Some of the last news to come from Spike Chunsoft's GDC lineup were a pair of summer 2018 release windows for visual novel 428: Shibuya Scramble and the PS4 version of Fire Pro Wrestling World. Both games were originally announced last year as part of Spike Chunsoft's upcoming lineup. Though Fire Pro Wrestling World went into (and came out of) Steam Early Access last year, the arrival of 428: Shibuya Scramble will mark the first time the live-action visual novel will be playable in English. Though neither game has a release date currently, with the summer months inching ever closer, there's not much time before we get our hands on two more of Spike Chunsoft's games.
428: Shibuya Scramble is an adventure/live-action visual novel, set within the district of Shibuya. When one person gets kidnapped, their disappearance will draw together five otherwise unrelated strangers into a web of intrigue and mystery. With each character's actions affecting different storylines and endings, the ten hours that follow the initial vanishing are fraught with choices upon choices. Boasting over fifty unique endings, 428: Shibuya Scramble mixes together live-action video, text prompts, and a non-linear narrative in order to solve a mystery. Notable for being one of only 25 games to receive a perfect 40/40 score from Famitsu. Physical and digital copies will be available for both PS4 and PC, with a release to come sometime this summer.
It's not easy to resurrect a series that had been effectively dead for almost 15 years, but Spike Chunsoft, incredibly, did just that. Proudly packing an unreal amount of customization, plus sliding scales of difficulty and AI, Fire Pro Wrestling World is more akin to a wrestling simulation, rather than a button-mashing game. Now, PS4 owners will get their chance to partake in the madness in the squared circle. There's no telling if you'll be able to import fighters and rosters from the PC version of the game at this time. Regardless, Fire Pro Wrestling World releases digitally and physically sometime this summer for the PS4.
