D.C Re:Tune is a full remake of 2002 bishōjo romance visual novel Da Capo, coming to PC and Switch on October 30. Published by Bushiroad and developed by original Da Capo series dev studio Circus, the new remake revives the classic from 23 years ago with new illustrations, voice acting, quality-of-life features, expanded storylines and English language support. AUTOMATON recently talked to D.C Re:Tune’s director Hayashi, who told us about how Circus approached the remake.
To date, the Da Capo franchise has reached five mainline entries, along with several console ports, fan discs and anime adaptations. It stands as one of the most iconic series among 2000s-style school-life romance games. But precisely due to its long history, Da Capo is not an easy series for newcomers to get into. This was one of the main reasons Circus decided to remake its first entry. “Ideally, I’d like to recommend starting from the first game. But the reality is that playing any version of it on modern hardware is difficult.”
Aside from simply making Da Capo playable on current-generation platforms, the remake is meant to offer something new that will appeal to both veteran fans and new audiences. “The character designs have been updated to a modern style, and the entire cast has been recast with new voice actors to match them. The presentation has been reworked too, not as a simple recreation of the old Da Capo, but to feel like a ‘Da Capo of today.’ We’ve also added new features. The core story remains unchanged, but we’ve added new characters and expanded storylines for some of the existing ones,” Hayashi explains.
As for how Re:Tune, with its subtle changes to characters, will fit into the rest of the franchise, the director says, “This remake isn’t meant to extend or overwrite the continuity of the original series up to Da Capo 5. Instead, I want it to stand as a kind of ‘new series’ on a parallel axis. At the same time, since I was part of the original dev team, I’m committed to preserving the series’ core.” For example, the changes made to the character design and scenarios of Moe, Mako’s sister, come from the dev team’s wish to do a more thorough job of depicting her “older sister side” than they were able to in the original game.
Apart from such intentional creative liberties, Hayashi says “we didn’t make any special changes to meet modern ethical standards. In fact, except for changes in characterization, the text is essentially the same as in the PS2 version.”
Interestingly, for non-Japanese speaking players, D.C. Re:Tune will come with a glossary feature that introduces Japanese terms and concepts that appear throughout the game. “We wanted to make the game even more enjoyable for players outside of Japan and allow them to experience Japanese culture,” Hayashi comments. With their first attempt at full multilanguage support, Circus hopes to appeal to overseas gamers’ image of Japan, offering the experience of Japanese school life and youth in a fantasy Japanese setting.
D.C. Re:Tune launches October 30 for PC (Steam/Windows) and Nintendo Switch.
