| STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is the modern remake of the original 2009 visual novel. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Overview
What is STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT?
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is a remake of the 2009 visual novel, STEINS;GATE, with updated visuals, UI, and story. The game follows a group of students who can send messages to the past through a technological invention. Player decisions will determine the fate of the world and its characters. Developer Mages Inc and publisher Spike Chunsoft will bring the game to PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT features:
⚫︎ Brand-New Gamma Worldline Scenario
⚫︎ Redrawn Visuals from Scratch with Character Animations
⚫︎ Newly Recorded Voice Acting
⚫︎ Fully Remade Soundtrack
⚫︎ Modernized User Interface
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
Steam |
||||||
| $59.99 Standard Edition |
$79.99 Deluxe Edition |
||||||
 Switch |
 Switch 2 |
||||||
| $59.99 | |||||||
 Xbox |
 PS |
||||||
| Coming Soon | |||||||
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT Review: Peak Sci-Fi Strikes Again
It’s Steins;Gate, All Over Again
Steins;Gate Re:Boot (or just Reboot) is a new version of a story that has already been told several times. The 2026 release revisits Okabe Rintaro and the Future Gadget Laboratory with a new visual presentation, rewritten and expanded story material, and other changes that set it apart from the original visual novel and Steins;Gate Elite. For someone discovering the series for the first time, this could be the most modern way to experience one of the most well-known visual novels of its era. For longtime fans, however, there is a much bigger question: how much reason is there to experience the same story again?
I have played the original and Elite, so Reboot comes with a difficult standard to meet. I already know Okabe’s eccentricities, the plot twists, the moments that made the original such a memorable visual novel. A new coat of paint, though, can only go so far when the story itself has already been revisited in various forms of media. The real test is whether Reboot gives this classic enough new material to make another trip to Steins;Gate worthwhile.
One of the Best Sci-Fi Stories in Gaming
Huouin Kyouma is a mad scientist. A self-proclaimed genius. A man who claims to be hunted by "the Organization" and spends his days preparing for a coming conflict that only he seems to know is coming. He speaks in grand declarations and treats his tiny laboratory in Akihabara as the headquarters of a conspiracy that could decide the fate of the world.
That is what Okabe Rintaro wants you and the people around him to believe, at least. In truth, he is a chuunibyou (simply put, delusional) with a flair for the dramatic who spends his time in Akihabara with the Future Gadget Laboratory, a small group of friends who make questionable inventions in an equally questionable apartment. One of those inventions is the Phone Microwave, a machine that can send text messages into the past. These messages, known as D-Mails, give Okabe and the others the ability to change events that have already happened.
As you would expect from a story about changing the past, those changes come with consequences.
This is the basic premise of Steins;Gate, and it remains one of the strongest parts of the story. What starts as a goofy slice-of-life-esque narrative about eccentric people messing around with gadgets gradually develops into a time-travel mystery with much, much darker stakes.
The mystery works because the game is very good at making even the tiniest of details matter in the grand plot. Conversations, inventions, seemingly random events, and character quirks can eventually become pieces of a much larger puzzle that they solve later on. Watching those pieces fall into place is still satisfying even when you already know where much of the story is going.
Getting there takes a long time, though. Painfully long, in my case. I consider myself an average reader, and it took me around 20 hours to get through the first half of Reboot. There are scenes I enjoyed along the way, more so when the Future Gadget Laboratory is simply allowed to be a group of weird friends hanging out in Akihabara. The game eventually piles on exposition, with Okabe and the others jumping between concepts that can be difficult to follow, especially when the techno-babble starts to pile up.
This is not a problem that started with Reboot. The original visual novel had the same slow first half, and even the anime adaptation had to make cuts to keep the story moving within its 24-episode runtime. Elite carries much of the original visual novel’s script, so it naturally retains much of that structure as well. Reboot, being based on Elite, follows suit. Mages. has made changes to the script and added new material, yet the larger structure remains the same. After all these versions of the same story, I was hoping Reboot would actually be a reboot and trim some of the fat that halts the pacing, or at least find a way to make certain parts of its first couple of hours more purposeful.
Asking someone to spend 20 hours with a story before it reaches the parts that made it so beloved is a difficult proposition, especially when those early chapters spend so much time on everyday conversations and comedic situations. I understand why those scenes exist. The ordinary life of the Future Gadget Laboratory gives the later parts of the story something to push against. The goofy atmosphere makes the darker developments feel more serious, and spending time with these characters makes their relationships matter when things start to fall apart. I just wish the game could get to that point sooner.
Once the mystery gets moving, however, Steins;Gate shows why its story has remained so well regarded. The time-travel elements are carefully connected, and the game gradually teaches you how its rules work through Okabe's experiences. Events that initially seem unrelated start to make sense as you learn more about the consequences of changing the past. The story does not need to throw a new revelation at you every few minutes. It can take something that happened many hours earlier and give it a new meaning later.
The story's emotional payoff is tied closely to all that time spent with the characters. I cannot get into the specific events without spoiling some of the best parts of Steins;Gate, but the later chapters benefit from how much time the game gives Okabe and the others to exist as a group. By the time their lives begin to change, I had already grown attached to them. I mean, after spending that much time with the Future Gadget Laboratory, it would have been pretty hard not to.
Characters are Trope-y at First, Unforgettable by the End
The characters are probably the part of Reboot that took the most patience from me. A lot of them are introduced through anime archetypes, and those traits can be pretty grating when the game makes use of them too much, especially in its first half. Okabe is the eccentric chuunibyou protagonist; Kurisu is the tsundere; Mayuri is the childhood friend; Daru is the smart otaku pervert; and so on. I did not always like these characters right away. Some of the humor in particular can make them feel like they are being defined by a single trait. The further I got into the story, though, the less those archetypes mattered to me.
Okabe is a big reason for that. He is the heart of the story, and I think Reboot works as well as it does because he is such a distinct protagonist. His Hououin Kyouma persona is probably the easiest part of his character to find annoying at first. The constant theatrics and ridiculous way of speaking are funny in moderation, though I definitely had moments where I just wanted him to tone it down. I eventually came to appreciate it more as I understood Okabe himself.
His relationship with Kurisu is a big part of that. Their back-and-forth initially plays into the ol' tsundere dynamic, complete with plenty of arguing and insults, but I grew to enjoy their conversations more and more as their relationship developed. They have enough time together for the chemistry to feel natural, and I liked how comfortable they eventually become around each other.
Mayuri gives the story a different side of Okabe. Their relationship has an easygoing quality to it, which makes sense given how long they've known each other. Mayuri herself didn't immediately grab me in the same way Kurisu did, since the sweet childhood-friend archetype is pretty well-worn territory. Her place in Okabe's life became increasingly important to me as I spent more time with the two of them, though, and their scenes together are some of the ones that made the cast feel like an actual group of friends.
That group has its weaker links for me. I liked Suzuha, Faris, Luka, and Moeka to varying degrees, and I think some of them are simply more successful than others. Faris can be a lot to deal with, Luka’s storyline gets a little silly with its pseudo-scientific ideas, and Moeka is just really, really sad.
Daru is probably the most hit-or-miss of the bunch. I rolled my eyes with a smile at plenty of his jokes, but the sexual stuff became grating enough that I occasionally wished the game would move on. Nevertheless, they’re a group of characters that have incredible chemistry. There is enough personality in the group that I always had someone whose scenes I was happy to see.
What’s New in Steins;Gate Re:Boot?
Script Tweaks and Fan Service Done Right
So, if Reboot is still telling the same story and the characters are largely the same, what exactly is new? Well, as mentioned, Reboot’s main story is based on Elite. The main plot is still the one I recognize from the original visual novel and Elite, but Mages. has gone back through the script and made revisions to it. There is new dialogue and additional narrative text throughout the game, with the overall scenario expanded considerably. Some of these changes are small enough that you could easily miss them if you aren’t comparing the game directly with its previous versions. Others are much easier to spot, especially when the game starts adding material that assumes you might be familiar with the rest of the Science Adventure series.
There is one particular instance involving Steins;Gate 0 that I think people who have played it, or even just watched the anime, will be very happy with. I cannot say what it is without spoiling the moment, but I definitely appreciated it. The developers have said that they wanted people familiar with 0 to get something extra out of Reboot, and you can feel that in some of these additions.
A New Look That Takes Some Getting Used To
The bigger change is impossible to miss. Reboot completely replaces the look of the original 2009 visual novel. To be quite honest, I had to spend some time getting used to it. The original Steins;Gate has a gritty look that I still prefer in some ways. The colors are less saturated and the artwork is rougher. In comparison, Reboot is much cleaner and brighter, which does take away some of that old aesthetic.
The character designs were probably the part I noticed most. Some characters did not change much, so I had an easier time adjusting to them. Daru is a good example; he’s still pure neck. Mayuri’s redesign gives her a much more girl-next-door look. However, Braun probably has the most noticeable changes to his proportions and facial structure. When you have already spent dozens of hours looking at these characters, it is hard not to compare the new versions to what you remember.
I did eventually get used to them, though. It took me a couple of hours, but the new artwork grew on me. A big part of that is the way the characters move during conversations. Their expressions and poses change dynamically, so scenes do not feel quite as static as they did before.
I eventually got used to the new art once I stopped comparing every character to their old design. I still think the original has a better aesthetic, but I ended up enjoying what Reboot does with its new presentation.
The Gamma Wordline Takes The Story to an Even Darker Place
The new route is a much bigger deal. I knew going into Reboot that there was a Gamma Worldline scenario, although I had never experienced whatever form of it existed before. The version here is an additional route that was not part of the 2009 game, and it gives Moeka a route ending. That was enough to make me curious, but I deliberately did not look too deeply into it before playing. I am glad I did, because I genuinely had no idea when it was going to happen or what it was going to do.
I cannot say much more about this worldline without spoiling other chapters, but I will say that I did not expect it when it happened. I have played the original and Elite. I know this story. There are plenty of times where I knew exactly where things were going in this remake, so having a new route that could actually catch me off guard was nice.
But what’s more impressive is how smoothly it fits into the game. I was worried that something this substantial could end up being an extra scenario that had been bolted onto the original story years later. It does not feel that way. Even knowing that Gamma was not part of the original game, it didn't feel as though the story had to stop so Reboot could show off its new content.
And trust me, the Gamma worldline gets really dark. Much darker than I was ready for, especially considering how far Steins;Gate 0 already takes the series. I would go as far as saying that Gamma is darker than 0, but there is not much I can say about why without giving away the best parts of this route. Let’s just say that Mayuri doesn’t say "Tutturu!"
The Phone Trigger System Is Still Kind of a Pain
If you have played the original game or Elite, you already know what you are getting into with Reboot. You spend most of your time reading through scenes and following Okabe’s increasingly ridiculous life, with the occasional interruption from his phone. There isn’t much here that changes the way you actually play the game, which makes sense considering that Steins;Gate is a visual novel first, so most of the time, you’re just reading.
Sometimes, though, you can take out Okabe’s phone to respond to messages, answer calls, and make certain choices that can affect what you see later. When someone sends Okabe a message, particular words or phrases are highlighted, and clicking on them determines how he responds.
It’s a pretty simple system, but I do get a little annoyed by how limited the text replies can feel. If someone texts Okabe, you don’t actually get to write a response or choose from a list of possible replies. There were a few times when I saw a particular highlighted word in a message and immediately thought of something Okabe could have picked up on, one that would connect the association of two characters, only for the game to give me no way to pursue that thought. Nothing came out of it, and Okabe just writes whatever.
This system isn’t particularly interactive. Most of the messages you receive aren’t going to completely derail the story. A lot of them are there to give you more conversations with the characters, and responding to certain messages can lead to scenes you otherwise wouldn’t see. You might learn something new about a character or get another conversation with them, but the main story generally keeps moving along the same path. Even if you miss one of these scenes, there’s a good chance the information will come up somewhere else.
Some messages matter more than most, particularly some of the conversations with Kurisu. Your responses can influence what ending you’ll get after a certain chapter. The problem is that even Reboot doesn’t always do a good job of telling you when you’re making one of those important messages.
In fact, it can be easy to play the game without realizing that you’re supposed to be doing anything with your phone at all. You get very little indication that a particular message, missed call, or response could matter later. Most of the time, it doesn’t, which makes it even harder to know when you should actually care. You can’t exactly blame the player for treating a random text message like a random text message when the game has spent hours teaching you that most of them are just there for extra character interactions.
One part of the game is even directly tied to this system. Unless you happen to make the right choices by sheer luck, you’re probably going to need a guide to see it.
Is STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT Worth It?
Yes, But It is Competing Against Its Previous Iterations
Steins;Gate is a long visual novel. Very long, actually. With the additions here in Reboot, my playthrough took around 50 hours to complete, and that’s not taking into account the extra hours I spent reloading save files to get all of the endings, which I would graciously add 10 more hours to. Even then, I still found scenes I had missed, particularly because choosing to call one person over another can lead to a completely different scene. There’s a lot of content here, and if you’re planning to get into it for the first time, I don’t think you’ll regret the purchase.
It has one of my favorite sci-fi stories I’ve experienced in a game, and there’s a reason I was willing to spend another 50 hours going through it even after already experiencing the same story in its many forms. I still have my grievances with the pacing, especially during the first half, but that’s a pretty easy thing to put up with when the story eventually gets to where it’s going. Reboot is a good way to experience that story, and its additions give returning players something new to dig into as well.
Is Reboot worth $60? I would say so. However, although I think Reboot is worth buying, especially if you’ve never played Steins;Gate before, due to its many similarities with its previous versions, it is competing for your money against them. In fact, you can get Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate Elite, and Steins;Gate 0 for a little bit over $60, less so if they are on sale, potentially with enough left over for another Science Adventure game.
Even so, after spending another 50 hours with a story I already loved, I can’t exactly complain about getting the chance to fall into this rabbit hole all over again.
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT FAQ
How Long to Beat STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT?
A single playthrough of Steins;Gate Re:Boot can take upwards of 30-60 hours, depending on how much of the game’s content you consume.
Game8 Reviews
