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Christmas gifts for tech lovers: three of the best Japanese visual novel video games

Fans of anime, manga and Japanese video games will love Steins;Gate 0, Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness and SD Gundam G Generation Genesis

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A screen grab from Steins;Gate 0.
Kevin Kwong

There has been an explosion in Japanese visual novel games in recent years, with bestselling series such as Danganronpa and Zero Escape being released in English and/or Chinese versions. Two titles, newly localised and which came out over the past couple of months, are must-haves for those who are into this genre.

The much anticipated Steins;Gate 0, follow-up to Steins;Gate, returns this awesome time-travel tale and, quite literally, revisits the part of the story that leads up to the “true ending” (visual novels often have many endings depending on the choices you’ve made throughout the game).

Needless to say, you will need to have played Steins;Gate in order to fully enjoy (and understand) Steins;Gate 0. But despite its slow pace, the writing, riddled with pseudoscientific and conspiracy theories, is so brilliant it’s worth investing your time in.

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PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3 and PC. US$39.99 on Amazon.

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A screen grab from Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness.
A screen grab from Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is based on the anime Psycho-Pass which is set in an authoritarian, dystopian future Tokyo. You play a detective working for the Public Safety Bureau and the choices you make affect the storyline.

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