The ''

Higurashi When They Cry is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion that comprises the first two entries of the ''When They Cry'' franchise. The series focuses on a group of young friends living in the fic ...

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

is originally produced by the Japanese

dōjin soft is software created by Japanese Fan-made, hobbyists or hobbyist groups (referred to as "dōjin circle, circles"), more for fun than for profit. The term includes digital , which are essentially the Japanese equivalent of Independent video game de ...

maker

07th Expansion 07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin circle specialized in the creation of visual novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game ''Leaf Fight'', but are better known for creating the game series ''When They Cry (disambiguation), When T ...

, but features games produced in collaboration with

Alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

and

Twilight Frontier , known as Tasofro for short, is a Japanese dojin game, ''dojin'' game video game developer, developer. They are best known for their collaborations with Team Shanghai Alice (ZUN (video game developer), ZUN), which include seven official games in ...

. The games take place in the fictional Japanese town of Hinamizawa, and the stories revolve around a group of young friends and the strange events that occur in the village. The games have been released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PCs, the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, and the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

handheld console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

. ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'' is a series of

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

visual novels that requires relatively little player interaction as most of the

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

is composed of reading text which signifies either dialogue between characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist who the player assumes. The games utilize intermissions where the player can obtain several TIPS which allow the player to read various supplementary information that may or may not be useful in solving the mystery. The series debuted in Japan on August 10, 2002 with '' Onikakushi-hen'', the first in a series of eight original games divided into the "question arcs" consisting of the first four games, and the "answer arcs" consisting of the latter four. The answer arcs shared the common title ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai''. An additional fandisc known as ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei'' followed, and was the final game in the series produced by 07th Expansion. The eight original PC games were released in English by MangaGamer with the first four games released in December 2009. The last four games, however, were released individually starting with ''Meakashi-hen'' in February 2010. Alchemist has released six more games based on the original series, two for the PlayStation 2 and four for the Nintendo DS. Twilight Frontier produced a dōjin game 3D versus

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

game entitled ''

Higurashi Daybreak is a Japanese dōjin third-person shooter developed by Twilight Frontier, first released on August 13, 2006 and is based on the popular visual novel ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni''. The game is Twilight Frontier's first attempt in making a 3D ga ...

'' which was later ported to the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

Cavia ''Cavia'' is a genus in the subfamily Caviinae that contains the rodents commonly known as the guinea pigs or cavies. The best-known species in this genus is the domestic guinea pig, ''Cavia porcellus'', a meat animal in South America and a com ...

and Alchemist.

Original releases

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni''

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai''

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei''

Expanded releases

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri''

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna''

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hō''

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui''

Other series

''Higurashi Daybreak''

References

External links

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni''
at

''Higurashi Daybreak''
at

{{07th Expansion

Titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...