistent and unpredictable, this is more like a "normal" thing. There's a good chance all of this would have also got censored one year ago before the Sony policy change, and these changes are similar to what we've already been used to in the past. The same kind of content removed from Japanese games but that non-Japanase triple-A games have always gotten away with, as these kind of Japanese games aren't mainstream and popular. The "content which could be interpreted as sexualization of characters depicted as minors" part especially. While technically the characters aren't actually children, most people would find it gross. In any case, it's a good thing Spike Chunsoft is communicating properly about the changes so everyone can see if it'll affect their decision on getting the game or not.

Besides this, the western version also has some gameplay changes. Like some difficulty adjustments and new features. Some parts of the GUI has been changed to make the game more ergonomic. There's a New Game + too. The Japanese version's DLC swimsuits will also be included in the base game. And the game will also have the Japanese voices along with the English dub.

You can find Zanzi Zero's previous trailer here. And here's the full list of  gameplay changes:

We would like to inform the community about the following additions are included in the localized release:

  • Japanese Swimsuit DLC included in-game
  • Dual audio option (Choose from English or Japanese)
  • Overall game balance and UI improvements
    • Applied since the initial release (Patch 1.01-1.03)

[NEW GAME+]

  • Added New Game+
  • Skill points, Shigabane, Clione, Sound Player, and Extend Machine SCORE carry over into new game

[GAMEPLAY & UI ADJUSTMENTS]

  • Overall enemy power adjusted
  • Reduced damage when knocked into a wall by enemy attacks
  • Reduced SCORE points lost when returning to Base from a Ruins or after Game Over
  • Items picked up while inventory is full automatically move to another character's inventory
  • Shortcut to move items from party member to sub-member
  • Upon using a co-op Charge Attack, cooldown time will not be applied to characters who did not attack
  • Materials can stack up to x99 items in one slot (Does not apply to weapons/armor)
  • Boss respawn time reduced by half as many days
  • More water bottles appear on Garage Island
  • Shorter loading time for certain events
  • Fixed some tutorials
  • Items that disappear after being dropped in an area with too many items will now re-appear on Garage Island's beach
  • Added "Days Elapsed" tracker in system menu
  • Weapons and armor that could not be used by certain age groups modified so they can now be used by all ages, though ATK and DEF will be reduced to 1/4 (This penalty can be eliminated with certain skills)
  • Other minor fixes and adjustments
  •  Included in Day 1 US release, and planned in a patch for the Japanese release:
  • New skills
  • Difficulty I: Lowered difficulty to allow players to focus on story and puzzle-solving (other difficulties have not been modified)

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning launches on April 9 on PS4 and PC via Steam. The game released in Japan on July 5, 2018, on PS Vita and PS4.