Corpse Party gets sequel, sale on store tomorrow.

[Lady Lilith]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/10/22/corpse-party-book-of-shadows-coming-this-winter-corpse-party-sale-tomorrow/

Corpse Party on PSP. What more can you say about it? In my previous PlayStation.Blog entries, I’ve likened it to horror classics such as Clock Tower and Fatal Frame. I’ve talked about how it’s one of the creepiest, most effective horror games I’ve ever played, and how its unique visuals, its 3D binaural audio and its storytelling methods help give it an uncomfortable, unforgettable atmosphere. And you, fair players… you agreed with me. You played it late at night with headphones on, just as I suggested, and it kept you awake. It haunted your nightmares and made you jump every time your house creaked or your neighbor’s kids smacked the wall… until you realized, wait a minute, I don’t have any neighbors!

And then you were never heard from again…Presumably because you were too busy getting every wrong end in the game, of course. It’s hard to resist the charm of those horrible, horrible deaths, after all! Call it morbid curiosity if you will, but we all know you, like Morishige, get a certain sadistic thrill out of seeing (or, more often, hearing) these characters you’ve come to know and love get killed, slowly, in the most creatively twisted ways imaginable.

But then, some of you reading this might not have the slightest idea what I’m talking about, because you’ve committed the ultimate sin of never having played Corpse Party. Well, fear not! You can make up for it on the cheap, since Corpse Party will be available on the North American PlayStation Store for $9.99 – half off its regular price! – from tomorrow’s Store update until two updates later on November 6th.

But wait, there’s more! Not only is Corpse Party cheaper than ever, its sequel Corpse Party: Book of Shadows has officially been announced for digital release on PSP in North America this winter (with a European release planned for sometime shortly thereafter). So you’d best get familiar with the denizens of Heavenly Host Elementary School now, as they’re going to be coming back full-force in a just a few short months!

…Ah, Corpse Party: Book of Shadows. I’ve been translating that game for the last couple months, and I have to say, it is one hell of a sequel. It’s divided into eight chapters, each of which tells its own self-contained short story. Some of them help fill in the blanks of what happened during crucial off-camera scenes from the original game. Others go into the back-story of various characters, helping to flesh them out and make their roles in the series mythos a bit clearer. Still others ask “what if?,” presenting an alternate version of events from the first game in which characters who previously died are kept alive and given a fleeting chance to stay that way. And the game’s wonderfully-titled final chapter, “Blood Drive,” serves as a true sequel, focusing on two of the first game’s survivors as they venture somewhere even deadlier than Heavenly Host Elementary School in order to dig up some answers.

The whole game is presented in a first-person point-and-click adventure game style, and is much heavier on dialogue- and narrative-driven cutscenes than its predecessor (even venturing into visual novel territory at times). The spooky atmosphere is as thick as ever, though, and the gameplay is aided by fast-forward and message log features, as well as the ability to open the menu and save at absolutely any time (even during cutscenes).

Fans of the first game are virtually guaranteed to love Corpse Party: Book of Shadows, and fans of survival horror and horror fiction in general (especially Japanese horror) who haven’t already given this series a try are strongly encouraged to do so, since it really is among the best at what it does.

Specific information on pricing and release timing will be available in the coming months… and in the meantime, that first Corpse Party is calling your name, quietly and mournfully, in the voice of a child. A dead child. And how can you possibly ignore the voice of a dead child?

How, indeed…

[CasaDeBen]

Why release on psp. It makes no sense!

[Lady Lilith]

Why release on psp. It makes no sense!

Sony seems hellbent on supporting the dying (dead) PSP, as clear is with their FF3 release on PSP. I kinda wish they'd just let the PSP die and put that support into the Vita, it kinda needs it, and it's actually a current system.

I guess it's like Nintendo still supporting the DS, even putting megatons like Black/White, Black 2/White 2, and Pokemon Conquest on it instead of the 3DS, even though that doesn't make sense to me either. Perhaps less so because those sell way better than Corpse Party.

[CasaDeBen]

Exactly. I guess the logic is you can download it onto the vita, but at the same time I feel a lot of these could probably be made just as easily for the vita. And would sell better with trophy support because there are people that just want another trophy. With the amount of developers making a rather fine selection of rpgs on the psp, I am shocked nothing has really come up on the vita yet. I personally felt that was its strongest market, next to some really interesting/fun platformers. Either way, let the psp die out already.

On original topic.... Is this game worth the $10 to muddle around with on my vita? As in the original.

[Death]

Sony seems hellbent on supporting the dying (dead) PSP, as clear is with their FF3 release on PSP. I kinda wish they'd just let the PSP die and put that support into the Vita, it kinda needs it, and it's actually a current system.

Hey then that would give me more motivation to get a Vita! ...even though it's one of my least fav Final Fantasy games, but yea.

[Artemisthemp]

The reason it release on PSP are, because this game was release in 2010 to PSP and Xseed only translate it.

That also means Corpse Party The Anthology: Sachiko’s Game of Love Hysteric Birthday 2U most likely will be to PSP also

[MPRHWBMHSEL]

The reason it release on PSP are, because this game was release in 2010 to PSP and Xseed only translate it.

That also means Corpse Party The Anthology: Sachiko’s Game of Love Hysteric Birthday 2U most likely will be to PSP also

And the Japanese company sees how well PSP games sell in Japan. So of course put it on a system where it's going to sell. XSEED can't just be like well in America it will sell better on PS Vita or PS3. (Though the Corpse Party games were more made to be either computer games or handheld games but definitely not for consoles unless it gets a remake or even a newer game that more suits to being on console.)

Then there's XSEED localizing this game at all. Most people will say it's too late for America and Europe, but considering the original Corpse Party sold quite well for a PSN Store only PSP game, XSEED felt like hey we can localize the sequel no problem. Personally I don't think Americans and Europeans give the PSP enough credit. Great system. Great games are still being released for it. And many games are PS Vita compatible too.

On another note, Aksys is localizing another Hakuoki game also for PSP. Hakuoki is a Romance Otome Visual Novel game and Otome games are even more niche than most Visual Novel games. Though I suppose it does have the whole swordsmen in the 1800s of Japan which can appeal to males as well. (Otome games are usually more for girls since you play as a girl character with a harem of guys to romance.) So that also would make people think why localize that on PSP this late for both retail and PSN? Well it's because the 1st Hakuoki game localized sold very well also.