Higurashi When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni), known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese murder mystery dojin soft sound novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and are playable on the Windows operating system. The first game in the series, Onikakushi-hen, was released on August 10, 2002, and the eighth and final game in the original PC series, Matsuribayashi-hen, was released on August 13, 2006.
While the first four games carried the overall title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, the next four games were produced under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. A bonus fan disc called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. In addition to the original series, new story arcs were created in manga form and in video games for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS in order to expand upon the story. The original eight PC releases were released in English by MangaGamer with the first four games on December 15, 2009, followed by the last four being released monthly starting with Meakashi-hen on February 28, 2010. The series is focused on a group of young friends and the strange events that occur in the rural village Hinamizawa where they reside.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri:
A video game console port for the PlayStation 2 was released as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri by Alchemist on February 22, 2007. Higurashi is the third dojin game to be ported to a video game console; the first was Hanakiso by HaccaWorks*, and the second was Melty Blood by French-Bread and Ecole. Although Higurashi was the first to have a video game console port announced, its longer development time made it the third to be released. Due to the popularity of Matsuri, a second enhanced PlayStation 2 port, known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri: Kakera Asobi, was released on December 20, 2007. It was sold as an append disc to the original Matsuri and as a standalone game. It contains all of Matsuri's content, in addition to Matsuribayashi-hen from the original games and other bonus content.
STORY:
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa, which has a population of approximately 2000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro-sama. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro-sama. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.
Three original chapters were created for the PlayStation 2 version Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri by Alchemist.
- Taraimawashi-hen:
An alternate beginning chapter, at first glance, this additional "question arc" is a retelling of Onikakushi-hen. However, this chapter in fact contains the events of Watanagashi-hen. After learning the secrets of Hinamizawa, Keiichi decides to ignore everything and enjoy his peaceful school life; this action leads to a tragic series of events. Shion Sonozaki is the villain of this chapter, while Mion becomes the victim. Mion survives and is shown Rena's blood stained hat. Mion talks to Ooishi about the incident but dies shortly after. This scenario is actually a "punishment", given when you deliberately try and avoid getting into any of the scenarios in the story (except this one, as it is actually difficult to get into on purpose), and makes it clear to the player that they cannot simply avoid the tragedies around them and expect a happy ending.
- Tsukiotoshi-hen ("Exorcism Chapter"):
Although Tsukiotoshi-hen does not provide many answers since it relates what went wrong in Watanagashi-hen/Meakashi-hen and Tatarigoroshi-hen, it is still considered an answer arc. In order to save Satoko, Shion, Keiichi and Rena decide to kill Teppei. But after the murder is done, Rena starts to act strangely, and Keiichi thinks he hears Oyashiro talking to him. Mion notices the change in her friends' behavior and takes Shion's place to find out why they are acting this way. Later on, Satoko develops Hinamizawa Syndrome and kills "Shion" before killing herself.
- Miotsukushi-hen ("Canal Drying Chapter"):
An alternate ending to the main series, the chapter name Miotsukushi is a pun of Miotsukushi and Mi o tsukushi, a conjugation of Mi o tsukusu. This pun is known in Japanese poetry such as haiku. After finding out who the real murderer is, Rika and Keiichi decide to put an end to the whole mystery, but they are in a different situation than Matsuribayashi-hen. Before they can do anything, they have to solve other people's problems first. The problems of Watanagashi/Meakashi-hen, Tatarigoroshi-hen, and Tsumihoroboshi-hen are met here and all of them must be solved. This arc solves all the mysteries of the series, adds a few new ones, and gives the origins of both Hanyu and Hinamizawa syndrome. The story development of Miotsukushi-hen in the fourth Nintendo DS game Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna has slight differences from the original PlayStation 2 version. The conclusion of Tomoe's story, continued from the third DS game Rasen, was added to Miotsukushi-hen, but had no connection with the PlayStation 2 version ending.
The limited edition contains a special booklet, a lyrics card, a 2-CD soundtrack and a set of postcards.
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION:
Suspense adventure novel going Yomitoi through the point of view of more than one person a strange incident that takes place in the fictional village in June 1983. Story of the second half has a large branch by taking information and choices that appear in the middle, you can supplement the scenario of the game title, body, aimed at better understanding of the "TIPS". The challenge the scourge of horror taking place in Hinamizawa village, Expose the truth!
FEATURES:
- First person perspective.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Romance & Mystery themes.
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