Visual novel developer Mages has announced Steins;Gate Re:Boot, which appears to be either a remake or enhanced remaster of the original 2009 visual novel.
As noted by Automaton Media, details about the game are scarce at the moment; all we’ve got is a title, previews of some of the character artwork, and a rough release window of 2025.
According to a Famitsu article (for which we’re using machine translation), Steins;Gate Re:Boot will feature additional story content, and it’ll also have new character design from Huke, the artist who worked on the original game. It looks as though the character art has been redrawn as well.
The Famitsu article also says that Steins;Gate Re:Boot is based on the original Steins;Gate, so it won’t be a new game entirely. You’ll have to wait for the tentatively-titled Steins;??? if you want to see how the Science Adventure series continues.
For the uninitiated, Steins;Gate is a 2009 visual novel that serves as the second entry in Mages’ Science Adventure series, which began with 2008’s Chaos;Head (later released in enhanced form as Chaos;Head Noah).
The game revolves around eccentric scientist Okabe Rintaro, otherwise known as Okarin, who, along with a group of his fellow students, learns that he has developed a time machine that can send text messages into the past.
What follows is a typically Mages-esque twisty-turny mystery that incorporates the likes of CERN (yes, that CERN), as well as old-school technology and much more. It’s perhaps best to play the game if you want to know just how bonkers it gets.
We don’t yet know exactly when Steins;Gate Re:Boot will arrive, nor do we know what platforms it will be released for. I’d say PC and PlayStation are safe bets, though, along with the Switch and whatever its much-vaunted successor turns out to be.
In the meantime, though, Steins;Gate is available to play right now on PC if you want to check it out. An enhanced version, Steins;Gate Elite, is also available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
