Karous 2 -Ranhansha no Sanguis-/-The Diffused Sanguis- [RS34/TBA]

[m.sniffles.esq]

Hey look, it's Karous!

(probably the most normal trailer rs34 has put out)

Nov 27, 2025. Pre-orders are up at the usual places.

Edit: Another live stream went up. Looks at later levels, bosses, etc

[m.sniffles.esq]

Double post:

Another live stream

They looked very tired, and later confirmed they were very tired (having just had to move from the place I've been for ten years which is on the fifth floor with no elevator, I could relate intimately), but said the game is 90% finished.

In a shocking development, they (finally) acknowledged that people from other countries play these games, and mentioned they were taking steps to be a bit more inclusive (although, stopped short of saying what these steps actually were)

[mojilove]

Speaking of which, 4gamer just published an interview where they basically confirm that Karous is being translated into English!

https://www.4gamer.net/games/946/G094660/20250918044/

Worth reading because the interview covers a lot of other cool topics as well

The question in the interview about catering to a global audience was specifically asking about the steam version, fwiw
The steam version doesn't have a solid release date but I hope it comes out sooner rather than later

Oh, also Karous will be at TGS this year at the back of Konami's booth. There will be an event for Karous on-stage at the booth as well, and it'll be streamed here (I expect the vod will stay up): https://youtu.be/BqqgltuwFSk

[Kiken]

Second trailer just went up for OG Karous:

https://youtu.be/aWlgGgqiNbs?si=niW_inPtdMcK5HgQ

[m.sniffles.esq]

New stream today. Lotsa gameplay

Also, I noticed something very curious among the messages added for the new version

hmmm...

[mojilove]

Also, I noticed something very curious among the messages added for the new version

The messages on the side are all from crowdfunders backing a specific tier, and that's mine! I was wondering when it would pop up, so it's nice to see it - well spotted!


They said they're 99.9% done - looks like the console versions will release without any further delays!

[m.sniffles.esq]

The messages on the side are all from crowdfunders backing a specific tier, and that's mine!

Ohhhh... I forgot about that (I was probably too busy coveting the poster)

Honestly, that's much cooler than the 'gigantic list of names in the credits' that's the norm

[M.Knight]

Move over "mom, I'm on TV!", the new hot meta is "Hey guys, I'm in the RS34 shmup messages!"

IIRC they had a somewhat similar campaign for Karous BOR where people could submit messages, though that one was not tied to crowdfunding.

[m.sniffles.esq]

In case you needed a bird for thanksgiving, Karous is out

($26.75 USD)

Play-asia sent me a shipping notification too. So physicals went out on time

[mojilove]

summary of yesterday's rs34 stream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIBZ4SmwAk):
people have noted various issues with the port, particularly in stage 4. they appreciate players' honest feedback, and they do intend to make it as faithful to the og as they can. they have two patches planned so far
the steam version of karous will be officially announced on dec 8!
supersweep will reissue the "spring rain" soundtrack, and the new arranged soundtrack will also come out on the same day - details tba on dec 8

there's also a 17-minute mix of YCFM on bandcamp - PWYW: https://rs34.bandcamp.com/track/you-can ... a-wavy-dub

also, the booklet with the limited edition release of karous is really good - it makes a lot of things clear and has brand-new information as well. There's also a new drawing of what the player ship looks like - it actually looks like a big crow that's 10 meters tall carrying guns on its back

[m.sniffles.esq]

people have noted various issues with the port, particularly in stage 4

So... What is the issue(s)?
My copy is somewhere in the middle of the pacific. But for the amount of apologizing (I watched about a half-hour of the stream and that seems to be all it is). and them talking about the 'anger' directed at them, one gets the impression that it's pretty severe.

The only thing that's really mentioned specifically is occasionally text-boxes covering gameplay. Which is annoying, sure. But hardly a case for outright rage

[PC Engine Fan X!]

There's the Sega Dreamcast GD-Rom of Karous & Karous LE set with included OST music cd + the all-English patch for it as well (as a reproduction DC CD-Rom release with English text currently sold on Etsy right now).

As it is, the DC GD-Rom of Karous was the very last official DC game to be released by Sega Direct themselves back in 2004 indeed + it has both support for yoko and tate.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[mojilove]

So... What is the issue(s)?

From what I can see on twitter, it looks like a lot of the boss attacks are different to the arcade version. For example, the st 2 boss does not attack from the guns on its rear, making it a lot harder to charge DFS. I'm unfortunately not familiar enough with the OG or wii version to evaluate it myself. The degree of accuracy might also differ between difficulty modes - I had an easy enough time charging DFS on the stage 2 boss when playing in normal mode, but I imagine that the people pointing out differences are playing on hard mode.

There are some other oddities as well - the tutorial segment is absent at the moment and the online leaderboards still have a few bugs despite a day one patch addressing the leaderboards.

There was some commotion on twitter before the stream, and one user/backer got disproportionately angry (imo), so I imagine that is the reason why the stream started in that way

[mojilove]

Steam page is up!!!!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4090420/Karous/

Famitsu says it will be out on January 22, 2026
4180 JPY / 27.50 USD
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202512/60033

The Spring Rain CD is actually being reissued by RS34 themselves, and they'll also release the new arranged CD on Dec 25. 3300 JPY for each one

Also the Illvelo Swamp soundtrack will come to streaming services sometime in mid December

[m.sniffles.esq]

Famitsu says it will be out on January 22, 2026

Obligatory "probably three days before mine shows up" comment

(it's allegedly in the country, but has been sitting in customs for 15 days and counting for some reason)

[locoBro1196]

I just spent some time yesterday and today playing the Nintendo Switch port of Karous.

I still dig this game, but they couldn't have created a more barebones version even if they've tried to do just that...there's practically nothing added to it when compared to the DC or Wii version.
I was half hoping some kind of practice mode where you could adjust the different attack options and then go on to tackle the different stages and subsections/bosses but there's absolutely nothing like that.

The only different is some online ranking which only displays the top 10 scores per difficulty globally but that's about it.

Speaking of which, I've ALL'ed this game **twice** already in Normal difficulty and my score doesn't get recorded even in the local ranking. If I die before completing the game it does, though.
Does anyone know whether this is a bug or a feature of this port? I checked the online manual but it makes no reference to any of this.

Just to be sure, I went back to the DC version, ALL'ed the game and the score was recorded just fine.

I still really like the core game and in the year 2025 of our Lord it still looks and sounds pretty great, but this is a weird and altogether disappointing port.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Speaking of which, I've ALL'ed this game **twice** already in Normal difficulty and my score doesn't get recorded even in the local ranking. If I die before completing the game it does, though.
Does anyone know whether this is a bug or a feature of this port?

It seems odd, so I would report it (info--at--rs34.co.jp). As mentioned above, it released with a lot of bugs

Mine finally arrived today. I'm just going to open tomorrow as an x-mas present, because at this point why not?

[locoBro1196]

It seems odd, so I would report it (info--at--rs34.co.jp). As mentioned above, it released with a lot of bugs

Mine finally arrived today. I'm just going to open tomorrow as an x-mas present, because at this point why not?

Thanks for the tip, I just e-mailed them in Japanese, will wait for their reply. Indeed it sounds like a bug to me, unless there's some weird condition that dictates your 1cc score will
only be registered if you managed to legit beat (no time out) every boss in the game...

Let me know if you have the same issue though. Enjoy the game!

[m.sniffles.esq]

Let me know if you have the same issue though.

I give it a look to see if I can reproduce (even if I just have to hide in the corner, which is possible as it been a few years and I may really suck now. Edit: I haven't had much of a chance to play other than to confirm I do really suck now. And speaking to the bare-bones nature mentioned, while like the original it does have tate, like the original it only swings counter-clockwise instead of also having a clockwise option. You can take a guess which way my switch's monitor swings. It hasn't presented a problem as every other game has the option for both. Well, hasn't presented a problem until today...)

ALSO

It seems a Re-press of the OST and a new pressing of the arranged is now available (even though they don't seem to say, I'm guessing these are on CD as they have 18 and 21 tracks respectively which would be too long for a LP)

Promo Vid

[m.sniffles.esq]

Double post (sorry):

If you want to see some of the english translation that will be included with the Steam version, they showed the opening during their latest live-stream

Personally, I'll double-dip as I'm curious to how the 'official' translation will compare to the dreamcast fan-translation

[mojilove]

The steam page now has English screenshots and a solid release date of jan 22 (steamdb says it'll release at 0800 UTC on that date btw) https://store.steampowered.com/app/4090420/Karous/
The manual can be found on the steam page too: https://store.steampowered.com/manual/4090420

Also, there's a new trailer with captions in both Japanese and English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C7uGDocIcg

it's very close now!

[m.sniffles.esq]

While that trailer seems a little... plain compared to rs34's other trailers, I'm actually into the fact it gives a little primer (in english!). It occurred to me while playing again on switch that the game is pretty unto itself, with really only Radirgy being anything like it. I could see it causing a lot of bewilderment for westerners and/or newbs expecting dodonpachi

[Ms. Tea]

Steam version out now! And we got a confirmation that our very own mojilove worked on the English translation, which is *very* exciting. Looking forward to playing.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Ha! The translation is GREAT
It goes the same route as the fan translation and does the power-up icons and everything (but unlike the fan-translation, doesn't cause any slowdown because of this). However, I didn't understand what people meant when they called this game "pretentious" (I mean, it was a game where a big bird shoots robots, how could that be pretentious?) until I played the fan-translation and read the text, which was this pseudo-poetic nonsense all delivered with this oh-so-dire tone.

The text in this translation has a MUCH different tone. It's... funny.

(like some things made me laugh out loud and fuck up)

[mojilove]

It is a moody game with some very evil characters and awful things going on (on top of the many shades of grey in the visual design), though on the other hand it also has spam messages trying to sell you "Relox" watches and silly things like that
I hadn't seen the fan translation before, but looking at a video I can see what they were aiming for with it. There's more than one way to do a translation
Still, I'm glad you enjoy the text in the Steam version!

[m.sniffles.esq]

Yeah, no disrespect to the fan-translation, which I thought did a really good job (despite the added slowdown, probably because they had to go in and redraw all the power-up sprites)

There's more than one way to do a translation

To cite an obvious example, a bunch of years ago I read an interview with the novelist Haruki Murakami who attributed all of his success in the west to the fact that he was lucky enough to be personal friends with the guy who did his English translations. Therefore, he could not just translate the words, but the overall tone.

As a Russian guy told me many years ago "English speakers don't realize Fyodor Dostoevsky is a really funny dude"

[m.sniffles.esq]

Double post (but I thought this should be topped, as some people may be interested)

In the good news/bad news dept, the latest live-stream definitively stated that Karous 2 will NOT be RS34's next release (bad news)

BUT, it was strongly alluded that the next release would be something entirely new, and not connected to a Milestone title

At least personally, this is good news. After Radirgy 2, they took that "What should we do next?" survey, and my answer was:

"Selfishly, I want Karous 2, since Radirgy 2 is so good. However, I have a feeling you're probably itching to do something completely new, and I'm 100% okay with that. As it would be exciting to play something with no preconceived notions, or any idea what I'm getting myself into"

[mojilove]

iirc they said it wasn't a new game either. they hope to release whatever it is by the end this year, and they said they'll give more information in spring

sorry to let you down (I'd also be really excited for a completely new series if they are up for it) - maybe the youtube auto-translate did a classic inversion of meaning by omitting the "not"

[m.sniffles.esq]

Ah, okay. I mean, Karous 2 not being next was reiterated several times, so I knew I got that right.
The second part, he was kind of talking around the subject--and with google translate indeed being wonky--I was doing some deducing. Incorrect deducing, as it turns out. Sherlock Holmes, I ain't.

[mojilove]

steam leaderboards are live now - you can see past the first 10 entries here: https://steamcommunity.com/stats/409042 ... s/18266008
a dev said on the message board that they are keeping the 10-entry caps for the in-game leaderboards to mimic the arcade experience
looks like the scores in the steam leaderboards have been divided by 10 - you need to multiply the score value by 10 to get the actual score

Also, it looks like the WR holder Eiden has got 4.4 billion in the hard mode leaderboard. that's very close to the 4.6 billion run with no bullet converter usage as featured in the recently released Madness Of Tha World DVD

The announcement says they are working on other improvements as well. i'll try to remember to keep you updated here