The Plague Tale Requiem Japanese subtitles are missing from the now-iconic rat game despite Asobo promising they would be there. This has prompted mass backlash from Japanese players, leaving the devs no choice but to issue a response.
As reported by Japanese gaming website Automation, Japanese language support for Plague Tale Requiem was promised in a September 6 tweet. Japanese was added to the game’s Steam page alongside the other languages mentioned in the announcement, but was apparently removed on September 13.
The change has left fans completely perplexed, especially because there is a video (now privated) of the game running in Japanese. The language support is clearly there, it just hasn’t been activated post-release.
In response to Automation’s tweet about the issue, the dev team over at Plague Tale Requiem HQ writes “the game is still planned to have its Japanese translation released in a future update.
“Our local partner will make an announcement regarding the game’s availability on the Japanese PlayStation Store and the translation will be made available on other platforms at the same time.”
This hasn’t been welcomed with open arms. “You have betrayed all other Japanese platform users for PlayStation,” seethes one fan. “Why don’t you try to deliver the work that the developers worked hard on to everyone? I am very disappointed in you.”
“Really pathetic. Treat all your customers equally,” comments another, with a final reply reading “this is not the answer of why Japanese language has been deleted from the game on the first day update. Why do Japanese gamers have to wait for the Japanese PlayStation store? And why did you announce this after the game had been released? I’m so sad and disappointed.”
A similar issue plagued (ha ha, funny) the series’ debut title, Innocence, which was also touted as having Japanese language support only to have it removed post-launch. Given the backlash at the time, it seems odd that the devs have made the same mistake. Either way, though, Japanese fans will have to wait a little longer to dive back into the rat-infested wastelands of 14th-century France to experience Amicia and Hugo’s tragic tale of woe in their mother tongue.
If you’re wondering whether or not Plague Tale Requiem is for you, you can check out our Plague Tale Requiem review before you dive in. If you’re already exploring the barren planes of the game’s once-proud nation, we’ve got a full breakdown of the solution to the infamous Plague Tale Requiem windmill puzzle to help you out.