Anonymous;Code

Cover art

***Anonymous;Code*** (アノニマス・コード, *Anonimasu Kōdo*) is a visual novel video game by MAGES. and Chiyomaru Studio, and was released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in Japan on July 28, 2022. It is part of the larger *Science Adventure Series*. Spike Chunsoft later published an English localization for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam on September 8, 2023. The English release marked the first time a Science Adventure game received a full English dub.

## Plot

On February 6th 2036, due to an NTP Rollover, a large-scale computational error occurs in the guidance system of several military satellites (including the SA4D, or Strategic Attack For Defense). This results in the satellites launching payloads at various important cities on Earth. New York, Shanghai, London, Moscow, and Shinjuku are completely devastated in the havoc wrought by the disaster. The total death toll from the incident is 5.1 million.

*Anonymous;Code* takes place from 2037-2038 in Nakano City, a year after the Sad Morning disaster occurs. The story follows Pollon Takaoka, a young hacker working with Cross Yumikawa as part of the Nakano Symphonies. Together, they take on hacking-related jobs to make a living and help people in need.

One day, after finishing up an infiltration mission at the "Incarnation" café, the pair meet up at Café Symphony with Wind Maki and his AI ZOOTTOMO girlfriend, Yomi. Mid-conversation, Wind teases Pollon for being single, to which the latter responds by falsely declaring that he has a girlfriend named “Momo Aizaki” and that they are going to elope. Having dug his own grave by lying, Pollon begrudgingly goes out in front the Nakano Sun Plaza waiting for the non-existent girl to appear. But in a stunning twist of events, a mysterious girl also calling herself Momo Aizaki takes Pollon's hand. The two of them walk over towards a small park in a nearby residential area, where they find themselves attacked by mysterious assailants. Pollon's encounter with Momo begins an unsettling series of events in Nakano City.

## Development and release

*Anonymous;Code* was developed by Chiyomaru Studio and MAGES., and written by Naotaka Hayashi, Ayano Suehiro, and Tsukasa Tsuchiya. The game is largely themed around hacking, and many of its characters engage in the activity—much of the game's promotional material centers around the idea of "hacking god". According to Shikura, the game's role is, in part, to resolve unanswered questions from other titles in the *Science Adventure* series.

Shikura stated that he initially wanted to increase the game's immersion by applying a unique artwork to every scene and using full animation during major events. However, he realized the game would need at least 3000 different pieces of artwork (in contrast to the standard 100 found in most visual novels), not counting the cost to produce the animations, and thus discarded this idea. His research on how to lower the cost of an immersive visual novel led him to consider reusing old animation, and *Steins;Gate Elite* was developed from this idea.

## Trivia

* The original subtitle underneath the *Anonymous;Code* logo was machine translated according to Shikura. There were certain terms he specifically wanted in it, and he searched the English equivalents of those terms to insert into the machine-translated subtitle. This machine translated subtitle has since been replaced with a more sensical one.
* The game runs on M2's Kaleido ADV engine.
* July 28, the game's Japanese release date, is the day the story of Steins;Gate begins (July 28, 2010).

## References

1. ↑ Spike Chunsoft Twitter (2023-03-21). https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft\_e/status/1638299764746797058
2. ↑ Ishaan (2015-03-29). "Anonymous;Code Is 5pb's Next Sci-Fi Visual Novel".
3. ↑ "Anonymous;Code Visual Novel's 1st 2 Characters Revealed".
4. ↑ Kitahara, Fumihiro (2019-04-30).
5. ↑ Romano, Sal (2015-03-28). "5pb. announces Anonymous;Code".
6. ↑ Romano, Sal (2019-09-04). "Anonymous;Code still in development, not due out in 2019".
7. ↑ "志倉千代丸氏インタビュー　『シュタインズ・ゲート エリート』は"ゲーム以上でいて、アニメ以上"".
8. ↑ Kiri Kiri Basara. Subtitle