EastAsiaSoft have announced the physical limited edition release date forTop Hat Studios’ horror survival game Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story.
The game is available on Windows PC, Linux, Mac (all via Steam), and Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here (we recommend it!) We previously reported how the game was also slated for Fall 2020 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One.
EastAsiaSoft have announced the game’s physical Limited Edition release on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita. Pre-orders will begin January 14th at 10 a.m. ET on PlayAsia [1, 2].
While a price was not announced, the Limited Edition will include a printed manual and a cinema-length soundtrack CD. Only 2000 Nintendo Switch Limited Editions will be printed, while 800 will be printed for the PlayStation Vita version.
On the game’s Kickstarter page, publisher Top Hat Studios discussed the game’s console releases on January 6th. Along with discussing the Nintendo Switch release date, first patch, and backer rewards, they state the game will have “a dual release alongside vita within this quarter” on PlayStation 4.
Top Hat Studios also caution users that as Sony have deprecated the processes for approving a game for sale on PlayStation Vita, they have run into an issue. The requirements for the PEGI ratings and trying to communicate with Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE) may cause issues with the release in Eurpe.
“This, however, leads us into a bigger issue, which is SIEE (Europe) & Vita. We have been trying, to no avail, to get the game available there (as well as our other Vita catalog for those familiar, including Big Dipper, KDD, and Synergia). However, we will be completely transparent and honest, we are currently having no luck at all. Between esoteric requirements regarding manual PEGI ratings (which we have registered and been in contact with) alongside the lack of communication from SIE directly and their extremely deprecated Vita back-end, we’re having trouble making any progress there. We will continue to try, but we apologize if we are not able to work something out. With Sony’s “subtle” sunsetting of the Vita (i.e. how they’ve began to rotate out the web store awhile ago, or the constant on-device store troubles), this is increasingly hard. We are very lucky to be releasing in SIEA & SIE-Asia at all, all things considered, at this time. We know there were not a ton of backers who requested Vita EU keys, but for those who did, we will find a solution, as we want to fulfill something to you. For clarity, SIEE for PS4 is fine, this is only an issue for Vita. We are trying our best to find a solution.”
They also discussed how porting the game to PlayStation Vita had gone, and that by their own admission “we are not as happy with the Vita port as we’d like to be.” While the game runs without crashes and passed Sony’s checks, the game required “significant downscaling of textures, and the FPS and load times are not as stable as we’d like them to be.”
Due to deadlines for the physical release, the cuts were made to ensure the game could be released. “We want to express we are thankful to the vita community however,” Top Hat Studios explain, “and assuming Sony allows us to, we will try our best to deliver patches fixing the performance to more optimal states.”
Finally, they noted that they would have more news on the Xbox One release soon, but the game would be launching on that platform Q1 2021. Top Hat Studios and Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story were recently in the news, with the publisher showing real fire.
As previously reported, a report on the game’s Nintendo Switch release drew attention to it. Some objected to the game’s artstyle- a dystopian cyberpunk future where hyper-sexualization and body modification was commonplace- to the degree false information was spread. This included that the game was “encouraging violence,” and featured illegal content.
Top Hat Studios struck back, denying the claims and stating they “categorically refuse” to censor the game. They also revealed that they and developer Suzaku had received death threats.
The statement was applauded by those against censorship and “cancel culture” in the video games industry, yet some doubted their claims of abuse were legitimate. This lead to them releasing the abusive messages and gaslighting from “industry-adjacent people” publicly.
