Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram

Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram

The cover art is split into ten fragments, each containing an illustration of one of the game's player characters on a green background.

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 cover art
Developer(s) 5pb.
Publisher(s) 5pb.
Writer(s) Naotaka Hayashi
Kotaro Uchikoshi
Series Science Adventure
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, iOS
Release date(s)

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

  • JP: April 25, 2013

PlayStation Vita

  • JP: November 28, 2013

iOS

  • JP: August 19, 2014
Genre(s) Visual novel
Mode(s) Single-player

Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram, known in Japan as Steins;Gate: Senkei Kōsoku no Phenogram,[lower-alpha 1] is a visual novel video game developed by 5pb., released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita in 2013 and iOS in 2014. It is part of the Science Adventure series, and a spin-off from the 2009 game Steins;Gate. It consists of eleven side stories, which are set in different realities, and follow different Steins;Gate characters.

Chiyomaru Shikura at 5pb. felt that the Steins;Gate world had been fully concepted, so he let a group of other writers create the game's story to bring new ideas to the series. Among these scenario writers were Naotaka Hayashi, who had worked on previous Science Adventure titles, and Kotaro Uchikoshi, whose writing for the game was influenced by the anime series Code Geass. Reviewers liked the game, and enjoyed the use of multiple viewpoints in the story.

Synopsis

Linear Bounded Phenogram is a visual novel, and a spin-off from Steins;Gate. It consists of eleven side stories set in different realities, some of which are similar to the one in the original game, and some which are very different. Two of the stories follow Rintaro Okabe – the player character in the original Steins;Gate – while the rest follow other characters.[1]

Development and release

Linear Bounded Phenogram was developed by 5pb.[2] Unlike the original Steins;Gate, where 5pb.'s Chiyomaru Shikura came up with the story himself, the story of Linear Bounded Phenogram was crafted by a group of writers; when Shikura was working on the anime adaptation of Steins;Gate, he realized that the game's world was already "concepted out", which meant that he could let other writers who understand the world work on Steins;Gate projects, bringing new ideas into it.[3] The script was written by Science Adventure series regular Naotaka Hayashi together with a number of other writers, including Kotaro Uchikoshi,[2] who wrote one of the scenarios. Uchikoshi did not work on it sequentially, instead choosing to write in a "disordered" style, going back and forth and writing different parts in parallel.[4] A large influence on his scenario was the anime series Code Geass (2006–2007), with the character Lelouch Lamperouge influencing Okabe's "wannabe bad guy" characterization.[5] Shikura himself wrote the game's theme song, "Phenogram", which was performed by Ayane.[6]

The game was first announced in November 2012 for an early 2013 release,[2] and was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 on April 25, 2013.[7][8] A PlayStation Vita version followed later in the same year, on November 28.[9] While the story remains unchanged, some optimization of the game was done for the PlayStation Vita release.[10] It was additionally released for iOS devices on August 19, 2014.[11] The game is also available in two different limited editions: one for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, which includes a replica of Okabe's cell phone,[12] and one for the PlayStation Vita version, which includes a DVD with a round-table discussion with the voice actors, and a set of Steins;Gate-themed bandages.[10]

Reception

Reception
Review score
PublicationScore
Famitsu34/40[7]

During the game's debut week, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were the fifth and sixteenth best selling games in Japan with 34,292 and 8,821 copies sold, respectively;[13] the Xbox 360 version dropped off the top 20 chart the following week, while the PlayStation 3 version dropped to nineteenth place, selling an additional 5,144 copies for a grand total of 48,257 copies sold.[14] In December 2013, Amazon.co.jp reported that the standard and limited editions of Linear Bounded Phenogram were their ninth and twentieth best selling Xbox 360 games of the year, respectively.[15]

Richard Eisenbeis at Kotaku said that the game, like other Steins;Gate games, has excellent art. He noted that it was more serious than the two previous Steins;Gate spin-offs, and found it interesting to follow characters other than Okabe and seeing their thoughts, and enjoyed how they received a lot of character development.[1] Famitsu's writers also enjoyed the multiple viewpoints, particularly that of the character Mayuri Shiina, and gave the game their "Gold Award".[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Steins;Gate: Senkei Kōsoku no Phenogram (Japanese: シュタインズ・ゲート 線形拘束のフェノグラム Hepburn: Shutainzu Gēto: Senkei Kōsoku no Fenoguramu)

References

  1. 1 2 Eisenbeis, Richard (2015-07-29). "The Three Steins;Gate Spin-off Games You've Probably Never Heard of". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 2016-08-24. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Ishaan (2012-11-24). "5pb Working On New Game Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  3. ↑ Gifford, Kevin (2013-03-06). "Steins;Gate creator talks up the new sequel and anime film". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 2015-06-25. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  4. ↑ Szczepaniak, John (2014-08-11). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. 1. SMG Szczepaniak. pp. 298–313. ISBN 978-0992926007.
  5. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (2014-02-13). "Inside the Genesis of Virtue's Last Reward and the Challenges of Visual Novels". USgamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  6. ↑ Romano, Sal (2013-02-19). "Steins;Gate: Senkei Kousoku no Phenogram opening movie". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  7. 1 2 3 "シュタインズ・ゲート 線形拘束のフェノグラム まとめ [PS3]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2015-10-24. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  8. ↑ "シュタインズ・ゲート 線形拘束のフェノグラム まとめ [360]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  9. ↑ "シュタインズ・ゲート 線形拘束のフェノグラム まとめ [Vita]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2015-12-11. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  10. 1 2 Spencer (2013-11-08). "Watch Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram's Vita Opening Movie". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  11. ↑ "STEINS;GATE Linear Bounded Phenogram". iTunes. Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 2016-09-17. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  12. ↑ Romano, Sal (2016-09-03). "New Steins;Gate Japanese release date set". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  13. ↑ Romano, Sal (2013-05-01). "Media Create Sales: 4/22/13 – 4/28/13". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  14. ↑ Romano, Sal (2013-05-08). "Media Create Sales: 4/29/13 – 5/5/13". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  15. ↑ Spencer (2013-12-11). "Amazon Japan's Best Game Of 2013 Is Monster Hunter 4, Pokemon X Is Number 3". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2014-12-23. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
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