The real mystery—how can live action look this good?

Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct offered announcements and surprises for pretty much everyone. What it didn’t have was The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. This live-action mystery/adventure was part of the Japan Direct only, but SQUARE ENIX has announced that it will be coming to western audiences on May 12th, 2022.

“Live action” has always been a red flag for me, but one viewing of the trailer makes it clear that The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story kicks the production level up (quite) a few notches and could be something different. The game—which is directed by Koichiro Ito (Metal Gear Solid V) and produced by Junichi Ehara (NieR:Automata)—centers around a family who have experienced a chain of inexplicable deaths in their family over the past century.

Players will take on the role of mystery novelist, Haruka Kagami and use their powers of deductions to uncover the truth behind four murder cases that have taken place in the Shijima household over the last one hundred years. Take on this accessible mystery story, uncover the truth of the case and reveal the culprit!

Yasuhito Tachibana, producer of Netflix’s ‘The Naked Director’ serves as Cinematographer and Scenario Director on The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, taking visual storytelling to a new level with high-quality cinematography and thrilling live-action gameplay. Players will be immersed into an authentically traditional Japanese story where they will transcend time across different eras of Japan while collecting information scattered throughout each era to uncover the truth behind the ill-fated Shijima family and solve an age-old mystery.

Ahead of its May 19th PC release, preorders through Steam include the base game, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a mini soundtrack composed by Yuki Hayashi (anime and game series DRAGON QUEST: The Adventure of Dai), Daiki Okuno, Ryoshi Takagi, Shuichiro Fukuhiro and Shogo Yamashiro. There’s no indication yet of whether the same package will be offered for Nintendo Switch, but we’ll keep an eye open for that announcement.

For more information The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, visit square-enix-games.com.