Culdcept the First Launches on Steam

Culdcept the First, a modern worldwide re-release of Japan-exclusive Saturn game Culdcept, launched today on PC via Steam.

The game’s full price is US$29.99, although there’s a 10% launch discount until Aug. 12, bringing the total down to $26.99. A free demo is available, too.

Culdcept the First features a new, official English localization, making it the second previously Japanese-only Saturn game that publisher City Connection has translated. The first was in 2024 when it translated Assault Suit Leynos 2 and released it on Xbox and Steam, followed by the Switch, PS4 and PS5 the following year.

The Western console edition publisher Clear River Games said Culdcept will come to Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series digitally on Sept. 8. It’s also taking preorders on its website for the physical editions of the Switch and PS5 versions — it’ll be digital only on Xbox. Standard editions will cost $29 while collector’s editions will cost $66 before shipping charges.

Clear River, a Swedish video game publisher established in 2020 and owned by Embracer Group, handled physical Western editions of Assault Suit Leynos 2 last year.

Culdcept’s modern release is called “the First” because City Connection developed a prequel in the series called Culdcept Begins that launched July 16. Clear River is handling its Western physical version, too.

Culdcept is a turn-based strategy card game that was developed and published by Omiya Soft on the Saturn in October 1997 before porting it to the PlayStation in May 1999. Both versions were only released in Japan.

The Steam page for Culdcept the First lists the following features:

• 【Rewind】Rewind the game to any point someone passed a Checkpoint at a Fort or the Castle.
• 【Quick Save & Load】Enables you to save and load at any time, independent of the main game’s standard save function.
• 【Bonus Pack】Increases the number of reward cards received at the end of a match. This can be toggled ON/OFF in the options menu.
• 【Reveal Hands】This feature allows you to constantly display both your own and your opponent’s hand on-screen—information that was only visible at specific times in the original version. It can be toggled ON/OFF, and the display size adjusts automatically according to the game’s screen layout.
• 【Language Switching】You can play the game in either Japanese or English.

Clear River released a trailer for Culdcept the First in May:

Clear River is branding the Western version as part of the Saturn Tribute line, which makes sense, considering City Connection is using the same Zebra Engine to emulate Culdcept as it did for more than 20 other games that have been branded Saturn Tribute or S-Tribute.

The most recent Saturn Tribute release was a pair of Japanese exclusives, Farland Saga 1 and 2, which weren’t translated into English from their original Japanese when they were published in June last year.