Indie games from Japan don’t often make it to the states, but when they do, they tend to make a pretty big ripple. The most notable example of this was last year’s Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, a game by Japanese developer EasyGameStation, localized by the studio Carpe Fulgur. It was definitely a success, selling approximately 140,000 copies, the number of which is still climbing. Carpe Fulgur recently announced the release date and issued a demo of their new project, Chantelise: A Tale of Two Sisters. It has apparently been in the works for a while, as that release date is this Friday, July 29th. While many will believe this to be a brand new game, it is actually the game made by EasyGameStation before Recettear.
In addition to the announcement, one of the founding members of the indie localization studio made a blog post explaining why they do what they do. One of the reasons they cite is the importance that a game isn’t just translated, making sure the nuances of each language is given proper consideration. It definitely proves they not only know what they’re doing, but both enjoy it and strongly believe in it.
Chantelise: A Tale of Two Sisters is slated for this Friday, and according to Carpe Fulgur, EasyGameStation’s next game, Territoire, may not see a release this year (in Japan, they cite expectations that a US release won’t be until next year), but will most likely be their next localization job. Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale is currently available, however, if you’d like to try what many consider one of the best indie games of last year, and the demo for Chantelise is available from Carpe Fulgur's website.
