Higurashi Daybreak: Kai (PC Game)

To all avid fans of loli-killers: I am proud to present to you Higurashi Daybreak: Kai! A really awesome 3D PC/PSP doujin fighting game + expansion based on Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, starring almost all of the anime’s cast. If you haven’t watched the series yet, click here and get going!

The game is officially produced by 07th Expansion and Twilight Frontier. Using the Gundam shooter/fighter game engine, the game can cater up to four human/AI players both online and offline. Higurashi Daybreak definitely won’t let you take your hands off your keyboards and controllers for awhile!

Upon launching the game, you can choose between ‘Story Mode‘, wherein you’ll choose from a selection of preset character team-ups and gain access to said team-up’s ending movie after beating all enemies; ‘Versus Mode‘, for a quick skirmish with your friends and/or computer AI; and ‘Net Play‘, where you can play with others around the world.

There are a total of 16 characters to choose from, starting from our favorite protagonists, to even the not so prominent ones like teacher Rumiko Chie and the Sonozaki sisters’ mom, Akane. The game is strictly 2vS2.

I’m really amazed on how the developers put thorough detail to the game. Each character has various fun-fun costumes and weapons for you to choose from, all of which bring a sense of nostalgia for Higurashi.

E.g. Keiichi can use the transfer student baseball bat, golf club, and evidence hiding shovel. For Shion there’s the taser, knives and torture chamber whips. Dr. Irie makes use of various hospital kits. Tomitake uses the spiritual camera, survival camera and sub-machine gun. Guess what the other characters’ weapon of choice are? Lol.

BTW, Chie-sensei makes a special reference to Ciel of Tsukihime and Melty Blood. You can make her wear Ciel’s costume, talk like Ciel and use her trademark Black Keys!

The controls are very easy to use, though it would be best to utilize a USB controller (Those at CD-R King work great!).

Directional buttons – Moving / dash / side-step
Button 1 – Jump
Button 2 – Melee attack
Button 3 – Ranged attack / Charged attack
Button 4 – Change target
Button 5 – Hypermode
Button 6 – Guard
Button 7 – Change attack type
Button 8 – Pause

Movements like dashing, guarding, jumping or flying through the air are limited by a ‘Stamina‘ gauge, just as how ranged attacks are limited by a ‘Main‘ and ‘Charge‘ gauge.

There’s also a limit gauge that fills up upon receiving or inflicting damage. Once in Hypermode, your character will receive stat bonuses for a limited period of time. The bonuses would depend on what you chose in the character select screen: whether it be ‘Oyashiro‘, ‘Friendship‘ or ‘Kakera‘.

Each time a player is killed, their team’s balloon inflates. The first team to have their balloon reach 100% loses.

Plot: In a peaceful day like any other, a small box was dropped on Rika Furude’s head when she was sweeping in the Furude Shrine. In it was a pair of magatama, one red and one white.

The magatama are actually the sacred treasure of the Furude Shrine. With its magical powers, the holder of the red magatama would unconditionally fall for the holder of the white one. Upon testing its effects on the school faculty, the club members of a Hinamizawa school decided that they should duel each other to see which pair gets to keep the magatama. In the beginning, it was only an afterschool club activity, but their game eventually engulfed all of Hinamizawa.

2VS2 with friends using my old Acer Aspire laptop

So, Who else wanna play killer-lolis?

System Requirements:
Intel Pentium 2 GHz
512MB RAM
DirectX9.0c
800×600 display
V-RAM128M video card

PS:
Let’s give Roger Pepitone our SUPER thanks for being the man behind the FREE English patch!

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