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Atlus USA, FuRyu to Release Caligula PS Vita Game in N. America, Europe

Atlus USA announced on Thursday that it is partnering with FuRyu to localize and release the Caligula PlayStation Vita role-playing game digitally in North America and Europe next spring. The release will keep the original Japanese audio, and will be a download-only title. Atlus USA also revealed several screenshots for the Japanese version of the game (see gallery below).

The game will ship in Japan for the PlayStation Vita on June 23. The regular edition will cost 6,980 yen (about US$61) and the download edition will cost 6,389 yen (about US$51). Sony will offer four different themed models of the PS Vita for the game.

In the story, μ, a virtual idol who performs user-inputted songs, gains self-awareness through exposure to users' bitter feelings and dissatisfaction toward reality. Wanting to save humanity — which she believes is continuously suffering — she lures people to a virtual reality world called Mobius with her songs. She then imprisons them in Mobius, thinking they will be free from the suffering of reality and that all their wishes will come true. The game follows the nine members of the "Going Home Club," a club that was formed because the characters want to escape from Mobius and go home. The game's title refers to the "Caligula Effect," which is a pattern of behavior where one wants to see or do something more if it is denied to them.

The official website describes the game's battle system as an "imaginary chain" system that utilizes combos and the "power of imagination." The gameplay fuses strategy and beat-'em-up elements. The in-game composer characters are represented by real independent music composers, including 40mP (KagiP), OSTER PROJECT (Sweet P), Polyphonic Branch (Shonen Doll), CyoucyoP (Mirei), Asa (IkeP), 164 (Shadow Knife), and cosMo@BosoP (Sone).

The game's cast is as follows:

• Chiharu Sawashiro as the protagonist
• Rie Murakawa as Kotono Kashiwaba
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shogo Satake
• Rie Takahashi as Mihue Sonohara
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kotarō Tomoe
• Minami Tanaka as Suzuna Kagura
• Yuichiro Umehara as Izuru Minezawa
• Ari Ozawa as Naruko Morita
• Shouta Aoi as Kensuke Hibiki and KagiP
• Reina Ueda as μ
• Eriko Nakamura as Mirei
• Emi Nitta as SweetP
• Sōma Saitō as IkeP
• Yumiri Hanamori as Shonen Doll
• Yūma Uchida as Shadow Knife
• Yuka Ōtsubo as Sone

Director Takuya Yamanaka, scenario writer Tadashi Satomi (Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment), and illustrator Oguchi are on board for the game. Tsukasa Masuko is in charge of sound.

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