In collaboration with TOKYOTOON, Fruitbat Factory has announced that beloved Japanese visual novel The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart will get a worldwide Steam release on June 17.
The game will have the option to view the text in either English and Japanese and later Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Players can even have side-by-side text display in two different languages of their choosing.
Priced at $19.99, the visual novel will come with a digital artbook, original soundtrack, and a vocal song album. Each item will contain elements that expand on the story of the game.
Right now, players can experience some of the game’s story in the form of a free demo on Steam.
In The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart, the player takes on the role of Nora Handa, a student who encounters a beautiful girl in the park one morning on the way to school. She turns out to be Patricia, a princess of the underworld who is destined to end all life on the surface. However, she falls sick after emerging above ground and Nora unknowingly cares for her while until she gets well. Patricia then gives Nora a magical kiss, transforming him into a black cat obliged to serve her every whim.
In 2016, the visual novel debuted in Japan under the title of Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart, or Noratoto, to an overwhelmingly positive response. The game’s multiple endings, witty dialogue, and likable heroines charmed fans, including main character Nora who finds himself in a number of comedic situations. This heralded the arrival of a 2017 anime adaptation, which aired worldwide on Crunchyroll, and a sequel to the game, The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart 2, which won the award for users' favorite visual novel in the 2017 Moe Game Award. It would eventually claim the title of Japan’s best-selling visual novel. The success of the series led to an onslaught of related merchandise with the promotion of a manga series, music CDs, and the like. The game attracted international attention by featuring in numerous game and anime events outside of Japan.
Screenshots and the opening movie from The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart are housed on the game’s Steam page. Fruitbat Factory and TOKYOTOON have also urged fans to join an official Discord server set up for the upcoming game.
The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart has also been released in Japan on PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
