As part of their recently announced acquisition of publishing rights to Japanese PC game developer FairyTale’s catalog, English-language adult manga and game publisher Fakku has unveiled the Steam page for Dead of the Brain, one of FairyTale’s best-known titles.
Originally released on NEC’s PC-98 computer platform, Dead of the Brain was FairyTale’s first foray into the horror genre after primarily building their business on adult-only erotic games. Following a highly publicized and controversial 1991 case in which a middle schooler shoplifted a copy of one of their more extreme titles, Saori: Bishojo-tachi no Yakata, the company chose to pivot to horror for a time until the controversy surrounding their adult work died down.
Featuring character designs by Ryuichi Makino (also known for his work on anime series like Wandering Son and Re:CREATORS), Dead of the Brain was conceived as an homage to American splatter films of the 1980s such as The Evil Dead and Re-Animator. The story begins when the protagonist, a typical everyman named Cole, is invited by his scientist friend Dr. Cooger to witness the effects of his new invention – a serum said to bring the dead back to life. The experiment is a success, but with the unintended side effect of reviving the dead as zombies with no trace of their original personalities and a hunger for human brains. Things quickly spiral out of control, and in no time at all Cole finds himself in a fight for survival amidst a full-blown zombie apocalypse.
Gameplay in Dead of the Brain is mostly typical for Japanese adventure games of its time, consisting of visual novel style dialogue scenes interspersed with more interactive sections where players will have to use commands like Look, Use, and Get to explore the game’s environments and progress the story. One unique feature is the inclusion of quick time events, in which players must quickly react to on-screen threats (mainly zombies) by clicking on their hit boxes before being devoured, or worse.
Fakku’s release promises to preserve the game’s original striking pixel art, albeit upscaled for modern HD displays. The FM soundtrack has also been unaltered and is even planned to be offered as a DLC option for players who wish to enjoy it outside of the game. Some optional quality-of-life features are planned as well, such as more forgiving checkpoints and hints that appear when hovering over clickable areas during interactive sequences. Despite this, a disclaimer on the game’s Steam page notes that the original game experience has primarily been kept intact as it was in 1992, and as such may require some adjustment from players used to newer, more streamlined titles.
Dead of the Brain launches on PC (Steam) on October 30, just in time for Halloween. Fakku’s original announcement of their acquisition of FairyTale’s catalog also teased forthcoming English releases of this game’s sequel, Dead of the Brain 2, as well as the developer’s other horror titles.
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