Explore the Future of Virtual Reality in Visual Novel Sumire

[AlphaKing]

Sekai Project announced at Anime Central 2018 that they would be publishing Nekoneko Soft’s VR-focused visual novel Sumire. The 15th-anniversary project for the well-loved studio, Sumire will be playable for the first time in English upon release. Featuring characters from and references to Nekoneko Soft’s other visual novels, Sumire is the culmination of years of work. Reading the other visual novels in Nekoneko’s catalog isn’t required to enjoy Sumire, though there are quite a few excellent choices. Sekai Project did not reveal a release window for Sumire.

In the future, Katase Kenji attends an online, virtual school for fans of “galge.” As he’s grown older, he no longer has any real interest in galge, but still signs in, if only to talk to the few friends he’s made along the way: the pure-hearted “Pink,” who attends an all-girls school, and the crass and loud-mouthed “Tae.” The three avoid any talk of real-life matters, but they are soon joined by the cutesy “Moe.” Kenji happens to run into Moe in real life, but the two act as though nothing happened. Then, his father remarries, and Moe becomes his half-sister. Soon after, the virtual and real lives collide in a flurry of romance and drama.

Sumire is an eroge, make no mistake. Sekai Project has not shied away from 18+ releases in the past, and their all-ages releases on Steam have usually come with a patch, to be applied later. This would mark the first 18+ release of Nekoneko Soft’s that Sekai Project has localized, however. Nekoneko themselves were put on the map with the free visual novel Narcissu, later published by Sekai Project on Steam. Since then, Sekai Project has continued to partner with the studio, later releasing the Narcissu 10th Anniversary Collection on Steam, with Vita and PS4 releases supposedly coming later. With Sumire coming sometime in the future, fans of Nekoneko Soft will have more to read through, hopefully before long.