Tears of Themis

Tears of Themis is a free-to-play adventure game developed and published by miHoYo (with publishing outside mainland China under Cognosphere, d/b/a HoYoverse). The game was first released in mainland China with Simplified Chinese language in July 2020 for Android and iOS. The Taiwan version, which includes Traditional Chinese voices and text, was released almost a month later, while the Global version, which includes Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English voices (except for English) and text, was released almost a year later.

Gameplay
Tears of Themis has a number of different mechanics. The main story is delivered in a visual novel format. Cases are analyzed through searching the crime scene for evidence, and interrogating NPCs who are involved. Usually, each chapter ends with a trial in court, in which the player must present evidence which proves their defendant innocent.

During each chapter, debates play out in a card battle format using cards collected from the gacha system. Each card has an attribute which changes what cards it is effective against. The three attributes are Intuition, Logic, and Empathy. Cards can be leveled up to increase attribute stats, refined to increase their influence in battle or have their skill proficiency increased. The cards also gain experience through being used in debates.

The romance side of the gameplay is involved through side stories which explore the characterization of the four male leads. Each of the four male leads has at least one personal story chapter. Cards rated SR, SSR and MR also have a story involving the character displayed on them. Similar to Mystic Messenger, the player also receives voice and text messages from them (framed as if they were sent to the player character in-universe).

Voice acting for the entire game is available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in the Global version.

Story
The story of Tears of Themis takes place in the year 2030, in a futuristic setting of the fictional city of Stellis. The player takes the role of an unnamed 24 year-old female defense lawyer at Themis Legal Office (codenamed "Rosa"), as she defends her clients in their various criminal cases. Through these cases runs an overarching mystery over the illegal distribution of a dangerous drug named NXX. The main character joins a secret organization dedicated to solving cases linked to the drug named X-Note, composed of four different bachelors who assist her with various cases, which is where the romantic elements of the story are introduced.

The four male characters are Xia Yan (Chinese: 夏彦; Japanese: 水無瀬夏彦; English: Luke Pearce; Korean: 강혁; Codename: Raven), Zuo Ran (Chinese:左然; Japanese: 左京静真; English: Artem Wing; Korean: 백은후; Codename: Libra), Lu Jinghe (Chinese: 陆景和; Japanese: 和泉景; English: Marius Von Hagen; Korean: 유신우; Codename: King), Mo Yi (Chinese: 莫弈; Japanese: 森月黎; English: Vyn Richter; Korean: 윤노아; Codename: Adjudicator). Along with the MC (Rosa), the four male leads join NXX Investigation Team, a team allowing them to do both confidential legal and underground detective work; in NXX, Luke Pearce (Raven) is a private detective, Artem Wing (Libra) is a top attorney, Vyn Richter (Adjudicator) is a psychiatrist and Marius Von Hagen (King) is the heir of Pax Group.

Development
The worldwide version of the game was in a closed beta period from April to May 2021. A pre-registration period began in June 2021, which gave those who registered early free rewards in game. Over 650,000 players pre-registered. There was a second pre-release campaign counting the number of Twitter followers on the official account, which also gave in-game rewards. It has won the 2022 Pocket Gamer People’s Choice Award.