While a small group of people getting together to make a video game of some sort isn’t unheard of, the task undertaken by Four Leaf Studios was something never done by such a group. Five years ago a group of twenty one developers began making a visual novel titled Katawa Shoujo and all of these developers created the art, music, writing, programming as well as the storyline. Besides these 21 specific developers, multiple contributors aided in helping make the 18+ visual novel become a reality.
Now while a 18+ visual novel in English may not be anything new, Katawa Shoujo takes a step in an uncharted direction. While yes, the title should not be played by anyone under 18 years old and a few may find it uncomfortable, the title’s female cast all suffer from some physical disability. This includes a blind girl, one with no arms, one with burns all over her body and more, even the main character suffers from heart defects. Although the title may be adult in nature, it can also be seen as a way to enforce that even those with disabilities are still people with feelings and emotions the same as everyone else.
Now Four Leaf Studios chose not to charge even a penny for their hard work and has released the game free of charge for the PC, Mac and Linux systems. Of course the game is over 18 only and should not be accessed by anyone else, however it can be downloaded here.
