PQube and Mages have revealed that the visual novel “KONOSUBA – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes Of Desire!” is set to launch on February 8, 2024 on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Although PQube had announced a worldwide release for the game in June 2023, the release date had not been disclosed until now, it was perceived that the launch would be pushed back so that it would coincide with the third season of the anime adaptation which will begin airing in April.
Konosuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! originally released back in Japan for the PlayStation Vita and PS4 consoles back in 24 September 2020 and now more than three years later it will mark the first universal release of a game based upon the immensely popular KonoSuba franchise.
Excluding “KonoSuba: Fantastic Days” which is your average predatory mobile gacha game.
Konosuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! serves as a sequel to the visual novel “Judgment on this Greedy Game!” which released back in September 2017 exclusively to Japan.
Which is why it’s rather questionable as to why its sequel would be receiving a worldwide release in its stead, regardless Love For These Clothes Of Desire! presents a new Konosuba storyline with the narrative revolving around Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness as they confront a mysterious curse that alters their deepest desires.
A peculiar “mysterious black slab” influences the characters’ personalities upon contact, affecting Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness. To break the curse, players must dress each character in “exciting, unexpected” outfits that bring satisfaction to the Konosuba characters.
Quests are undertaken to gather resources and money needed to craft the outfits, each with its own unique storyline. Players are encouraged to create all the outfits to explore the various comedic plotlines involving Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness.
Konosuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! includes a Special Swimsuit DLC that introduces three new scenarios and enables players to craft three distinct costumes: Super Megumin, Deluxe Aqua, and Extra Darkness.
The design of the outfits and the storyline will vary based on the materials used to create the special swimsuit costumes. Players have the opportunity to unlock these special costumes during the games second chapter.
I am a massive fan of the franchise, it’s actually more difficult to find an actual fan of Japanese anime, manga or light novels that has negative feelings towards the franchise which is why I’m both excited for the release and also disappointed.
Konosuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! as previously mentioned is the first game based upon the comedic franchise that will be getting a localized release for Western audiences outside of the gacha mobile game. Like so many popular Japanese franchises, KonoSuba is absolutely ripe for a genuine large scale game, similarly to Sword Art Online however fans aren’t lucky if they live outside of Japan.
I’ve already mentioned how Love For These Clothes Of Desire! is actually a sequel of another visual novel titled “Judgment on this Greedy Game!” which hasn’t received the blessing of translation, the game itself essentially revolves around Kazuma waking up with someone’s panties and thus he has to find out who owns them.
Typical KonoSuba antics ensue.
However there are countless more KonoSuba games that exist and are effectively gatekept inside the confinements of Japan, which is probably a good thing given the prominence in heinous localization in modern times.
Bundled with the aforementioned Judgement on this Greedy Game! visual novel is a basic yet passionately developed shoot’em up game dubbed “Attack of the Destroyer” which was clearly developed with love and affection.
There’s also a variety of fan-made games based on the franchise that have gained genuine recognition, typically bundled with blu-ray volumes as an additional bonus, the most profound and recognizable of these games however certainly has to be Konosuba: Revival of Beldia.
Revival of Beldia is a fan-made game that garnered official recognition. Developed by Team Ladybug and Krobon, it was launched on April 28, 2017, as part of the limited edition package accompanying the first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume of the anime series’ second season, the game itself is short, sweet and made with passion, as for the gameplay itself it more or less plays like a Mega Man clone.
The game itself would undoubtedly provide an hour or so of entertainment if you’re an earnest fan of the franchise, it has received an unofficial English patch which can be accessed HERE.
In terms of actual games based upon the franchise region locked to Japan, we have a the dungeon crawling RPG known as Labyrinth of Hope & the Gathering of Adventurers, published by Entergram the game originally released for the Sony PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 back on the 27th of June 2019.
However it was re-released on the PS4 alongside a Nintendo Switch release a year later with balance changes and additional dungeons, quests and more on the 27th of August 2020.
The dungeon crawler was quite successful, given how it warranted a sequel in the form of “Cursed Relic and the Perplexed Adventurers“, also published by Entergram the game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch platforms on November 24th 2022.
Tragically neither of these two games have made their way over to the West.
Regardless, Konosuba – Love For These Clothes of Desire! is a fully-voiced visual novel that’ll no doubt bring excitement to Western fans of the franchise, myself included, however I still cannot help but feel conflicted given that there are arguably better alternatives as the first worldwide game release based on KonoSuba.
However should the Love For These Clothes of Desire! visual novel prove to be financially successful there’s a great chance that its prequel alongside the dungeon crawling RPGs could received their own translated releases eventually.
