Steins;Gate 0
Steins;Gate 0 is a 2015 visual novel video game developed by 5pb. It is part of the Science Adventure series, and is set in the period of the 2009 game Steins;Gate. It was released by 5pb. in Japan for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in December 2015, Microsoft Windows in August 2016, Xbox One in February 2017, and Nintendo Switch in March 2019.
| Steins;Gate 0 | |
|---|---|
Cover art, featuring (clockwise from top left) Maho, Rintaro, Kurisu, and Kagari | |
| Developer(s) | 5pb. |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Director(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Tatsuya Matsubara |
| Artist(s) | Huke |
| Writer(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Takeshi Abo |
| Series | Science Adventure |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Visual novel |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
It was also released by PQube in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2016, and by Spike Chunsoft internationally for Microsoft Windows in 2018 and Nintendo Switch in 2019. A manga adaptation premiered in 2017, and an anime adaptation of the game premiered in 2018. The story is seen from several characters' viewpoints, mainly the protagonist of the original game Rintaro Okabe, Amane Suzuha, and the neuroscientist Hiyajo Maho. After meeting Maho and her co-worker Alexis Leskinen, Okabe becomes a tester for the artificial intelligence (AI) system Amadeus. The player reads the text and dialogue that comprise the story, and affects the direction of the plot by choosing whether to answer phone calls from the Amadeus; early in the game, the story splits into two main branches, which in turn branch into different endings.
The game was planned by Chiyomaru Shikura, using Steins;Gate audio dramas and light novels as a base for one of the routes; it is not a direct adaptation of them, however, and features a new scenario. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo, who made notes of his first impressions of the emotional flow while reading the story, using these to create music with a good relation to the game's worldview. The English localization was a large project, taking place over the course of five months; it was done with the intention to avoid Westernizing the game too much due to the importance the Japanese setting and culture hold in the game, while still striving to keep it accessible for Western players. The game was well received by critics, who enjoyed the story, characters, gameplay, visuals and audio.