Japanese indie developer lvl374 has launched the Steam store page for their latest game, She Doesn’t Know. The upcoming visual novel uses a distinct 1-bit pixel art style (which uses a two-color palette) to tell the coming-of-age story of two girls.
She Doesn’t Know takes place over a single day in 1999 Japan and follows school sophomores Haruka and Shiho. The story is told from Haruka’s perspective as she interacts with Shiho, her childhood friend and girlfriend.
Throughout the game, the two girls converse about different things. These range from generic topics like school grades, part-time jobs, and puberty, to more specific and profound subjects such as Shiho’s family issues, their sexual attraction to one another, death, and what paths they want to take after graduating. The developer mentions that the game contains depictions of content that some players might find disturbing, such as depictions of mild bullying, violence, and suicide.
These talks take place as the two go about their day. While the game seems linear for the most part, there are some dialogue options to choose from that flesh out parts of Haruka and Shiho’s history and personalities.
She Doesn’t Know is currently in development for Windows (Steam) and will include support for English, Japanese, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified). A free demo is set to release during the October Steam Next Fest.
