, known simply as
When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese
murder mystery dojin soft sound novel series produced by
07th Expansion. The games are built on the
NScripter game engine and are playable on the
Windows operating system. The first game in the series,
Onikakushi-hen, was released on August 10, 2002, and the eighth and final game in the original PC series,
Matsuribayashi-hen, was released on August 13, 2006. While the first four games carried the overall title
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, the next four games were produced under the title
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. A bonus fan disc called
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. In addition to the original series, new
story arcs were created in
manga form and in
video games for the
PlayStation 2 and
Nintendo DS in order to expand upon the story. The original eight PC releases were released in English by
MangaGamer in 2009 and 2010. The series is focused on a group of young friends and the strange events that occur in the rural village of Hinamizawa, where they reside.