Game developer and publisher MiHoYo, who gained immense popularity after the success of their open-world fantasy RPG Genshin Impact, has announced that they will be releasing a new Otome-style detective romance game by the name of Tears of Themis.

Tears of Themis is starkly different from Genshin Impact in several ways, beginning from the style of the game, with Genshin Impact being an open-world fantasy RPG, while Tears of Themis has a fairly straight-forward storyline that revolves around an attorney solving a strange and mysterious case in her city, while simultaneously falling in love with one of four available male protagonists. Although this is quite a shift from a fantasy RPG set in a fictional world, if MiHoYo has proven anything in the last couple of years, with the release and success of Genshin Impact, it is that they pride themselves on excellent writing and storylines, so it is not far-fetched to assume that Tears of Themis will be any less exciting and fun to play than its fantasy predecessor.

The storyline revealed to us so far by MiHoYo tells us a little bit about what we can expect from the game. Tears of Themis is set in the city of Stellis, which is becoming increasingly dangerous to live in due to an unexplained and mysterious increase in cases of mental illness. This sudden increase also manifests itself in violent eruptions throughout the city but these incidents are swept under the rug, underneath all the other data about the city. However, there exists a file titled “X-NOTE”, which aims to uncover all these happenings and get to the bottom of why Stellis has been taken over by this sudden increase in mental illness. The player must assume the role of a Junior Attorney at the Themis Law Firm, and their work entails the investigation of crime scenes, interviewing suspects and witnesses in order to obtain clues that will help uncover the secret happenings in the city of Stellis.

As mentioned, Tears of Themis also has a simultaneous romantic storyline going on while the user proceeds with their detective work. This romantic storyline comes in the form of four male characters who support the main character on their journey to uncover the truth. All the characters in the game seem to be extremely well written, which is no surprise since excellent character development is also something MiHoYo is known for. The four characters include private detective Luke Pearce, Artem Wing, who is a well-known lawyer in the city of Stellis, Vyn Richter, a successful psychiatrist, and Marius Von Hagen, who is the heir to the Pax Group. The player has the ability to choose between any one of these four male characters, and the character they choose will accompany them the rest of their way and help them with their detective work as well.

The game is now open for pre-registration of MiHoYo’s website, and the official release date for the game is the 29th of July 2021.