The Invisible Centennial Case
Square Enix is releasing a new game called The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story tomorrow. You almost wouldn’t know it.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a mystery adventure game featuring a live-action presentation, the newest example in the renaissance of FMV games kickstarted a few years ago. The story revolves around the Shijima family, one that’s been cursed with an inexplicable stream of deaths over the course of a century. Mystery novelist Haruka Kagami visits the Shijima family at the aptly-named Shijima Mansion and finds herself embroiled in four murder mysteries, all of which occurred over different periods of time. She’ll have to use her powers of deduction and logic and collect clues to unravel the truth.
The game was first revealed during a February Nintendo Direct, but only on the Japanese version. Perhaps the western equivalents had a quota for specific publishers the Japanese version didn’t have, and Square Enix reached it through all their other games revealed on the stream. But it’s more likely that the western districts of both Square Enix and Nintendo felt the game was destined to be obscure, and made only a minimal-at-best effort to get it shown on the presentation. This resulted in the game not getting much attention in enthusiast communities and social media in English-speaking territories, and Square Enix’s promotion has prevented that from improving since then.
That’s a real shame. The idea behind the game is intriguing, as many mystery games from all parts of the world often are. The Centennial Case sticks out because Square Enix isn’t known for releasing Japanese mystery games. Games of this type were more Enix’s fare once upon a time, but the only ones they’ve published in recent years were from western developers, chief among them the Life Is Strange series. Not to mention this is the first such live-action experience being published by them. It’s one of their unusual projects considering their recent publishing history, and that’s sadly showing through how underwhelming the advertising has been.
Let’s be fair to them though: This was never going to be an easy game to promote, especially for a larger audience and especially outside Japan. The Centennial Case uses Japanese actors for its cinematic movie-like presentation that only those who follow Japanese TV dramas and the cinema world will know, like Nanami Sakuraba (who plays Haurka Tagami), Yuta Hiraoka, and Gaku Sano. The number of people willing to watch works from the east with English subtitles has extended beyond anime fans thanks to the number of popular Korean works over the years like Parasite, Squid Game, and Pachinko. Japan, however, has yet to fully take advantage of this trend, which could have really helped this particular game gain attention out the gate.
The Centennial Case will only be the most recent example of a game showing how localizations of Japanese games utilizing live-action footage aren’t easy to promote outside the country. Consider 428: Shibuya Scramble, which released to critical acclaim when it first arrived in Japan and with the long-awaited release in western territories in 2018 — nearly ten years after its first Japanese release on Wii in 2008. Yet, it didn’t receive much of a player base outside its home country when Spike Chunsoft localized it. This applied even more to Death Come True from Danganronpa director Kazutaka Kodaka, though its short length didn’t help (it’s as long as a movie). This particular game could meet an inevitable fate regardless of how acclaimed it is. Here we have a genre where anime aesthetics are a safer bet.
The development staff behind it is also solid. Koichiro Ito, who served as a development manager on both Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain and a writer for the aforementioned 428, directed the game. Yasuhito Tachibana, who produced Netflix’s The Naked Director, provided cinematography and scenario direction. Yuki Hayashi served as lead composer for the game’s soundtrack, who previously did so for J-drama Your Turn to Kill, the My Hero Academia anime, and the Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai anime and game adaptations. The assembling of an impressive staff roster doesn’t always lead to solid games, but I’m hopeful here.
It’s tough to see The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story being a top seller after it arrives tomorrow with the sheer lack of buzz around it. But if the result is an impressive game, there’s an opportunity for it to become a cult classic that will be recommended for years, perhaps for the audience unwilling to pay the launch price of $49.99 or an equivalent.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
