itch.io

Right now we have no plans to bring it to Android, but we'll definitely look into the options. We'd like it to be on as many platforms as possible. Our first adventure, Murder on the Marine Express, is available for Android on both Itch and Google Play.

Hi everyone!

The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express is finally out in the wild! We at 1564 Studio are so happy about launching our very first visual novel. We hope you enjoy the thrill and leave your impressions about this humble mystery adventure.

Murder on the Marine Express is a visual novel game and the first installment of The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa series.

The St. Joachim Academy for elite girls booked the maiden voyage of the new Marine Express submarine train, which runs along the ocean floor from the sunny California all the way to the Japanese coast. The journey seems to be the perfect opportunity to enjoy the beautiful underwater views, learn a bit more about marine biology and, ultimately, relax from the usual school life. However, the idyllic travel turns into a nightmare when one of the accompanying teachers is found dead in his room. Who could have killed the most popular and beloved professor in the academy?

Ranko Togawa, a grumpy student but with a great sense of responsibility, decides to investigate the events accompanied by her friend Astrid to clear the name of the main suspect in the case. Of course, it won't be that simple. As the number of victims keeps growing, the possibility of facing a serial killer becomes more real and chaos slowly takes over the train. Ranko shall make the most of her time to find out the truth and prevent the mysterious murderer from continuing to act unrestricted, though not all the answers in this mess will be to her liking…

Learn the secrets hidden in the Marine Express and find the culprit in this story of tragedy, surprises and lots of humor!

The game is available in English and European Spanish but we are working on getting it translated to more languages, so expect more news on that in the near future. Also, it looks like PC and smartphones won't be the only platforms for the game... but let's leave that talk for another time.

We hope you grow fond of Ranko, Astrid and all the other characters aboard the Marine Express and take the challenge of finding the culprit before the story ends. It will be quite the ride, we promise!

Please remember to follow us on social media to be up to date with our news. We'll distribute some digital goodies in the following days, so don't miss out.

Thank you and keep well!

Thank you so much!! Hope to bring some news about the launch date pretty soon, it won't be a long wait. :D

No romance, pal. Just MURDER. >:D

Wow, thank you VERY much for your comments and your gameplay video! That really made our day, your narration was so much fun. (lol)

Would you let us share it on our social media accounts? Like, pretty please?

The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express

Hi everyone,

Our team 1564 Studio is working on a new mystery visual novel for multiple systems and we just launched a demo for it ahead of the real launch this year. The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express is a pixel art adventure where titular student Ranko Togawa must solve a murder aboard a submarine train, following the style of classic sleuth adventures and locked-space whodunit novels.

Please check the project at our page on itch.io: https://1564-studio.itch.io/marine-express

Any feedback is much appreciated. Hope you like it!

Hi!
Thank you so much for playing our demo. <3
You can leave any comments right here, but if you are thinking on leaving a long and detailed feedback to help improving the game, maybe it's better to write an email to hitogoroshistudio@gmail.com. Spanish is totally fine too!

Hi there!

We'd like the game to be in as many languages as possible so everyone could enjoy the story regardless of where they are from. Therefore, we are studying the best way to do so in order to ensure professional translations and a fair remuneration for the people who worked on them. We can't accept your offer right now but we're very glad for it, so we'll keep that in mind for the future. Thank you!