[UPDATE] Chaos;Head Noah Seemingly Banned on Steam; No Comments from Spike Chunsoft Yet

So, this is kind of awkward. The upcoming localized release of Chaos;Head Noah by publisher Spike Chunsoft has seemingly been preemptively banned on Steam before release.

We were informed of this development yesterday but chose not to report on it since there have been no official comments from Spike Chunsoft yet. The reason this occurrence has even been found is due to changes within the game’s Steam Database page. I do not understand the specifics of what has led to this conclusion, but apparently, assets have been made public, which has only happened in cases where bans are in place. Enough reputable visual novel community members have stated that this Chaos;Head Noah Steam ban is legitimate for us to decide to report on it. The title has also been added to a Google Sheets document listing all banned Steam games that are primarily visual novel-related in nature.

We will update this article if Spike Chunsoft makes an official comment. Chaos;Head Noah is currently set to release for Nintendo Switch as part of the Chaos;Head Noah / Chaos;Child Double Pack on October 7, 2022.

It seems like the Chaos;Head curse is still going strong, even with a localization on the way. This Science Adventure entry has received the most negative reception from the general republic because of a not-so-great anime adaption, so I was hoping that this visual novel localization would mend its image. Alas, it’s going to be a tougher battle than initially expected.

Several visual novels have been banned on Steam, with perhaps the most notable case being Full Metal Daemon Muramasa. Valve just seems to hate this genre for whatever reason. It’s rather shameful.

UPDATE 8/18/2022: The game’s Steam Database page has been updated, potentially implying that work for this port may not have stopped. Spike Chunsoft has still not shared any comments. In the past, titles that have been banned on Steam tend to apparently not be updated once their assets are preemptively released, so everything’s up in the air right now.

Chaos;Head Noah / Chaos;Child Double Pack is releasing for Nintendo Switch in the West on October 7, 2022.

Chaos;Head Noah / Chaos;Child Double Pack is a physical release of the collection that includes both games, a Steelbook, and the lingerie DLC. Regarding this, the official website states that the fictitious waifu, Seira Orgel, will not adorn her lingerie costume DLC for the North American and European releases.

Chaos:Head Noah can be seen as the director’s cut version of the original Chaos;Head which was a PC-only release in Japan. Noah added character routes and released for several consoles in Japan. Unfortunately, no edition of Chaos;Head has ever received an official localization.

Chaos;Child is a visual novel taking place 6 years after Chaos;Head Noah, focusing on a new group of protagonists. This title did receive an official English localization from publisher PQube on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and by publisher Spike Chunsoft on PC via Steam.