The yuri visual novel Black Lily’s Tale lands on Nintendo Switch on October 29th in Japan for 4,378 yen. The story follows a girl trapped in a time loop while dealing with her romantic feelings. The physical and digital edition only includes text and audio in Japanese, with no support for other languages. Followers of the genre who do not master the language will have to seek out the PC version to enjoy it in another language.
A technical release without localization in sight 🎮
The title, developed by the independent studio known for its anime-style visuals, runs on the Unity engine. On Switch, it runs at 30 frames per second with dynamic resolution during scenes. The lack of localization is because the team is small and does not have the resources to translate the text into other languages. The PC version, available on Steam for some time, does include fan-made translation patches, making it the most accessible option for those who do not read Japanese.
The time loop also applies to languages 🔄
The protagonist relives the same day over and over, and players who do not know Japanese will relive the same frustration when trying to understand the dialogues on Switch. It is as if the time loop had extended to localization: always stuck at the same point, without moving forward. At least on PC there is hope with community translations, but on console, you have to wait for a miracle or learn Japanese by watching anime.