Yes you read that headline right, Steam is finally allowing uncensored adult visual novels on their platform. Mangagamer posted an announcement to their blog yesterday stating that they have obtained approval from Valve to release the yuri VN Kindred Spirits on the Roof on steam without any content changes. The game’s Head Translator Kouryuu had this to say:
“It’s great to see our years of effort finally paying off as visual novels containing adult content gain more mainstream acceptance and recognition as a valuable medium for artistic expression.
This is monumental news for the industry as a whole. Everything will be open and up-front with this release; no off-site patch or workarounds.Kindred Spirits will be sold on Steam completely uncensored. Seeing frank depictions of same-sex relationships welcomed on such a major gaming platform is a true testament to the open-mindedness of our society and the growing desire for mature entertainment that people of all walks of life can enjoy.”
While I agree this is great news for yuri fans, I also feel it’s important to realize that Kindred Spirits is reportedly extremely soft-core, so if you’re hoping to see a flood of hentai VN’s on Steam soon you may be disappointed. Still, this great news for developers of adult games and hopefully opens the door to more localization of not-porn-but-adult visual novels.