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Spice & Wolf Creator's Project Lux 'Multi-Ending VR Anime' Detailed

Japanese video game news website 4Gamer published an interview on November 12 with author Isuna Hasekura about his new Project Lux game with Spicy Tails. In the interview, Hasekura describes the game as a "multi-ending VR anime," and it is slated for release at the end of this year. The story will have five episodes, but Hasekura didn't state if the game's initial release will contain all five episodes, or if Spicy Tails will release the episodes individually.

The game will be compatible with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR headset devices. In the game, players take the point of view of an agent who visits an artist named Lux, and will be able to look around the room and at Lux as conversation proceeds. The game's ending will differ based on the player's decisions.

Aimi Tanaka (Himouto! Umaruchan's Umaru Doma, Active Raid Second's Marimo Kaburagi) voices Lux, and also performs the motion capture for the character, while Teruaki Ogawa (Full Moon o Sagashite's Keiichi Wakaouji, GANTZ:O's Tetsuo Hara) voices the agent. 4Gamer is streaming a clip showing a conversation between Lux and the agent. In the clip, Lux begins to prepare tea for the agent, but the agent explains that he has an artificial body and declines the tea. The agent asks if Lux has had any flesh-and-blood visitors lately, but Lux explains that nobody has come around for a long time.

Hasekura emphasized that Project Lux will be a "story-oriented" work for VR, in contrast to recent VR works, which he described as "experience-oriented." Hasekura explained that he got the idea for the game from reading Dr. Naotaka Fujii Kakuchō Suru Nō (Expanding Brain) book in 2014. He emailed Dr. Fujii, who let Hasekura experience the VR technology he was developing.

Hasekura developed the details of the story over the next two years while he was studying what is and isn't possible with current VR technology. He decided on the player's point-of-view during this time. Hasekura considered a third-person "godlike" view at first, but ultimately decided on a first-person view because it is tied to the story.

Sekai Project will release the game in the West for PC, and it describes the game:

Our story takes place in a court trial, set in a futuristic world where most humans have cyberbrains. The defendant on trial is an agent who coordinates with artists to create the data for cyberbrains to interact with people's emotions. The victim is a girl artist named Lux. The jury has to investigate what really happened by reliving the memory data of the defendant. This title is Spicy Tail's new adventure adopting HMD in a VR space

Hasekura is writing the game, with character designs by Luna Tsukigami. Keisuke Sakakibara is credited for 3D modeling, and Yō Shimizu is drawing the concept illustrations.

Sekai Project released the first episode of Spicy Tails' World End Economica on Steam in 2014, then launched a Kickstarter to localize the second and third episodes. Like Project Lux, Hasekura also wrote World End Economica. Sekai Project also plans to release World End Economica on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.

Source: 4Gamer (箭本進一)