If you’ve visited the Withering Without Hope page here recently, you may have already noticed that it has received a little update.
It now features a new header and background image (previously, it used the same ones as the Broken Beyond Despair page) and the old teaser pic I whipped up all the way back in 2017 has disappeared, with only the new, shiny SHINRAI logo being shown now.
There isn’t really much else there yet, but that will change over time, of course, as we continue to work on our next project. For now, I just wanted to take the first few steps of updating everything to its finalized color scheme, which includes the teaser image itself, so…
Let me share that with you here as well:
As you can see, it’s basically the same as the old one, just with slightly adjusted colors, extended in width to now also include the silhouettes of our two protagonists Raiko and Nobara, and showcasing some film strips. Because, after attending a Halloween party and visiting a dinosaur exhibition, we’ll be going to the movies next!
SHINRAI – Withering Without Hope will take place at the Ginmaku Cinema, a mini theater in the heart of Rougetsu, owned by none other than famous movie director Akira Ginmaku. Someone whose name should ring a bell, as he’s the father of Misaki, who had her on-screen debut in SHINRAI Saku – Blooming Beyond Despair, and the one who supported Raptor Pack Productions with their indie movie ambitions in GENBA no Kizuna.
In a sense, you could actually say that all three of our previous projects will finally come together in various ways in this next tale. However, I don’t want to divulge too much about the characters and plot just yet. I’ll save that for another time. Although, if you can read Japanese, the kanji snowflakes on the teaser pic will already give you an idea as to who and what you can expect to see!
Now, what I do want to get a bit more into today is what I stated at the end of our post-release blog post series about Saku. There, I tried to reassure those who haven’t really felt GENBA and Saku as much, and who’ve been wanting something more akin to the original SHINRAI, that Withering Without Hope will follow “its vibe, tone and formula much more closely“. What I meant by that is the following:
- Unlike Saku, WWH will be a full-on murder mystery again
- Unlike GENBA, where the crime had already taken place before the start of the game, and Keiichi and his team simply needed to reconstruct what had happened after the fact, WWH will have the crimes unfold around our grumpy little detective once more
- In other words, Raiko will experience the murders happening first-hand (and yes, that’s plural, because multiple people will die)
- Although it may not initially sound like it from the description above, she and her schoolmates will also once again be trapped and isolated from the outside world, adding an extra layer of urgency to their situation
- Because of that, the tone will revert to being a bit darker and more serious again, as the setup doesn’t really lend itself to too much comedy, as was the case in Saku and even in GENBA
- There may even be a return of some slight horror elements… I mean, they’re planning to watch a horror movie, after all!
Now, I certainly have no interest in fully replicating the original SHINRAI. If I’ve already done something, why do it again? Especially when it takes so long to finish such a project. As a creator with limited time, I’d rather work on something fresh and explore new ideas than do the same thing twice. And, at some point in the story, WWH will definitely go in a different, hopefully unexpected direction.
That said, it will still align much more with the original SHINRAI in many regards, so if you’re amongst the people who’ve been craving another murder mystery like our very first project, I hope this will be much more up your alley again.
Anyway, I definitely needed a break from murder mysteries after working on them for a decade straight. Saku was a very welcome and fun change of pace. But now I’m overcome with bloodlust again and super stoked to kill off some more of my characters!
As such, I wanna get right back to work, so please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care :3
