Umineko no Naku Koro ni (literally ‘When the Seagulls Cry‘) is a popular murder mystery sound novel created by the authors of the equally famous Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The story takes place in the year 1986 at a small, secluded island named Rokkenjima, owned by the head of a wealthy family. After a typhoon traps a number of visiting family members on the island, strange and deadly events start occuring.

The English fan translation of Umineko no Naku Koro ni has become well-known for having received official sanction from the original creator, Ryukishi07 of the doujin circle 07th Expansion. Having even a character in one of the episodes named after the group, the Witch Hunt were able to strike a deal with HOBIBOX to make the Japanese game available in the West through DRM-free download.

Over the course of the project the Witch Hunt have kept a very tight release schedule, releasing the translation of each episode before the following episode was released in Japan. For the last episode it took a year time before the full translation was released, the deadline eventually having been set to December 31, as 07th Expansion had announced it would then release a booklet with solutions to some of the puzzles and mysteries.

Ryukishi07 mentioned in his email that he was quite surprised that even people outside of Japan can now play his game and was very moved by the passion translators put into translating such a long piece into English. In closing, he mentioned that he will warmly watch over this endeavour and hope that everyone will continue to enjoy Umineko no Naku Koro ni. This is very likely the first time a Japanese game producer has given official approval to a fan translation of a non-free game (although game creators have given kudos to a fan translation before) and hopefully this will encourage future collaborations.

Please note that (as pointed out in the comments to this article) this does not mean Witch Hunt’s project is the official English localisation or that Witch Hunt is in any way affiliated or related to 07th Expansion; it is merely a translation project which has received approval and support from the original creator.