Good news for fans of Root Double, the localization Kickstarter for the Xtend Edition by Sekai Project has reached its halfway goal. With less than 2 weeks to go there still seems plenty of time to successfully complete the campaign.
“Root Double -Before Crime * After Days-” is a game originally released in Japan by Regista and Yeti for the Xbox 360, which was subsequently followed by a release for PC. A year later the Xtend edition was released for the PS3 and PSV system.
The story
The Greenlit page has a great summary for the game.
The year is 2030. Business is as usual in the isolated research city of Rokumei–that is until several explosions suddenly go off in the nuclear research facility known as “LABO.” The city sends in “Sirius,” an elite rescue squad, to deal with the situation. But the situation only gets worse when LABO’s nuclear reactor melts down, sending the facility into lockdown–with members of Sirius and survivors still trapped inside. With lethal radiation leaking everywhere and not enough anti-radiation medication to last until lockdown lifts, the survivors make more and more grim discoveries. In their struggle for survival, in a deathtrap full of fire and radiation, they learn that doubt is their greatest enemy, and trust their greatest asset.
The story of Root Double features two different protagonists: Watase Kasasagi, a rescue squad captain who has lost his memories in the hours after the incident, and Natsuhiko Tenkawa, a student piecing together the clues in the six days before. The only key to survival lies in the player’s hands with the Senses Sympathy System (SSS). Unlike traditional visual novels, Root Double does not have clear cut “choices,” but rather, the game uses SSS to allow the player to manipulate the story based purely upon emotion. Your emotions projected upon the characters, particularly your trust in them, shape the progression of the story. Only with effective use of this system and completion of both protagonists’ stories can the player piece together the truth and hope to discover a way out of the facility.
Rewards
Basic rewards include the game and soundtrack but the top tier of $7,000 comes with the game (digital and physical), soundtrack, a poster, fanbook (if the backing reaches its goal) tapestry, mini-shikishi, signed copy of the came by Takumi Nakazawa and Mikeou and a color shikishi by Mikeou. This doesn’t include some new rewards being introduced as the funding continues.
If you don’t want to spend $7,000 you can get the digital version for a pledge of just $30 or more.
Update
January 24: An update about the PSVita version of the game has just been released. Pledges who quality for the $225 level can get their hands on it.
Early screenshots and concepts
Campaign end & Release date
The game still has less than two weeks to go to reach its goal. New rewards and game system updates are introduced every so often so check back to see if something new has been posted.
