Following the release of Shueisha Games’s bittersweet end-of-the-world visual novel Schrödinger’s Call – which draws inspiration from NOVECT’s The House in Fata Morgana – AUTOMATON had the opportunity to bring together both developers for a joint interview. During the discussion, House of Morgana’s author Hanada Keika shared some new details about NOVECT’s ambitious upcoming title, Project Code M (tentative).
As of 2026, Project Code M has been in development for eight years. Around January this year, NOVECT announced that work on the game’s scenario had been completed, but according to Hanada, the release is still a while away.
From what we know so far, Project Code M is a “kill and investigate”-style mystery visual novel in which the player follows a series of murders from the perspectives of both the killer and the detective. The story is set in modern-day Tokyo and depicts Japan’s criminal underworld. Now, according to Hanada, the game’s scale is quite ambitious, with an estimated playtime of around 40 to 50 hours and plans for story segments to be intertwined with a variety of minigames. The decision to make such a large-scale game, despite being an indie studio that’s flirting with debt, comes from Hanada’s admiration of big-budget titles that allow you to spend a long time immersed in their stories.
As for the story of Project Code M, it looks to be shaping into Hanada’s magnum opus. “For Project Code M, I prepared a meticulously detailed plot [as opposed to when I was developing The House in Fata Morgana]. I rewrote the overall synopsis nearly 20 times, and from there, I created detailed plots for each individual incident. But since I kept revising even those, I think I ended up writing about 100 drafts of the plot in total. I even plotted out where each item is obtained and where it eventually disappears,” Hanada comments, joking that they “never want to go through this again.”
The new title will significantly differ from The House in Fata Morgana not only in genre but in tone and intent. “We’re creating Project Code M with the intention of delivering entertainment above all. While the previous title focused on human drama, exploring the subtleties of the human heart and themes of love, this time, we want players to enjoy entertainment in a much more direct way. With that in mind, through the game’s murder segments, we aim to provide an unprecedented kind of enjoyment where players can even “enjoy committing murder,” engaging in acts they shouldn’t normally do and getting their hands dirty,” Hanada explains.
Furthermore, even when you switch over to the protagonists’ side, the detectives aren’t typical good guys. “They’re underground corpse disposal specialists who engage in ethically questionable behavior. Of course, they do things you could never do in real life, but that’s precisely why I believe players can truly enjoy this as fiction. On top of that, we’re really emphasizing the appeal of the characters. I feel like there haven’t been many large-scale mystery games with long playtimes lately, so we’re approaching this project with the determination to fill that niche.
In terms of gameplay, while in the shoes of Project Code M’s detectives, you’ll be disposing of bodies, examining people’s phones, and conducting 3D examinations of evidence to gather clues for your investigation. As for the murder sections, you’ll plan the “perfect crime” from the killer’s perspective by carrying out remote locked-room murders and forging suicide notes.
Project Code M is currently in development for PC and consoles. The PS5 and Switch versions will be published by Aksys Games in English-speaking regions. The release date is TBA.
