The game takes place in a typical Japanese city, where everything starts off seemingly ordinary. Then a massive earthquake strikes and devastates the city. The player takes control of one person and must navigate the wreckage of what was once their home to survive and possibly help others survive as well.
That last part is a key element of Disaster Report games: players’ choices, from deciding who needs help to figure out how to help, determine which NPCs survive, how — and if — the player’s own character survives, and what ending the player sees.
Each situation requires the player to stop and think how they should approach whatever danger they’re facing. Those can range from massive fires to collapsing buildings and completely altered landscapes, many of which can take place spontaneously, completely without warning.
The scenarios players encounter are inspired by both real-life events and the potential for what could happen in similar situations, and many of the challenges were developed in coordination with the Kobe City Fire Bureau.
The above trailer gives a glimpse of a handful of challenges the game has in store, as well as a few instances of how players can interact with NPCs during and after disaster strikes.
If the series name sounds familiar, that’s because the West isn’t a complete stranger to Disaster Report. The first game released on the PlayStation 2, though the second and third were never localized. Disaster Report 4 was originally planned for the PlayStation 3 and ended up scrapped, but got a remake for the PS4 and is now being ported to other platforms for a Western release.
Currently, Disaster Report 4’s release date is just a vague 2020, but pre-orders will be open soon on NISA’s website
