Malaysian Independent game developer Persona Theory Games has announced a new visual novel: Kabaret, which is based on Southeast Asian myths and folklore.

The game will release in the third quarter of 2022 but there is a demo currently available for Steam. The Malaysian visual novel was showcased at the ID@Xbox Presentation. You can check out the trailer below:

“Experience the dark mysticism of Southeast Asia in an interactive art medium.

Kabaret unfolds through the eyes of Jebat, a cursed boy who is uprooted from his small Penang town to a mystical, violent, and unforgiving monster realm. Astray and lonely in a place of unfathomable cruelty, Jebat confronts monsters both supernatural and human in the Kabaret.

Get to know the wide cast of characters from Southeast Asian myths and interact with them while brewing tea, playing traditional games, and all the while putting your humanity at risk.

Kabaret is a game that doesn’t need to be understood, only to be felt.”

As a fan of visual novels and adventure games, I find Kabaret to be incredibly intriguing. Anyone who’s grown up in Malaysia has either heard a ghost story or lived through one so it’s cool to see all that folklore put into an interactive story-driven experience.

The fact that the art style is based on traditional wayang kulit, just makes it even better.

Kabaret will be available for PC, Mac, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S in the third quarter of 2022. A demo is currently available on Steam.

The fact that it’s releasing on Xbox means that the game could potentially come to Game Pass at some point in the future, but that has yet to be seen.