Koei Tecmo Announces The Apothecary Diaries Mystery Game for Early 2027
Players guide Maomao through exploration, compounding, and investigations across the imperial capital.
The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother will launch in early 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
Koei Tecmo announced a new mystery game during Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct livestream. The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother is scheduled for early 2027.
The company released a trailer after the livestream confirming these platforms:
- Nintendo Switch 2
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 5
- PC via Steam
The game adapts Hyuganatsu and Touko Shino’s light novel series The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). Players control Maomao, exploring, compounding, and investigating to unravel mysteries.
Koei Tecmo’s synopsis describes two chains of unusual phenomena and conspiracies disrupting the rear palace, red-light district, and capital’s streets. Apothecary Maomao must draw on all her intelligence and knowledge to uncover the False Imperial Brother’s truth before it brings down the imperial court.
The novels have also inspired a television anime. Its third season’s first cour, or quarter-year run, begins October 2 at 11:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. EDT). It will air on NTV and 29 affiliated channels in the “Friday Anime Night” block. The second cour starts in April 2027.
An upcoming anime film, The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress’ Treasure (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: Bōhi no Hihō), opens in theaters December 11. Hyuganatsu is writing an entirely new story for it.
Amazon Prime Video is producing a live-action series adaptation. The service will stream it exclusively worldwide in 2028.
The television anime’s first season debuted in October 2023 with three episodes and ran for two cours. Crunchyroll streamed it alongside its Japanese broadcast and also offers an English dub.
Season two premiered in January 2025 on Nippon TV’s FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT programming block and ran for two consecutive cours. Crunchyroll streamed both the season and an English dub.
Hyuganatsu started serializing the story on the “Shōsetsuka ni Narō” (Let’s Become Novelists) website in October 2011. Shufunotomo began releasing print novel volumes featuring Shino’s illustrations in August 2014.
Nekokurage began the ongoing manga adaptation in Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan magazine in May 2017. Square Enix Manga & Books releases the manga in English and also publishes the novels in print.
Sources: Nintendo Direct livestream via ANN
