to reinforce what happened on-screen. Tsuchiya wrote Linne's titular theme first around sadness, then as he got to know her better later in development incorporated hopeful elements into the piece. Sara's theme was originally going to use Linne's musical motif, but the team decided it was not working so she instead incorporated elements of "Blood Flow". A soundtrack album was released on September 11, 2019 in Japan, published by Square Enix's music label. The album won in the "Best Album — Soundtrack CD" category during Video Game Music Online's 2019 music awards. Release The game was first announced in February 2019 for a Q2/Q3 release the same year in North America, Europe, and Japan for the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows. The date was eventually announced as August 22; the date was first confirmed for Japan, then as its worldwide release. It was principally released as a digital exclusive, with the Japanese edition coming with several store-exclusive pre-order bonuses. A limited physical release for Switch and PS4 was also produced as a Square Enix store exclusive. While it received a CERO B rating (appropriate for ages twelve and up) in Japan due to a lack of bloody violence, other regions gave it higher ratings due to its dark themes and storyline. A complete guide was released alongside the game in Japan, including full walkthrough instructions and a short story written by Inaba which retold the game's events from the perspective of side characters. This was planned for the main scenario, but clashed with the narrative flow and so was reworked in a written story. The simultaneous release was challenging for the team, creating a pressure that Tokita compared to the hardware limitations he had to face when Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve were being developed. The script was localized by Alexander O. Smith and a team from his translation company Kajiya Productions. Many of the localized terms were chosen as they were the closest English parallel to the concepts, although staff felt the Japanese names may have given different impressions when directly translated. The marketing staff thought the Japanese title Oni no Naku Kuni would be too long and complex for many Western players to remember. Giving themselves a four-syllable limit, the team created the title Oninaki. A demo of the game, featuring the opening hour of its story and a mid-game dungeon area, was released in