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Sekai Project's WAS The Hourglass of Lepidoptera Kickstarter Ends

North American visual novel distributor Sekai Project's WAS The Hourglass of Lepidoptera Kickstarter campaign ended on Wednesday after raising US$59,740, well above its US$10,000 goal.

WAS The Hourglass of Lepidoptera is a visual novel created by Japanese group SRL to raise awareness and tourism for Tottori City in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The project's funding goal is being used in part to license the game's voice cast, which includes Rina Satō, Rie Murakawa, Sayaka Ōhara, Hiro Unochi, Natsuki Abe, and Aoi Kana.

Sekai Project describes the game:

The keyword for this game is dystopia. The game is set in Post-War Japan, yet this Japan is unfamiliar and strange compared to the one we know from history. Journey with the characters as they meet new people and encounter high drama that will forever change them and uncover the mysteries of the world they inhabit.

In this dystopian world, nothing is what it seems. Though the character seem to be in a land of peace and plenty, we quickly discover that nothing could be further away from the truth. Though WAS might appear to be a bishoujo game, we wish to present a brand-new interpretation of the concept.

The campaign reached its third stretch goal of US$46,000 to fund a fully-voiced version of the game. Players can download a demo to try out the game. The full version is expected to launch on Steam in April 2015.