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Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life Game Gets Western Release for Switch
posted on by Anita Tai
Eastasiasoft announced on Monday it will release Hakuōki SSL ~sweet school life~, the high school spinoff of the Hakuōki game franchise, in English for the Nintendo Switch in the fourth quarter of 2025. Pre-orders for the physical edition will open on April 10.
The company describes the game:
Hakuoki SSL ~Sweet School Life~ is a visual novel adventure centered around heroine Chizuru Yukimura and the handsome legendary warriors of the Shinsengumi, but unlike most of the series that's set in Edo period Japan, this standalone entry casts the characters as members of a school in modern Japan. This Nintendo Switch release will include English language support for the first time, which should be welcome news for the many otome fans that have long requested localization of this particular game.
2,000 copies of the limited edition will be available for pre-order. The limited edition includes the manual, soundtrack CD, art book, mini case, Joy-Con sticker set, acrylic character standees, and a numbered certificate in a collector's box.
The spinoff originally debuted as a bonus when a player collected certain items in the Hakuōki: Zuisōroku fan disc in 2009. This bonus scenario proved so popular that it became a standalone game for the PS Vita in March 2014. The spinoff inspired a live-action film in 2016.
Otomate released Hakuōki Shinkai: Tenun no Shō, the latest in the Hakuōki Shinkai line of games, for Nintendo Switch in 2022.
The story of the game franchise and its anime adaptations centers around the historical Shinsengumi samurai group in Kyoto during the 19th century.
Aksys Games and Idea Factory International have released several of the games in the franchise in English.
The franchise inspired the Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom television anime in 2010, followed by Hakuōki: Record of the Jade Blood in the same year, 2012's Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom - Dawn of the Shinsengumi, and 2016's Hakuōki: Otogisōshi. The franchise also spawned several films and original video anime releases, as well as stage musicals and live-action adaptations.
