Higurashi mahjong spin-off Jong gets a 2027 remaster
City Connection is reviving the 2009 mahjong spin-off for PS5, Switch and PC, with its PSP-exclusive mode and an original scenario supervised by Ryukishi07.
One of the stranger corners of the Higurashi franchise is coming back. City Connection has announced Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong REMASTER, a revival of the mahjong spin-off, for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, with a Japanese release set for 2027.
What's actually going on
The original was a Japanese adventure game released in 2009, and a PSP edition followed later that year carrying content the other versions never had. The remaster keeps that material and adds more: three game modes, an original scenario supervised by Higurashi creator Ryukishi07, and post-game bonus content including a gallery of audio dramas and guest illustrations.
The headline mode is Oyashiro Mode, in which Keiichi Maebara and his friends play one-on-one mahjong with the tragedy of Hinamizawa hanging over every hand. Club Mode lightens the stakes with friendlier matches, different character combinations and penalty games, and both modes hand players cheats to tilt the table. The PSP-only Club Mode Extra: Paikuzushi Chapter also returns, unlocking reward cutscenes for anyone who wins their way through it.
The announcement trailer confirms the three platforms and the 2027 window. The release supports Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, and City Connection is publishing and developing it, with the game credited to Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion.
Why you should care
The Higurashi visual novels spent years as a fan-translation project before reaching the West properly, and the spin-offs have travelled even more slowly. A remaster with Japanese and Chinese text but no English is that pattern repeating: the strangest and most specifically Japanese entries in a beloved horror series staying locked to the audience the joke was written for.
Our opinion
There is something on-brand about a franchise built on paranoia and small-town murder having a mahjong spin-off, because mahjong is already a game about not trusting the person across the table. Keeping Ryukishi07 on the original scenario is the detail that lifts this above a re-release, since his best writing is about ordinary social rituals turning lethal, and a mahjong club room is exactly that. The disappointment is the language list. Every trailer, line of text and follow-up discussion will be in Japanese, and the players who made the main-series remasters worthwhile are going to be watching from outside the room again.