NIS America Sets 2027 Western Release for The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster
The fantasy adventure launched in Japan on April 30 for Switch, Switch 2, and PS5.
NIS America will bring The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster to the West in 2027 on four platforms. The adventure follows Mono as she searches for a way to cure her sister’s disease.
NIS America announced Friday that The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster (Shinigami Hime to Ishokan no Kaibutsu) will reach the West in 2027. The company also released an announcement trailer.
The Western release will be available on:
- Nintendo Switch 2
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 5
- PC via Steam
The game debuted in Japan on April 30 for Switch, Switch 2, and PS5.
The fantasy side-scrolling adventure uses picture-book visuals and storytelling. Its protagonist, Mono, voiced by Rena Motomura, belongs to a family that operates an opera house.
Her family mistreats and shuns her, leaving her to handle chores around the opera house and sleep in its attic. Only her beloved older sister, voiced by Reina Kondo, shows her love and teaches her opera and dance.
One day, her sister contracts Paper Mortis (Shinigami-byō), a virulent disease that turns those infected into picture books and, later, horrific “paper monsters.” Teenage girls seem particularly affected.
The state has abandoned efforts to find a cure. Instead, it confines patients in facilities called Asylum Libraries and leaves them to waste away.
After her sister enters one of these facilities, Mono heads there, desperate to achieve the seemingly impossible: reverse the disease. She discovers an Asylum Library overrun by paper monsters and strange distortions of reality.
These distortions manifest from the picture books the patients have become. They expand into a bizarre realm holding the patients’ memories and traumas.
Mono forms an uneasy alliance with Mär, a legendary paper monster voiced by Makoto Koichi. Mär seeks revenge against humanity for a past grievance, but protects Mono as she searches the Asylum Library and its picture-book worlds for her sister.
The game’s creative team includes:
- Kento Jobana (Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, Disgaea 7): director and writer.
- Sayaka Oda (The Cruel King and the Great Hero, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince): character designer and illustrator.
- Takeshi Matsumoto (The Cruel King and the Great Hero, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince): music composer.
- Akiko Shikata: theme song performer, known for her work on the Ar Tonelico series. She also performed songs for The Cruel King and the Great Hero and The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince.
Sources: Press release via ANN
