The Key visual novel Air, which had its original release in 2000 and inspired a Kyoto Animation-produced anime adaptation, will be released on Steam on March 5 JST.
The Steam release will include English and Simplified Chinese support and Steam Deck compatibility. Other highlighted features include:
• The inclusion of the side story novel First Sky Chapter as a visual novel
• The “best HD quality” of all Air versions so far and CG coloring that has been “adjusted to better complement LED display colors”
• Touch gestures for table PC and Steam Deck
• Controller support
There will also be voice support, with voice actors like:
• Hikaru Midorikawa as Yukito Kunisaki
• Tomoko Kawakami as Misuzu Kamio
• Asami Okamoto as Kano Kirishima
• Ryoka Suzuki as Minagi Tohno
• Aya Hisakawa as Haruko Kamio
• Yumi Touma as Hijiri Kirishima
• Yukari Tamura as Michiru
The press release lists a Japanese price of 3,200 yen (~US$8.67) with tax-included. It also states that Air will be 10% off until March 19 JST to commemorate its Steam release.
Air was first released on Windows 95, 98, and 2000 as an R-18 title. The 2000 release was a limited first-run edition, with the first regular release arriving in 2001. Steam describes the premise as:
Summer had come to that town.
A young man is performing with a puppet in front of a seaside bus stop.
Only two children are watching his show.
However, they soon lose interest and run off.
The young man is a traveler.
He has two companions on his travels.
A decrepit doll that moves without strings
and a powerful oath made a long time ago.
Just when he began to feel despair,
a young girl comes to talk to him.
She has a friendly, innocent smile.
Following this meeting with her,
the young man begins to live in that town.
Spending gentle days enveloped in the scenes of summer.
Encounters with girls in the sunlight.
Summer stretches on endlessly.
Beneath the vast blue sky.
Beneath the air in which she awaits.
The first Key visual novel, Kanon, came to Steam last June.
Sources: @VisualArtsUSA, press release
