Maomao Is Coming to Consoles — The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother Launches March 18, 2027

Maomao is packing her satchel. The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother — the first console game based on the hit mystery anime and light novel series — officially launches on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam) on March 18, 2027, developer Gust and publisher Koei Tecmo announced this week. The poison-tasting apothecary is finally getting the adventure game she deserves.

For the uninitiated: The Apothecary Diaries follows Maomao, a sharp-tongued apothecary kidnapped and sold into service in the imperial palace’s rear palace, where she puts her obsessive knowledge of poisons, medicines, and human nature to work solving mysteries. Think Sherlock Holmes by way of historical Chinese court intrigue, with a protagonist whose curiosity is matched only by her complete lack of self-preservation instinct.

The game puts you directly in Maomao’s sandals. Expect a mystery-adventure structure built around investigation: gathering clues, brewing concoctions, interrogating suspicious courtiers, and piecing together palace conspiracies before they turn lethal. Gust — the studio behind the beloved Atelier series — is a natural fit: they have spent decades making alchemy and crafting systems sing, and Maomao’s apothecary work is essentially alchemy with higher stakes and better banter.

The subtitle, The False Imperial Brother, hints at the central mystery — and if the naming is anything to go by, expect the game’s original story to dig into the palace’s tangled family politics, with the ever-mysterious Jinshi presumably hovering nearby being beautiful and suspicious in equal measure.

March 18, 2027 is still a ways out, but the announcement timing makes sense: the anime’s momentum is enormous, and a full console adventure gives fans something substantial to look forward to between seasons. The Switch version is particularly welcome — this is exactly the kind of cozy-mystery experience that thrives in handheld form.

The honest question is scope. Anime adaptations can range from loving original stories to cynical reskins, and Gust’s involvement is the most encouraging sign possible — their track record with character-driven crafting adventures is exactly what this license needs. We will be watching for gameplay reveals as 2027 approaches.

Watch the announcement trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aZx3K7QmWw

Source: Koei Tecmo / Gust announcement (October 2026). The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother launches March 18, 2027 on PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam).

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