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Kadokawa has officially announced a new Higurashi: When They Cry anime during the franchise’s 20th anniversary livestream, alongside the message “Welcome back, everyone.”

The new project will be based on the original work by Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion, with Studio DEEN returning as the animation studio after their work on the 2006 anime adaptation and its 2007 sequel, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

Several cast members from previous adaptations are also returning. Soichiro Hoshi reprises his role as Keiichi Maebara, while Mai Nakahara returns as Rena Ryugu. Satsuki Yukino will once again voice both Mion and Shion Sonozaki, Mika Kanai returns as Satoko Hojo, and Yukari Tamura reprises her role as Rika Furude.

Originally debuting as a visual novel at Comiket in 2002, Higurashi: When They Cry follows a group of friends living in the rural village of Hinamizawa, where a series of deaths and disappearances coincide with an annual local festival.

Finally up, a perfectly normal review of a game that got a pefectly normal port without loads of issues.

FAIRY TAIL arrives on Nintendo Switch in 2020

MangaGamer announced at Anime Central 2026 that Umineko: When They Cry – Saku has officially been licensed for English release. The visual novel collection is planned for MangaGamer and PC via Steam.

Umineko: When They Cry – Saku bundles together three fan discs connected to Ryukishi07’s Umineko series. The release includes Umineko: When They Cry – Tsubasa, Hane, and Saku, bringing together several side stories and additional scenarios that expand on the cast and setting.

Tsubasa features 15 episodes that were originally distributed as a small booklet release at Comiket before later being adapted into visual novel format. Hane includes the stories “Jessica and the Killer Electric Fan” and “Forgery No. XXX.”

The Saku portion contains “Our Confessions” and “Last Note of the Golden Witch.” These stories introduce the witch Piece, who challenges Battler, Ange, and Beatrice. While the collection focuses largely on comedic side content separate from the main storyline, it also adds extra background details for fans of the series.

MangaGamer confirmed that this release will follow the presentation style of its previous Umineko Steam releases. Players will have the option to switch between newly drawn character sprites and Ryukishi07’s original artwork.

A release window for Umineko: When They Cry – Saku has not been announced.

Square Enix has announced that Star Ocean The Second Story R and Star Ocean The Divine Force are now both available on GOG for PC DRM-free.

Both titles have launch discounts, with The Second Story R 50% off until August 9, while The Divine Force is 60% off until the same date. 

Star Ocean The Second Story R features fully voiced event scenes with the original voice cast, a newly arranged soundtrack by original composer Motoi Sakuraba with new songs, including some with a live band, as well as the new Break and Assault Action combat mechanics.

Players can choose between two protagonists: Claude and Rena. Claude is a Pangalactic Federation officer and the son of the legendary Ronyx Kenny, which causes him internal strife over his identity.

During a mission, Claude’s ego gets the better of him as he’s transported to an underdeveloped planet and spotted by Rena, confusing him for the Hero of Light.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is also available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC.

Check out our review of Star Ocean The Second Story R.

Throughout Star Ocean The Divine Force, players choose between protagonists Raymond and Laeticia, witnessing the story from multiple unique insights. Raymond’s perceptions offer more sci-fi know-how, while Laeticia’s perspective focuses more on fantasy elements.

Combat is real-time. Further, the addition of Stop Mode allows players to literally pause the action, letting them form new stratagems on the fly.

The English fan patch for Tales of Phantasia Cross Edition is now available, bringing a full translation alongside a sizable list of quality-of-life updates and optional enhancements. The release comes from Life Bottle Productions, with additional contributions from Phantasian Productions and developer mziab.

This patch is available for Cross Edition, the PSP version that blends elements from multiple releases of Tales of Phantasia. While the game has long been playable in Japanese, Cross Edition has remained inaccessible to many fans due to the language barrier. That changes with this release, which also adds optional 60 fps battles for players running the game through emulation.

Beyond the translation, the patch focuses heavily on smoothing out long-standing friction points. A new skit prompt has been added to the world map, making it easier to track optional conversations. Combat-related options include toggles for battle subtitles and enhanced Holy Bottles, the latter allowing players to disable encounters entirely if they choose. Monster Book entries are now alphabetized, and several item behaviors have been adjusted, such as removing the need to equip the Sorcerer’s Ring to activate its fire ability.

The update also restores and revises content pulled or altered in earlier versions. Suzu’s controls have been reverted to match the original PlayStation release, the original credits song has been restored, and Rhea’s Super Deformed sprite from the Game Boy Advance version has been reintroduced. Other changes include reworking the stealth segment in Alvanista Castle, removing the Dark element from Chizakura, restoring a missing Red Lantern location tied to the Ifreadd quest, and allowing certain items to carry over properly into New Game Plus.

Life Bottle Productions has built a reputation within the Tales fan community for tackling projects that official releases have left behind. The group previously released a complete English fan patch for Tales of Rebirth on PlayStation 2, which reached version 1.0 in late 2025 following extensive bug fixes and revisions. Their work on Cross Edition follows a similar philosophy: treat the game as a historical release worth preserving, while making it more approachable for modern players.

A tutorial video and a work-in-progress mini guide are also available to help players get started, especially those unfamiliar with Cross Edition’s quirks or emulation setup. The patch itself is distributed through GitHub, with support focused on PPSSPP.

A group of fans has released an English patch for the classic Sega Saturn RPG Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die, initially released for the Sega Saturn in 1998.

The title also saw ports to PC, Dreamcast, and PSP, but no version has ever been officially localized. This translation project was announced in January 2023.

About Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die & English Patch

This dramatic adventure sequel occurs one year after the first game, following the protagonist Imperial Japanese Navy Ensign Ichiro Ogami and the Flower Division of the Imperial Combat Revue. The group protects Tokyo from various political and supernatural forces in a fitting follow-up to the success of the first Sakura Wars.

This franchise is well-known for its blend of tactical combat, visual novel-style presentation, and dating simulation elements, with this particular entry unfolding across 13 in-game episodes.

Instructions, as well as the necessary patch files, for the Sakura Wars 2 English patch can be obtained via the SegaXtreme site.

The 1.0 patch includes the following content translations:

Story dialog

Battle dialog

Minigames

Battle menus

System menus

Added subtitles to movies

Boss images

Theater room names

Load Screens

Bootup screen

Everything within Long Day

Credits

The team also uploaded a video commemorating the patch’s launch, which was made to recreate one of the game’s original Japanese TV commercials.

Translation Credits

PROJECT LEAD

NoahSteam

REVERSE ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING AND TOOLS==

NoahSteam

TrekkiesUnite118

TRANSLATION LEADS

MattoBii CrouchingMouse

TRANSLATION

Natsume38

Neko

MatatabiMitsu

LEAD EDITOR

BowlOfLentils

EDITORS

Burntends

CrouchingMouse

MattoBii

Natsume38

GRAPHICS MODIFICATION

Dyn0muTT

Joqu

Gong Xian

TrekkiesUnite118

NoahSteam

MattoBii

SaturnDave

MOVIE SUBTITLES

TrekkiesUnite118

TESTERS

BowlOfLentils

cj_iwakura

TrekkiesUnite118

TALENT RECRUITMENT

Burntends

TRAILER

Edited by TrekkiesUnite118

Audio Mixing by Shadowmask

VO by CrouchingMouse

In case you missed it, check out our review of the Sakura Wars reboot that launched for the PlayStation 4.