Ciconia no Naku Koro ni

Ciconia no Naku Koro ni (キコニアのなく頃に) is the fifth installment of the When They Cry franchise written by Ryukishi07 and produced by 07th Expansion. It serves as the spiritual successor and. Unlike the previous When They Cry works, Ciconia no Naku Koro ni takes place in a more open environment, a departure from the isolated locations of Hinamizawa and Rokkenjima. It follows the Gauntlet Knights, a group of human superweapons that struggle to maintain the balance of world peace.

Gameplay
The narrative of the story is advanced using a Doomsday Clock, a symbol indicating the "minutes to midnight" as the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe.

Story
Ciconia no Naku Koro ni takes place after the end of World War III. It follows the Gauntlet Knights – young people trained to use a powerful new military technology called the Gauntlet who have become the sole military force of every major nation. The Gauntlet Knights have maintained peace across the world; however the onset of a fourth world war throws their lives into jeopardy.

Development
The game was first announced by 07th Expansion on December 30, 2016. Concurrent with the 07th Expansion Party "5" event on April 1, 2017, the official 07th Expansion website was updated with a teaser image depicting the Dubai skyline with a feather in the foreground. On July 14, 2018, 07th Expansion announced that the game was to be released alongside Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku in the winter of 2018. On November 29, 2018, 07th Expansion delayed the release date to the summer of 2019 and released a teaser trailer revealing the official name Ciconia no Naku Koro ni. At Sakura-Con 2019, Ryukishi07 and video game publisher MangaGamer announced that they would release the game for Microsoft Windows, simultaneously in English and Japanese, coinciding with Summer Comiket 2019 on August 9, 2019. In July 2019, however, 07th Expansion announced that the game had been delayed until late September 2019. Witch Hunt released a demo version of the game in order to test the scripting engine. A second demo, containing two additional data fragments (Ciconia's version of the TIPS system), was released on September 27. Phase 1 of the game was later delayed to October 4, 2019, coinciding with the first in-universe day of.

During the 07th Expansion Party stream on November 11, 2020, it was announced at Phase 2 of Ciconia no Naku Koro ni would be indefinitely delayed due to concerns over the subject matter and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trivia

 * "Ciconia" is the Latin name for storks.