Steins;Gate Alternate Episode 23 Announced for Sequel Steins;Gate 0

The official channel of the anime adaptation of the Steins;Gate visual novel on Japanese online video service Niconico has been updated with a new extra episode that will be live to hype up the release of the game’s official sequel, Steins;Gate 0.

Steins;Gate-Alternative-Episode-Screen

The highly anticipated sequel to 5pb. and Nitro+’s Steins;Gate visual novel will release in Japan on December 10th, and to celebrate a new anime episode will be streamed on Niconico. The episode is an alternative to episode 23, known as Steins;Gate Episode 23 (β). The episode will be on Niconico on Thursday, the 3rd at 1:35am JST. The website of the game itself has a new countdown timer, which coincides with the episode’s airing, indicating that the episode will be directly linking to Steins;Gate 0.

Here is the game’s main visual:

Steins;Gate-0-Visual-2

Steins;Gate 0 will be an official sequel to the original game and anime, but will not be an entirely new concept and story. It will be based on all the material released after the game, including the three novels and the various drama CDs. The first synopsis of the new game has also been revealed (highlight to read):

The story of the game takes place on the beta world line, where Okabe could not save his precious person, Kurisu, on July 28, and ended up returning alone. However, the trailer for the game notes that Okabe does not know that Kurisu is in fact still there.

The first images for the new designs of the characters have also been revealed, which includes the characters from the novels:

Here is the game’s latest trailer:

And its previous trailer:

The main staff of the VN were also revealed:

  • Planning and Creator: Chiyomaru Shikura (Robotics;Notes, Chaos:Head)
  • Producer: Matsubara Tatsuya (Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes Scenario Supervisor)
  • Character Designer: huke (Steins;GateBlack★Rock Shooter)
  • Scenario Writers: Hayashi Naotaka (Steins;Gate: Soumei Eichi no Cognitive Computing), Toru Yasumoto (Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu), Takimoto Masashi (Steins;Gate: Heiji Kyokusen no Epigraph), Tsukasa Tsuchiya (Last Magica no Dualism)
  • Music Composer: Takeshi Abo (Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head)

Steins;Gate is part of the series of science adventure games, a collaboration between developers Nito+ and 5pb. The games play out similarly to modern visual novels but notably with the usage of the main character’s device casually known as a trigger. All games focus heavily on scientific methods and theories and are incorporated into the game. The first game in the series was Chaos;Head, which released in 2008 for the PC. The next game, Steins;Gate released in 2009 and finally followed by Robotics;Notes in 2012. Steins;Gate originally released on the Xbox 360 before being ported to the PC, and all current generations, at the time, of consoles in Japan. An anime adaptation of the game was produced in 2011 that was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki (Terraformars, Blade & Soul) and Takuya Satou (Selector Infected Wixoss, Ichigo Mashimaro) and produced by White Fox (Katanagatari, Jormungand). A sequel film to the anime was produced in 2013 and featured an original story. A sequel light novel titled Steins;Gate The Committee of Antimatter was suppose to release last year, but was cancelled within a month of release.

Here is the synopsis of the Steins;Gate anime from MAL:

The eccentric mad scientist Okabe, his childhood friend Mayuri, and the otaku hacker Daru have banded together to form the “Future Gadget Research Laboratory,” and spend their days in a ramshackle laboratory hanging out and occasionally attempting to invent incredible futuristic gadgets. However, their claymore is a hydrator and their hair dryer flips breakers, and the only invention that’s even remotely interesting is their Phone Microwave, which transforms bananas into oozing green gel. But when an experiment goes awry, the gang discovers that the Phone Microwave can also send text messages to the past. And what’s more, the words they send can affect the flow of time and have unforeseen, far-reaching consequences—consequences that Okabe may not be able to handle…

Steins;Gate-0-Visual

Steins;Gate Episode 23 (β) will be streaming on Niconico from 1:35am JST on Thursday, December 3rd, setting up Steins;Gate 0 which will be releasing on the PS3, PS4 and Vita in Japan on December 10.

You can visit the game’s website here: http://steinsgate.jp/zero/
And the anime’s Niconico channel here: http://ch.nicovideo.jp/ch60001

 
Source Article and Images – Steins;Gate 0 Website
Source Article – Steins;Gate Anime Niconico Channel
“Steins;Gate 0”, “Steins;Gate”, image, video and all associated brands and titles © 2015 5pb., Nitro+ and Mages inc.