STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT

The concept

In Akihabara, self-proclaimed "mad scientist" Rintaro Okabe tinkers with gadgets alongside his friends at the Future Gadget Laboratory. One of them, a microwave hooked up to a phone, can send messages into the past and change the present. It is a visual novel: you read, and choices mostly go through Okabe’s phone (answering a call or a message or not), which decides the ending you get.

What changes from the original

Backgrounds, characters and event art have been redrawn, and portraits are now animated. ZTGD says Huke, the 2009 game’s artist, drew the new art and that the original Japanese cast re-recorded the whole script. The script follows the shortened STEINS;GATE ELITE (2019) version based on the anime (TheSixthAxis, CGMagazine). Spike Chunsoft also announces a new route, the "Gamma Worldline", which was not in the original.

What the reviews say

RPGFan (95/100), ZTGD (9.5/10) and DualShockers (9/10) see it as the best way to experience the story today. TheSixthAxis (8/10) praises the darker new route and the tools that track terms and choices. Hardcore Gamer gives it 4.5/5.

The criticism

CGMagazine (6.5/10) finds the new animated portraits too bright and repetitive, at odds with the story’s tone, and thinks the price is hard to justify next to older versions. Worth Playing (7.8/10) calls it an acceptable but unexciting remake. Purists miss the cuts made in the ELITE script (TheSixthAxis). On PC, ZTGD reports broken fullscreen on ultrawide monitors, a 1080p resolution cap and a save lost to a pre-launch update. RPGFan finds the skip function clumsy.

Prices and languages

As of 11 November 2026, the standard edition costs €59.99 on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and eShop (Switch 2 and Switch). On Steam it is €53.99 instead of €59.99 until 12 November at 8:00 (Paris time). The Digital Deluxe Edition costs €79.99 on the PlayStation Store, where it adds a digital artbook, the soundtrack, concert footage and STEINS;GATE: Octet of Shifting Space (Spike Chunsoft). On Steam it costs €71.99 on sale and includes the artbook, soundtrack and concert, without Octet of Shifting Space. There is no French translation on Steam: English text, Japanese voices.

Who is it for?

Players who read English and want to discover one of gaming’s most acclaimed time-travel stories, and fans curious about the new route. Those who already own the original or ELITE, or who dislike the new art style, have fewer reasons to buy it again at full price.