The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother announced

Gust is stepping out of its usual lane. The studio known for the Atelier series is taking on a video game adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries, the cult franchise born from the light novel that exploded thanks to its anime. Koei Tecmo has officially confirmed the project in cooperation with TOHO Games, with a release announced for early 2027 on PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.

The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother puts players in the shoes of Maomao, the apothecary with the legendary nose, tasked with unraveling the Five Mysteries of the palace and then the Five Curses striking the capital. On the menu: investigations, gathering clues, crafting remedies, and dialogue choices that influence witnesses' trust. A system where making a mistake closes doors, in the style of a real investigation game and not just a disguised visual novel.

For a franchise that's a hit in anime form but remained nearly absent from video games, the announcement is bound to surprise fans who had stopped believing it would happen. Pairing Gust, a studio well-versed in RPGs and alchemy à la Atelier, with a pure narrative investigation game is an unexpected but on-paper coherent bet: the studio already masters crafting mechanics, here repurposed into medicine-making.

It remains to be seen how the community will receive the title once the trailer has been digested and the first reactions from manga fans are voiced in the coming weeks.