Koei Tecmo has unveiled The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother, a new mystery-adventure game based on the popular light novel series by Hyuganatsu and Touko Shino. Revealed during the latest Nintendo Direct, the title tasks players with stepping into the shoes of the sharp-witted Maomao. As she navigates the rear palace and the capital's red-light district, players must utilize her signature compounding skills and deductive reasoning to unravel a web of conspiracies surrounding a mysterious figure known as the False Imperial Brother.
The game is slated for a multi-platform release in early 2027, spanning the PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and both the current Nintendo Switch and its successor. This announcement arrives as the franchise experiences a significant expansion across media; while the anime series prepares for its third season premiere this October, the property is also branching out into an original film, The Deceased Empress' Treasure, arriving in theaters this December, and a live-action series currently in development for Amazon Prime Video.
With the third season of the anime split into two cours—the first beginning this October and the second following in April 2027—the game's early 2027 launch window places it right in the middle of the anime's ongoing narrative momentum. Given the shift from the series' traditional episodic mystery structure to an interactive format, it remains to be seen how Koei Tecmo will adapt Maomao's specific investigative process into a cohesive gameplay loop.
