Look, let's be honest, the planning behind the new mystery game based on The Apothecary Diaries, unveiled on September 9, is quite a tale. It all started when Producer Onishi, a huge fan of Gust—the studio behind the Atelier series—thought, "An Atelier game starring Maomao would be bloody brilliant," and reached out to Koei Tecmo Games.

Koei Tecmo Games hosted a developer talk stage for The Apothecary Diaries ~The False Emperor~ on September 17 at Tokyo Game Show 2026. This game was announced during the Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 9 as the very first console game for The Apothecary Diaries, falling squarely into the mystery adventure genre. It is a joint effort between Gust, famously known for the Atelier series, and Toho's gaming division, Toho Games.

Director Takinami Akari from Koei Tecmo Games and Producer Onishi Takayuki from Toho took to the stage to dish out all the juicy details and behind-the-scenes secrets of development. The original story of The Apothecary Diaries follows Maomao, a young woman who used to work as an apothecary in the red-light district before getting kidnapped and dragged into the inner court. There, she ends up solving various incidents and getting tangled up with the striking eunuch Jinshi. It is a courtly drama sprinkled with mystery, starting as a web novel before exploding in popularity with manga and anime adaptations.

The Apothecary Diaries ~The False Emperor~ is built directly on this foundation. The game unfolds with an original story dealing with five mysteries. Maomao has to crack 'five mysteries' that pop up not long after becoming a servant in the inner court, such as a faceless eunuch, a warehouse lamenting every night, and clothes stained red overnight. Maomao takes on an investigation commissioned by Jinshi and gets sucked right into the thick of it after spotting a masked emperor.

Along the way, the player runs into Ganyu, a wandering troupe actor who serves as an original character for the game. Ganyu oozes confidence while up on stage, but turns painfully timid the moment Ganyu steps down. Ganyu is such a different person on and off stage that nobody would ever guess they are the exact same individual. Other major supporting characters from the original work, like Xiaolan and Gaoshun, also show up. Gameplay is neatly split into exploration and deduction phases, making active use of Maomao's brewing abilities.

Right at the tail end of the stage, the origin story of this whole project was brought to light. Producer Onishi from Toho confessed that as an anime production company, Toho had been mulling over game development for ages without much progress. Then, the thought popped right into Producer Onishi's head: "An Atelier game starring Maomao would be brilliant." After getting in touch with Koei Tecmo Games through connections, Producer Onishi received an enthusiastically positive response to team up right away.

Producer Onishi has always been a massive fan of Gust, while Director Takinami from Koei Tecmo Games is also a devoted fan of the original source material, remarking that hearing the pitch felt like shouting, "It's finally here!" To properly capture the charm of the original work, both sides zeroed in on Maomao's distinct personality. Maomao's signature trait—gathering information cautiously and only speaking up when absolutely certain—has been baked straight into the gameplay. As for the narrative, the team decided against a spin-off or a 'what-if' scenario, opting instead to tackle the hidden backstories and gaps between the main events, carefully adjusting everything to avoid any lore clashes with the original work.