This week’s dual-pronged Nintendo Direct shows were stuffed with huge games. Kirby and the World Beyond! Metroid Ravenous! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time! But the Japanese version of today’s show quietly snuck in at least one game the rest of us didn’t get: a sequel to Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii’s 1983 adventure game.
The Portopia Serial Murder Case came out a whopping 43 years ago – first on your personal computers, then on the NES – and the murder mystery romp went on to become a pretty big hit for Enix (now Square Enix). Even Hideo Kojima once credited it as one of the reasons why he wanted to begin making games in the first place.
And in today’s Nintendo Direct, we got a brand-new trailer for a sequel to The Portopia Serial Murder Case. The text-based detective work and witness interrogations from the original seem to be intact, alongside a new string of murders. Check it out below.
The Steam page also notes that Yuji Horii is supervising the project as an executive director, though there’s sadly no sign of English-language support just yet. We should hear more as the game approaches its 2027 release window on Switch 2 and PC.
“Set in 1980s Kobe, players can enjoy a completely new detective experience – investigating alongside a new cast of characters to uncover the secrets hidden behind the original murders,” the Steam description explains. “This title is a menu-driven, command-selection text adventure game. Players utilize a variety of commands to navigate the investigation. By gathering witness statements and physical evidence, you will gradually uncover the truth behind the serial murders.”
Three years back, Square Enix tried to revive the original game with an “educational demonstration of Natural Language Processing (NLP), an AI technology.” That pseudo-remake, pseudo-experiment didn’t go down too well with players – Steam reviewers slapped it with a ‘Very Negative’ rating. Although, Square Enix doesn’t seem to be involved in this upcoming sequel.
