Protect every narrative choice and character voice with expert translations. Our specialists ensure your story remains impactful for every international player.
Visual novels are closer to literature than most games. There is no gameplay to distract from weak writing. Every line of dialogue, every internal monologue, and every character reaction carries the full weight of the story. If the localization does not hold up as prose, readers feel it on every screen.
MarsTranslation assigns visual novel projects to translators who treat the script as a reader before they touch it as a translator. The story has to make sense to them first. Then they write it for someone else.
Years in the Game Industry
Game Translators
Project Managers
Voice Actors
DTP Specialists
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Languages
Our localization covers every player-facing text element in your project, including:
Romance and Dating Simulation Visual NovelsMystery and Thriller Visual NovelsHorror Visual NovelsScience Fiction and Fantasy Visual NovelsSlice of Life Visual NovelsOtome and Reverse Harem Visual NovelsKinetic and Linear Visual NovelsHybrid Visual Novel and Role-Playing Game TitlesScript Analysis and Character Voice Documentation
Assigning a Literary Translator
Translation as Literary Adaptation
Full Script Consistency Review
File Delivery and Ongoing Update Support
Script Analysis and Character Voice Documentation
Assigning a Literary Translator
Translation as Literary Adaptation
Full Script Consistency Review
File Delivery and Ongoing Update Support
We offer visual novel translation into 230+ languages, including:
Our visual novel had five routes and each heroine had a completely distinct way of speaking. Keeping that distinct across the full English localization was the thing we were most concerned about. MarsTranslation built a voice document for each character before starting and when we read the translated scripts, every character still sounded like themselves. That was the outcome we needed.
Keiko Tanaka, Producer
Visual novel readers who speak both languages will compare your localization to the original line by line. We knew that going in and it made us cautious about who we trusted with the project. MarsTranslation assigned a translator who had read visual novels in both languages for years and it showed. The community reception was the strongest we had seen for any of our releases.
Alex Hartmann, Founder
Our mystery visual novel had several plot-critical lines where the exact wording carried hidden meaning that only became clear much later in the story. We were worried those would either get translated too literally and lose the subtlety, or too freely and break the reveal. MarsTranslation handled every one of them correctly and our readers praised the localization specifically for how those moments landed.
Isabelle Moreau, Creative Director
We added two new routes after the original release and needed them to feel consistent with the existing English localization. MarsTranslation still had our character voice documents on file and the new routes slotted in seamlessly. Readers who had played the original said they could not tell the new content had been done separately. That kind of continuity is exactly what we were after.
Ryan Ng, Studio Director
Visual novels are among the most text-intensive projects in game localization. Script length varies widely from short kinetic novels to sprawling multi-route titles with hundreds of thousands of words. Projects start from $0.88 per word. Send us your script and we will have a detailed estimate back within 24 hours.
This is one of the most common questions we receive for visual novel localization and a fair one. Honorifics, speech registers, and Japanese-specific address forms are handled based on the tone and setting of each title. Our translators document their approach during the read-through phase and discuss it with you before translation begins. The goal is always a decision that serves the story in the target language.
Every character gets a voice document during the read-through phase before translation begins. That document covers speech register, formality, recurring phrases, and emotional range. The translator uses it throughout and a second linguist checks consistency against it during the full script review. Long scripts are handled in phases with consistency cross-checks between each phase.
Yes. We keep all character voice documents and terminology on file. New routes and content additions are assigned to the same translator where possible and always handled against the same reference materials. The aim is that readers cannot tell where the original localization ends and the new content begins.
We work with most visual novel engine formats including Ren'Py script files, KiriKiri and Kirikiri2 formats, .csv, .xlsx, and custom text formats. Files come back integration-ready, formatted exactly as they went in.
MarsTranslation is an ISO-certified translation services provider that helps the world's leading brands transform their content in 230+ languages. Get Localization, Interpretation, Proofreading and more.
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