Magical Girls Yuri Visual Novel ‘Lock and Key’ Demo Will Be Available Next Month

During Studio Élan’s presentation Élan Festival 2022, the “girls loving girls” game developer and publisher announced a Lock and Key demo is coming soon. It’ll be possible to get a little hands-on experience on the mahou shoujo-inspired visual novel through Steam and itch.io in June, 2022.

Lock and Key tells the story of two women, Sherri and Kealey Cohen, whose marriage happened after over a decade of leaving behind their life as magical girls. However, when everything seemed to be heading into the couple having a normal life, mysterious murders force them into going back to their old job.

By investigating the case, past, present and future will be connected. Sherri and Kealey won’t be alone in the adventure, having the help of their old friend Nina and the newbie magical girl Ruby in their investigations. Depending on the player’s choices, different paths and endings will be unlocked, affecting the fates of all these girls.

When it comes to their personalities, Sherri is a very logical and tough individual with clairvoyance powers, being considered a Sherlock of sorts in her new private eye job. However, she also has a caring, soft side only Kealey is allowed to see. On the other hand, the shapeshifting Kealey wears her heart on her sleeve, loving life to her fullest at all times and being a wonderful person to hang with.

Nina Alencar is bright, bubbly and has devoted herself to a pop celebrity life. Nowadays, she’s considered Chicago’s favorite daughter and the most use she gets out of her teleportation powers is to avoid some annoying paparazzi. Last but not least, we have Ruby Thompson, also known as Nightshade, who works as a creature of the night and tries to blend into shadows. However, her edgy personality is a mask to hide her insecurities.

Lock and Key is illustrated by milkgrrl and its original soundtrack is composed by Sarah Mancuso. Besides the points mentioned above, it’s important to keep in mind the story has the theme “what does it mean to be a magical girl?”. What this probably means is that it evaluates how their existence would impact reality as we know it, but it may also have more personal implications to all the main girls.

Check out the new trailer:

We’ll let you know as more information on Lock and Key is revealed by Studio Élan in the future.