The Apothecary Diaries gets a new mystery game for consoles and PC

The Apothecary Diaries gets a new mystery game for consoles and PC. The announcement gives gaming fans a fresh reason to pay attention, with the details coming from the report and its cited source material.

2026-09-09 13:35 EDT by Alex Mateo The Apothecary Diaries : The False Imperial Brother launches in early 2027 for Switch 2, Switch, PS5, PC Koei Tecmo announced during the Nintendo Direct livestream on Wednesday The Apothecary Diaries : The False Imperial Brother , a new game based on Hyuganatsu and Touko Shino 's The Apothecary Diaries ( Kusuriya no Hitorigoto ) light novel series. The company streamed a trailer following the livestream, and it reveals that the game will launch for Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam in early 2027: The company describes the story: Two chains of strange phenomenon and conspiracies are causing chaos throughout the rear palace, red-light district, and streets of the capital. Apothecary Maomao must use every ounce of her intelligence and knowledge to solve the mysteries and unveil the truth behind the False Imperial Brother before it destroys the imperial court. In the game, players control Maomao as she explores, compounds, and investigates to solve mysteries. Hyuganatsu began serializing the story on the "Shōsetsuka ni Narō" (Let's Become Novelists) website in October 2011. Shufunotomo began publishing the novels in print volume with illustrations by Shino in August 2014. Nekokurage launched an ongoing manga adaptation in Square Enix 's Monthly Big Gangan magazine in May 2017. Square Enix Manga & Books is releasing the manga adaptation in English. The company is also publishing the novels in print. The novels are inspiring a television anime . The anime's first season premiered in October 2023 with the first t

What the announcement means

hree episodes, and aired for two cours (quarters of a year). Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan and is also streaming an English dub . The second anime season premiered in January 2025 on Nippon TV 's FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT programming block, and aired for two consecutive cours . Crunchyroll streamed the second season, and it also streamed an English dub . The third season will air on October 2 at 11:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. EDT) in the "Friday Anime Night" programming block on NTV and 29 affiliated channels for its first cours (quarter of a year), and its second cours will premiere in April 2027. The anime also has an upcoming anime film titled Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: Bо̄hi no Hihо̄ ( The Apothecary Diaries : The Deceased Empress' Treasure) that will open in theaters on December 11 and feature a brand-new story by Hyuganatsu . Amazon Prime Video is producing a live-action series adaptation that will stream exclusively worldwide on the service in 2028.

Our opinion

The Apothecary Diaries is a natural fit for a mystery game: Maomao already treats palace intrigue like a particularly irritating workplace problem. The announcement is worth watching because the format could let players investigate at their own pace instead of merely watching her solve everything. The proof will be in the cases, deductions and writing. If the game gives Maomao proper room to be clever, this could be a much better adaptation than a simple fan-service detour.