Koei Tecmo and Gust have locked in March 18, 2027, for The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother across PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and Steam worldwide. The announcement arrives with a fresh trailer spotlighting Maomao as a literal cat for rooftop snooping and Jinshi leveraging his court rank for otherwise unreachable testimony. What began as a half-joking "Atelier Maomao" pitch from TOHO has become a proper mystery-adventure hybrid that leans on Gust's ingredient-gathering roots while adding deduction sequences and multi-character exploration.

Premium editions in Japan climb as high as ¥25,960 for the Special Premium Box stuffed with an art book, poster, pill case, notebook, and medication case. Standard physical and digital copies start at ¥8,580, with a Digital Deluxe adding costume packs for Maomao and Jinshi. Early buyers through March 31, 2027, receive the Apothecary's Starter Kit bonus. New characters Yanxi and Chenhan join the roster with dedicated voice work from Yumi Uchiyama and Takahiro Miyamoto.

The game follows an original story supervised by series author Hyuganatsu, pitting Maomao against the Five Mysteries inside the rear palace and the Five Curses rippling through the capital. Exploration feeds synthesis and evidence collection; once clues stack up, players move into multiple-choice deduction phases that echo the light novel's forensic logic. Community chatter on X and Reddit frames it as "Atelier meets Ace Attorney," with fans already pre-ordering the collector boxes and demanding day-one cat-mode playthroughs.