Higurashi – When They Cry

Higurashi - When They Cry

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa (based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site),which has a population of approximately 2,000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.

190 comments on “Higurashi – When They Cry

  1. I couldn’t have the download link working, it just does the whole countdown and then disappears without leaving any links, any suggestions?

  2. Help! Can someone explain me why there are so many higurashi titles in this page? Do I need to download all in order to have the complete experience of the game? Do I need to put all in the same folder? How does this work? Thanks

    1. In this page you can download the original SN (Sound novel) volumes of Higurashi, and download the remake versions of steam (wich are ugly).

      In order to fully complete the “experience” there are 2 ways to go:

      1st one is playing the original ones, wich were being released on the Comikets and contain all the “important” things of the story. You can check out the release order to read it on Wikipedia or the VNDB.
      This includes Higurashi Hou (PC), wich if I’m not wrong it’s a single release that contains all the original SN plus a new plot arc writted by the creator of Higurashi.

      2nd is buying Higurashi Hou (Switch / PS4). This is a “comercial” version of Higuashi that was made in colaboration with Entergram, Inc. It is fully voiced, contains CG artworks, “Better” sprite resources with lip-sync, opening videos for almost each plot arc, and includes plot arcs wich were released before as manga, or in another not complete adaptations of the series (counting a couple of fanservice plot arcs from higurashi Kira, an anime wich goes at the end of the main story and it’s just fanservice)

      So, to resume: the original SN are the important matter. The Remake VN have the important things and extras, and can contain some spoilers on their opening videos.

      PD: The steam versión is ugly looking and working as I have read on forums, but there are patches made by the community that can fix those problems and make a better reading experience.

  3. hey can you give us a quick tutorial on how to install this? i get everything in the folder but it doesnt open

  4. Does anyone know if there’s an english patched version of Higurashi Kizuna (the DS port) or Matsuri (the PS2 VN) floating around anywhere?

  5. ok, I downloaded it and everything, but it’s only giving me the first 3 chapters. Chapter 4 seems to be missing? Or do I have to play through them all to unlock chapter 4? Please help, I don’t know what wrong.

  6. when i try to download higurashi the download always fails and tells me there was a network error. it does this with umineko too

  7. Im curios but where can I get the VA for this version or will I go having to look all over the place for it or is there no VA’s on this version like ive heard?

  8. Part two isn’t working for me-
    It says it’s broken…
    Anyway to fix that? I’m redownloading it but I don’t know if it’ll work.

  9. It always says that i need to wait 3 minutes and 33 seconds, but i didnt download anything recently…

  10. Hi ^^; This might sound annoying, but I was wondering about these downloads and the fact that they look free, but you also provided a link to another site where you could buy the game. If I download this game free, will I not have all the content or will I be optionally pirating it, or…?

    1. Yes, all the games posted here are 100% free. “Buy the game” links, as in description, are optional if you liked the free ( pirated ) version of the game and want to support game creator company afterwards.

  11. I downloaded it but I have to idea how to open it. It has given me a choice from windows media player, winRaR archiver, adobe reader 9.1, internet explorer, kingsoft powerpoint and a few others. I have tried the first 3 and they didnt work. I tried another and it didnt even open to tell me that it isnt working. im soooo fed up can someone please tell me what to use to open it. thanks

    1. Well, I doubt you’re still checking up on this, but if you are, you have to use 7-zip, winrar, or a similar application to unarchive the .rar files.

      Just look up how to unarchive .rar’s on google.

  12. I really need a quick tutorial on this, it just wont let me download them. Keeps saying its generating but nothing happens.

  13. I’m downloading this since the one I have contains only the first 3 arcs and I want to play it all soon.Still,thanks a lot for the downloads 😀

  14. I really want to play (read?) this but am having problems downloading it – every time I try extracting the part files I keep getting “File is Broken” so nothing works – what do I do?

  15. 1st, click on the \DA-Free: Game Download\ then click on Higurashi part1. On the next page that will appear, dont click on the Big \Download normal\ or \Download Premium\ buttons. Click on the \tel?chargement libre\ button (it means free download in french.) Next page that appears, write the captcha thingy and wait 120 seconds then click on the \creent le lien de tel?chargement\. Your download should start not long after you did that. Do the same thing for higurashi part2. I hope i helped.

    1. I tried that just now and the thing said my download was generating but it never started downloading. Do hope the PS2 patch will be up soon.

  16. it says i have to download it using ilivid ? and it’s not working because i have i livid and it keeps on telling me to download i livid witch i already have installed ? so please help me :(?

    1. Then you’re clicking the wrong link, you do not need livid to use this, check to make sure you have the right link, it should not have a tiny blue arrow in the corner of it.

  17. I seem to not be able to download the games,it says that I can’t since its over 200 MB and the site says i’m not allowed.

    Help please?

  18. The grammar is so bad, it gets on my nerves. It’s as if it was Google Translated, but I know it’s difficult to translate a Visual Novel. I just really loved the anime, and was a bit disappointed in the grammar here. The font is also pretty irritating, and I hate how you can’t adjust the size or color. I enjoy reading the VN version, though, it’s OK.

    I like the mystery the most, but I was also a bit disappointed in the absence of cutscene art. I was kind of looking forward to at least a bit of gore/blood.

    It’s interesting, but I was definitely expecting more. The drawings are also annoying, but I don’t want to get the PS2 patch, because the character’s seem to really lack expression. I want to be able to see their emotions…without the oversized hands.

    I’m in the middle of the 2nd timeloop, and I’ve noticed the second arc seems to have more difference from the anime than the first one. It’s a lot more interesting to read.

    1. The grammar is so bad, it gets on my nerves. It’s as if it was Google Translated, but I know it’s difficult to translate a Visual Novel, so I don’t want to be too bothered by it. I just really loved the anime, and was a bit disappointed in the grammar here. The font is also pretty irritating, and I hate how you can’t adjust the size or color. I enjoy reading the VN version, though, and it’s OK.

      I like the mystery the most, but I was also a bit disappointed in the absence of cutscene art. I was kind of looking forward to at least a bit of gore/blood.

      It’s interesting, but I was definitely expecting more. The sprites also irritate me, but I don’t want to get the PS2 patch, because the sprites seem to really lack expression. I want to be able to see their emotions…without the poor anatomy.

      I’m in the middle of the second timeloop, and I’ve noticed the second arc seems to have more difference from the anime than the first one. It’s a lot more interesting to read.

  19. So I downloaded the game, works, but I can’t get past the selection page. I hit Start and then these things pop up, I click yes but the last one I click yes but it just keeps popping up and I can’t get past it.

  20. do you get to make choices in this vn or do you just click enter and watch the story….? Also is the second arc scary in the vn??? I’m waiting for my download…. it’s taking forever…

  21. I am wondering if this is a problem with my extractor, and where I could get one that works.
    I can download the files fine, but when I try to extract them the part1 stops half way through and says it can’t be extacted and part2 won’t extract at all.

    I was also wondering if you need the original game to use this patch?

    Any help please?

    1. Use WinRAR and Daemon Tools. WinRAR for the extractor, and Daemon Tools to mount the .iso file, which’ll show an autorun. No, you don’t need the original game, since I just installed it with no problems. They just add a few tracks to the BGM and improve the graphics. Nothing essential. Where is this patch, anyways?

      1. WinRaR works, and so does 7Zip. You don’t need to mount or install anything at all though, as far as I can tell; it works for me just by running the “higurashi.exe” file.

  22. Oh NVM, I figure it out after I read the older comments here.
    I didn’t know it has to be moved from the flash disk to PC first to get it work. :p

  23. Guuyzz HELP PLEAASEE!!
    I’ve downloaded this game, but after I successfully extracted it, the game doesn’t work! It just keeps ‘not responding’. I’ve tried to play it on other laptop with different OS, but the outcome is still the same. What happened actually? Please is there anyone can help me? please respond, thanks ^^

    1. The links are not dead, they are broken, it seems the website cant link me to the other four chapters properly :/

    1. They are up, the links are just wrong on the downloads page. Replace the ‘–’ with a hyphen in the URL, and the links work.

  24. So people, any help?

    I am gonna finish tatigoroshi and don’t wanna be stuck without the 4 th arc.

    Any solutions?

  25. Uh, thanks for the download links, but I have a problem.

    These are supposed to be chapter 1,2,3 and 4 , right?
    Now there are 2 links, part 1 and part 2.

    How do I install them?
    If I install part 1, the program runs and shows 3 scenarios.
    one is onikakushi, a second one whose name I dont remember and the one which it says is the shortest…. in this order.

    there is no fourth scenario. How do I get that. Unpacking part 2 just replaces some files which i assumed would lead to data loss of parts 1,2,3 but the game ran and still showed scenarios 1,2,3 only(I did not delete the files which were not replaced during unpacking though)

    So, finally could someone tell the proper way to install this, along with parts 4-8.(also in 4-8, will I have to install them all in different folders and copy the same cg and music etc files to each of them, or is there way to have all the parts together in one folder).

    Thanks and sorry for the long rant, specific doubts give specific answers.

    1. Oh, don’t confuse “archive parts” with “story parts”. This download contains all 4 story arcs (you need to complete first 3 to unlock 4th), but since filehosts allow only files up to 200MB size, whole game was split into two parts. You need to download both of them to play the game, but once you do, you get all 4 arcs in game.

      1. Thanks for the reply Admin , you rock!!

        So how do I extract the archives?
        Is it done if I extract only part 1. My confusion is that both part 1 and 2 have files which have the same name (maybe winrar shows the files of part 2 in part 1 also).

        And does part 4 not even show up in the selection screen intil i complete the other parts.

        What about parts 5-8.Are they installed separately?

        Big thanks for the reply Admin. You are probably the only admin in the world who always reply to comments!!

        1. Parts 5-8 come as separate games each. I’ll add links for them later for users convinience. For now you can check out main “downloads” page for them.

  26. Ok since the other chapter links still lead to 404s, here are the urls to the working ones:
    higurashi-%e2%80%93-when-they-cry-kai-meakashi/
    higurashi-%e2%80%93-when-they-cry-kai-tsumihoroboshi/
    higurashi-%e2%80%93-when-they-cry-kai-Minagoroshi/
    higurashi-%e2%80%93-when-they-cry-kai-Matsuribayashi/

    (place after the downloads/ in the url)

  27. Mr admin, if you mind, can you re upload sound patch and ps2 cg patch? As we know that fs link is dead.

    Thanks before.

  28. Cant anyone know why cant I save the game O_o
    Everytime I save it , quit and return to , it disappears >”<
    Sorry for my bad English 😛

  29. Admin, sorry to bother you, but it seems like the second quartet of the chapters was not reuploaded in the process, as it sends me to a 404 error page. I apologize if this is an error on my part, I simply can’t find them.

    I also thank you from the bottom of my heart for (re)uploading all these fantastic novels, you are a truly good person to collect them all in one place. Thank you so much. 🙂

  30. ^This.
    Also if anyone could give proper explanation or a good link to download EVERYTHING related to this game, i’d be very grateful.
    Such a lovely series. (And i’ve only watched 7 eps of the anime yet,nothing else.)

  31. Excellent. I’ve been looking for a download for these for a long time.

    I’d also like to make a note of Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni, the next Visual Novel series made by Ryushiki07. Should you ever find a download for a translated version, please make sure to put it on here.

  32. Hello everyone,
    can someone please tell me where i can find the links for the higurashi voice and background patches?

  33. can anyone tell me is there any difference between higurashi vn and the anime adaptation? like a bit of difference in storyline and stuff?
    i already downloaded this,but i also have a lot vn’s on my list to read. so depending on you guys answer,ill either read it next or put it on hold for a while..
    anyways,for sure,ill play this eventually,its something i can i cannot miss afterall 😉

    1. there’s a massive amount of differences, the anime is a terrible adaptation, Higurashi is by far my favorite VN, but man.. in comparison the anime was awful.. they changed, censored and summarized (extremely poorly) everything

        1. compared to an anime or manga the VN is most likely MOAR AWESOME.
          That’s for F/SN, Higurashi and I believe 90% of all the other VNs…

          1. I’m watching the anime (the first series, since I’m now reading Minagoroshi-hen, the 6th chapter), and I think it’s still useful to watch it alongside the Novel, having some “graphic” tips. For example, in Onikakushi episodes, the man in the car who tried to hit Keiichi, and the men who attacked him after he escaped from Rena were wearing the same uniform.
            Just a coincidence?

  34. GEHH~~ I hate this VN, it scared the hell every time X3~~~ at that just make me CAN’T STOP READING IT~~~ HELP~~~ I WANNA SLEEP~~ X3

  35. Well, I finally decided to try and play these.

    Thank you, this makes it much easier to obtain them when they’re all in one.

    Too bad the second half isn’t, but at least I have a place to get them.

    HURRAY FOR CONVENIENCE!

  36. You know? Now I really regretted watching anime first. As I think that anime is so kick ass, It couldn’t compared to either manga or sound novel. But I will recommended this to my aunt for sure. She’s a big fan for mystery novel and Higurashi is truly a masterpiece!

  37. So far , I’ve downloaded Meakashi-hen (Cuz its my favorite) I just recently downloaded Chapters 1-4 , But keep getting some strange message when I open it up to its main menu! I need help ! D:

  38. Oh, I see ^^

    I’m reading Himatsubushi right now. Akasaka FTW! But all the Mahjong thing with Ooishi is awful, I don’t understand what are they talking about D:

    I’ll upload the novels anyway, there are friends that wants them. Well, I want them to know Higurashi, so to speak xD

  39. No, the voice version is for PS2. The texts of that version aren’t in english, only japanese. There are original arcs (from the PC game) that don’t appear in the PS2 version (the voiced ver.), so these arcs would be without voices if I put a voice patch in the original games (the translated ones). The Matsuribayashi arc, for example, is only in the original novels, so it has no voice patch.

    Also, the original arcs that appear in the voiced version have some differences with the PC version, so the voices would not… uh… match the text and the situation often. Desynchronization and shit, all the time. There is a voice patch, I remember it… But it’s so “green” and has the problems that I said.

    And this is a novel. A novel, not a game. This is for reading, like a book, but with AWESOME music (the original music, my version includes it), backgrounds, and character sprites. The voices would be annoying, not letting you hear the AWESOME music. Specially in Kai arcs. If you want voices, only imagine it. You have watched the anime, you can imagine the voices. I really suggest you to read it without voices.

    Sorry for explaining too hard, I did it for people that know nothing about sound novels, not for you ^^u

    About my uploads, I’m… What’s the word? Agh, my english is terrible. I’m… Ah. I haven’t time to upload the novels now, but I’ll do it this week, that for sure. Wait a little, okay? I don’t want anyone to download a buggy version or that stupid version with replaced music and ugly sprites that is everywhere.

    I’ll come here in few days. See you!

    1. Ah, thank you for the answer 🙂

      It´s just that i like voiced games better than the unvoiced. it adds more to the feeling (for example Rena´s USO DA! I love it.. xD). I would play this game anyway even if it had no voices (actually i did start already 😛 almost completed onikakushi-hen). i was just curious because i saw videos on youtube which contained voices and read about a voice patch..
      I already have my version fully patched with the better Sprites, backround and BGM, so only the voice patch would be missing. But if it´s that bad, i dont want to use it^^.

      thanks 😀

      1. Agh, I always fail to reply a comment. Alkajdsd.

        However, I hope you enjoy Onikakushi-hen! ^^

        You’ll be surprised with Watanagashi-hen. Specially in the talk of Rena and Keiichi with “Mion” in her mansion. The true past of Hinamizawa is something that they censored in the anime, for its CREEPY references to the war… It’s really interesting, with Mion’s grandfather and all. And this arc (like all of them) does a great work making the reader feel exactly like Keiichi. You really can forget that “Mion” is Shion while reading, It’s awesome.

        But Tatarigoroshi-hen is the fucking best in the novels. A true masterpiece~

  40. (Sorry for my bad english)

    Mmmm… The site where I downloaded the eight chapters is broken. And… Uh… Well, if I can’t find them quickly, I’ll upload the novels by myself. Just wait. What server do you want? I will include PS2 graphics and THE ORIGINAL, BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME MUSIC. ASLKDJASD. Not the crappy replaced BGM.

    These novels are the best of the best. The Higurashi anime is so fucking shitty as adaptation. SO. FUCKING. SHITTY. But as anime, it’s very very good~

    PS: A warning to you all, people. If you download the novels with the PS2 graphic patch already patched, it would be very problematic and buggy in the later part of Onikakushi. Download the patch and patch the novel by yourselves. Sorry again for my english.

  41. i have a question… is there any chance to get the voice patch for this game? every link i find is dead or removed.
    Admin, if you got the voices for this game, could you please upload them?

    thank you 🙂

  42. thx for having this i loved this series since i saw the amazing anime version its too bad that some chapters are exclusive to other systems

    1. This is the download you’re looking for.
      This bundle contains chapters 1-4: Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Tatarigoroshi and Himatsubushi.

  43. is this even an ecchi game? or is it about psyco murderers and crap?
    im playing it and ive seen nothing eroge yet at all

  44. –> Wei Yan .. Fileserve and Fileshare(or so my memory says the name of the other one is) only allows ONE download .. so you’ll have to wait for the current download to finish before being allowed to do another one ..

    Umm anyone .. is this game good .. I’m searching for a case solving Eroge .. I’m hoping this game has that feature since the overview gave me that impression ..

    Thanks and Good Luck ^_^

    1. its not an eroge, but its really good if you want to work up your brains.
      im in the middle of solving higurashi too, but i’ve finished Umineko no naku koro ni [its the second game developed by Ryu 07, after higurashi] and i must say i am extremely pleased with Umineko 😀

      really love it to bits. im very satisfied with higurashi so far.

  45. Can you tell me which chapter does this version cover? I’ve got the version with first 3 chapters, should I download it?

        1. I see, but why the fileserve keep say my IP is currently downloading something when I didn’t
          Is it my internet or the files problem? T_T

  46. wow.. higurashi.. im interested but.. is this really as intense as i think it is??.. im somewhat weak-hearted.. lol.. but if anyone wants to really recommend it.. please do so.. ^^

    and admin thanks for all the hard work.. currently enjoying my 6th game from here so far.. 😀

    1. I would really recommend this game. I haven’t actually read this sound novel yet, I’ve only read manga chapters, watched all the anime, and played Umineko. so, I’m not sure of the more “gore” and “horror” aspects that people attribute to this. The manga and anime may be more intense. i know for sure the Umineko anime was more intense than the sound novel in my opinion. it could just as well be the same for Higurashi as well. But anyway, I definitely think Higurashi has an awesome story that is well worth reading.

  47. Whenever I extract it, it stops at the middle saying that there’s an error or something. And when I click the new game, a message box appears… It’s all gibberish <_<

  48. hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…. higurashiiiiiiiiii X3

    finally there is an english version …… X3

    thanksssssss XDDD

  49. I’m having the same problem with the data02000.arc file being broken, as well as not seeing any crack download anywhere.
    Is it just me being dumb? XD
    Thanks 🙂

  50. Which version is this? + the other higurashis you uploaded
    I want to patch the game with the PS2 sprites,BG,Voice,etcc
    Also do you know how to patch?

  51. could it be possible for you to upload 6th and 7th arc again? those 2 are the only ones still down as of now. thank you ^^

  52. the fileserve link is down, or is it not re-uploaded yet? sorry i’ve been dying to get this so i’m a bit impatient lol

  53. All The Hotfile links in this site are down and I really want to get some of the games here like KiraKira – Curtain Call and Higurashi When They Cry

    1. Just like you said – most of hotfile links were removed. I’m uploading all games again to fileserve now, but it’s over 300 GB of data so it takes time. Be patient.

  54. It says there is chapters 1-4 included in the download, but the game only has three listed. Is there actually only 3 chapters?

    1. All four are there.
      You have to complete Tatarigoroshi (the 3rd) before Himatsubushi (the 4th) is unlocked.
      However, you can forcefully unlock the 4th chapter by clicking Extra in the menu, clicking Unlock Previous Chapters, then clicking Tatarigoroshi.

  55. The crack download doesn’t work for me anymore… It did for a bit, but now when I try to open it, I just get an error screen… What should I do?

  56. I have both of the versions downloaded. What does it mean to place the cracked file into the directory? Because I’ve tried what I think it means via WinRAR, and I keep getting error messages. What am I doing wrong?

  57. I’m having the same problem as Civ. I got the game downloaded, moved the cracked exe into the Higurashi directory, and all I get is a black window that doesn’t respond.

  58. I have been wanting to play this game for SOOO long, so I want to thank you once again. I have played through most of the first arc and I am totally in love with it. So, once again, thank you very much! 😀 <3

  59. OMG i have been waiting forever for this after watching the series and now it available

    this is awesome thank you loads ^^

  60. Hey there. Just wanted to check, after downloading this, I don’t see the 4th arc (Himatsubushi) available. Is it unlocked through gameplay or just missing?

  61. I put the crack download in the regular folder but even then it just has a black screen for a while and then says(Not Responding) before closing itself. Any suggestions?

  62. i dunno how to get it to work ;-;
    i have the crack file download and the normal downloaded too but i don’;t know how to get them to work

  63. Any reason why there are 2 “when they cry” games to download from this wonderful site? 🙂

    I saw that ep 5-6 are released in english but I havnt been able to locate them. If you find them/have any luck it would be nice 🙂

  64. Now, there aren’t any decisions! But it’s great, anyway!
    Oh my God, I’ve been looking for this everywhere!
    😀 Hauu! ~Going mad with the Hinamizawa Syndrome~!

  65. are there any decision points in this game (i ask because i have been playing for a while and one has yet to come up)

  66. wow….all you have to do is place the cracked exe in your higurashi directory…the error message you are getting means that it can’t find the archive files….

  67. Same problem as keiichi and Desu. Clicking on the crack only gets me a pop-up titled “Error!!”. Then there’s some japanese characters and [ system.arc : ipl._bp ], that spacing exactly. Any ideas?

  68. Thank you so much for posting these! I had just finished watching the anime, and i heard that the sound novels where better so i had to check them out!

  69. Ah, I’m having the same problem as ‘keiichi’ up there. Whenever I attempt to open the cracked file, higurashi.exe , it sends a message titled ‘Error!!’
    Maybe I’m doing something incorrectly, but if there’s a way for you to help, it’d be much appreciated!
    Thank you for all of your dowloads. (:

  70. Thanks for this! I appreciate the work you do for this site very much, lots of great uploads here that can otherwise be hard to find.

    Looking forward to playing the answer arcs after this

  71. um im really glad that you have this i’ve been looking for it for a really long time. but when i try to install the game, it askes me for a serial code number… am i doing something wrong?

  72. Finally found the english version of Higurashi. 😀 Thanks alot. Will you continue to upload the rest of it if it is released?

    1. Of course. My goal is to have every visual novel/eroge ever released in English available as download on this site.

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