Visual novels haven’t really caught on in North America and other regions like they have in Japan. The genre, which is a bit like playing a video game choose-your-own-adventure novel, is quite popular overseas, but the so far the Phoenix Wright games are the only ones to find success outside Japan.

Hopefully, that will change with Ignition’s decision to bring Marvelous and Killaware’s Lux-Pain to the US. The company has been taking quite a few chances on niche games lately, and Lux-Pain is quite possibly the perfect title to help introduce US gamers to visual novels. With a dark, deep storyline with multiple endings, different means to progress the adventure and gorgeous anime-style visuals, Lux-Pain will provide a very different game experience and hopefully find a place for itself…

Guess what? Europe is finally getting games before North America. Lux-Pain is a good example – it came out in Europe at the beginning of November, 2008 (thanks to Rising Star Games), but it won’t be coming to the US until sometime in March, 2009. Of course, we should be thankful that Ignition Entertainment decided to pick it up, because before Ignition stepped in, it looked like the US wouldn’t be getting Lux-Pain at all.

Lux-Pain stars Atsuki, a young man who had a Lux-Pain put into his left arm so that he can find and remove parasitic worms called Silent from people. If Silent is left in a person, that person will become a criminal, doing horrible things to those around them. It is up to Atsuki to save Kisaragi City from the Silent and find out why these creatures are there…