Disaster Report 4 Is Out Now After A 9 Year Wait

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories has finally released in the west. The game has had a strange, fascinating journey to store shelves, and its release is significant because of how long fans of the series have been waiting for it.

Disaster Report 4 is set in the aftermath of a natural disaster in Japan. It was originally scheduled for a March 10, 2011 PS3 release, but was delayed until later that year. Then, on March 10, the Tohoku Earthquake hit Japan, causing an enormous tsunami that caused over 15,000 deaths and displaced over 200,000 people. In the wake of this tragedy, the game was cancelled.

In 2014, Granzella acquired the rights to the Disaster Report series and began work, yet again, on a fourth game in the series, this time for the PS4. The new game was created from the ground up, and eventually released in Japan in 2018. It wasn't until January 2020 that a release date for the west was nailed down.

It's only the third game in the series to get an English language release, after the first Disaster Report (2003) and its sequel Raw Danger! (2007), both for the PS2. The third game in the series released in 2009 for the PSP, in Japan only. This makes it the first game in the series to release in English in 13 years. There are scenarios in the final game that were designed in collaboration with the Kobe City Fire Bureau.

Funnily enough, the game has released in the west amid yet another calamity (the COVID-19 pandemic), albeit not a natural disaster. It's not the only strangely timely game release; the Resident Evil 3 remake opens with a news report on a brutal pandemic (in this case, a zombie uprising).

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories is available on PS4, Switch, and PC now.