Hit visual novel game The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty is finally allowed to resume sales on the Japanese Nintendo Switch store, as recently announced by publisher 2P Games. The game originally released on the platform in March this year, but got delisted only a few days later after its age rating was brought into question.
The Hungry Lamb is a dark historical visual novel set in a world inspired by late Ming Dynasty China. Amidst a widespread famine, society has descended into chaos and the ruling dynasty teeters on the brink of collapse. In the midst of this turmoil, the protagonist – a bandit, takes on a job from a human trafficking broker to escort four girls to a buyer, supposedly a wealthy lord who will raise them as daughters. However, during the journey, one of the girls reveals that their buyer is actually a swine demon who devours young women, and that her true purpose is to defeat it. This revelation sets the story into motion.
The game was originally released on Steam in April 2024 and found widespread popularity, selling over 1 million copies worldwide and earning an Overwhelmingly Positive status. Due to its (non-explicit) depictions of heavy themes including murder, cannibalism and human trafficking, The Hungry Lamb got a 16+ IARC rating for distribution in Japan. However, once its Switch version released on March 17 this year, it was suddenly delisted only four days later. This was reportedly due to a pending content rating, which seems to have been finally resolved now, three months later. The game is now cleared for re-release on the Switch store with a CERO D rating (ages 17 and up).
Meanwhile, The Hungry Lamb’s developer ZerocreationGame is currently working on a sequel, a new visual novel titled The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall. It’s slated for release on PC (Steam) in Q4 of 2025.
