STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is a remake of the time travel themed Sci-fi Adventure Visual Novel STEINS;GATE (2009), based on the scenario of STEINS;GATE ELITE（2018）, developed by MAGES. Inc. and published by Spike Chunsoft Co, bringing the classic story into a modern presentation with updated visuals, UI, refreshed character designs, dynamic presentation, and a brand new scenario and ending. The game features branching choices and multiple endings, with a substantially expanded story and new material for both new players and longtime fans.
The story takes place in Akihabara, where you take the role of Okabe Rintaro, voiced by Miyano Mamoru, an 18 year old college student who refers to himself as the mad scientist Hououin Kyouma and has earned the nickname Okarin from his childhood friend. He is delightfully delusional and constantly imagines that he has enemies called “The Organization.” He is working on various Future Gadget inventions together with his trusted right hand man, Hashida Itaru, or Daru, voiced by Seki Tomokazu. Daru refers to himself as a super hacker and is genuinely very skilled with computer programming and hacking.
Together, they are experimenting with the PhoneWave, a modified microwave that mysteriously produces green jelly bananas from normal bananas. The bananas are bought by Okabe’s childhood friend Shiina Mayuri, voiced by Hanazawa Kana, who goes by Mayushii. She is a short, black haired girl who gets annoyed because Okabe and Daru keep using her food for their experiments. She loves spending time at the lab making cosplay costumes and also works part time at the maid cafe MayQueen Nyannyan together with Faris, a knowledgeable girl with pink curly twintails voiced by Momoi Haruko. Daru absolutely idolizes Faris, so they often end up gathering at the cafe too. Mayuri also has a classmate and good friend, Urushibara Ruka, voiced by Kobayashi Yuu, a beautiful maid boy who is also involved in Okabe’s adventure.
At the beginning of the game, Okabe goes to Radio Kaikan or Rajikan, accompanied by Mayuri to listen to Doctor Nakabachi’s presentation. While there, he notices something strange on the roof that looks like a satellite and discovers Makise Kurisu apparently stabbed to death. He panics, takes Mayuri, and runs away. Then, without realizing what happened, he mysteriously finds himself in another timeline. The satellite has crashed into the Rajikan building, Doctor Nakabachi’s presentation has been cancelled, and everyone seems to remember events differently from Okabe.
On @channel, Okabe starts finding information about John Titor, who gives him some clues about what might be happening. Most importantly, Makise Kurisu is still alive. Kurisu, voiced by Imai Asami, is the genius girl with long brown hair who eventually becomes Okabe’s “Assistant,” or rather, Christina, depending on which nickname Okabe feels like throwing at her. She eventually becomes a lab member and joins everyone in experimenting with the PhoneWave, D-Mail, SERN, and the mystery surrounding time travel.
The lab gang’s experiments on the second floor naturally disturb the landlord downstairs, Mr. Braun, who is always ready to give Okabe a good yelling. Mr. Braun also has a new part timer named Amane Suzuha, voiced by Tamura Yukari, a brown haired girl with twin tail braids who is looking for her father and gradually becomes involved in Okabe’s adventure.
Okabe also meets Moeka Kiryu, voiced by Gotou Saori, a brown long haired girl who looks rather gloomy, prefers texting over speaking, and is searching for an IBN 5100. One interesting addition in RE:BOOT is that Moeka gets her own route and ending, based on material from the Drama CD, giving her more room to develop compared with the original game.
In this game, you also interact with your cellphone through the Phone Trigger, allowing you to respond to messages and interact with your friends and other characters. These seemingly small interactions can sometimes affect the story and your route.
One of the biggest things I like about STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is how fresh everything looks while still feeling like STEINS;GATE. The character art has been completely modernized, the sprites look gorgeous, the CGs have much more detailed rendering, and the characters have fluid animation and lip sync, which makes them feel much more alive. Mayuri even gets a new outfit design. The game also keeps the original professional voice cast, with all the characters fully voiced, while the soundtrack includes both re recorded material and new music. The English translation is also high quality and makes the game very comfortable to read.
I am playing RE:BOOT on Steam Deck, although I had a little trouble at first because the characters had no voices. I followed a suggestion from the Steam community to use GE Proton 11.5, and somehow it worked like magic. The character voices came back without any issues since then!
Summary
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is a really nice way to experience this classic story again, especially for anyone who already has a nostalgic connection with STEINS;GATE. It keeps the crazy combination of time travel, scifi mystery, conspiracy, romance, comedy, and emotional drama that made the original so memorable, while giving the whole thing a fresh modern look.
The updated character designs, detailed CGs, animation, lip sync, re-recorded soundtrack, and refreshed Akihabara all make the familiar story feel surprisingly fresh rather than simply looking like an old visual novel with higher resolution artwork. The branching choices and multiple endings also give the story plenty of replay value, while the new worldline and ending scenario add something extra for longtime fans who already know the original story.
I would especially recommend STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT to fans of sci-fi ADV visual novels, time travel stories, mystery, conspiracy, and character driven narratives. For old fans, it feels like coming back to Akihabara and meeting the Future Gadget Lab gang again after many years. For newcomers, it is also a very approachable modern version of one of the most iconic time travel visual novels.
El Psy Kongroo.
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