Imperial Knights New Game+

Circle Poison sold Imperial Knights with the line you can play it at least three times. That is not marketing fluff. Routes 2 and 3 are New Game+ campaigns wearing a different first hour. Japanese guides say it outright: B and C expect an A-route clear and a stronger New Game. Steam’s English page never uses the words New Game+, but the hideout still dumps a level-1 Diana in front of Butts. This page is what actually carries, what does not, and how to spend the extra files.

If you have not finished Route 1 yet, stop. Open the beginner guide and the walkthrough. NG+ is a second save ritual, not a difficulty slider in the options menu.

What a clear does

After any Route 1–3 ending — including the Route 1 defeat ending — the title screen offers a continued file. That file is the NG+ vehicle.

Carries

• Character levels and learned skills for Diana and whoever you keep.
• H-level / desire-level rewards. Japanese charts say the meter does not reset; repeats of the same event do not raise it twice, but a new file still holds the old rank. The Koyori platinum card at max rank is the famous payoff (combat EXP ×2).
• Cards you already pulled, including Ci-en / desire-level platinums.
• Gold and most inventory, minus anything the opening cutscenes strip. Re-equip after the manor.
• Mercenary registry. Heroines you finished a route with become guild hires on later files. Route 1 unlocks Lysithea, Tear, and Lea. Route 2 unlocks Tania and Pan. Route 3 unlocks Ellis and Ariel. That is the mechanical reason the slogan is three plays.

Does not carry as a skip

• The guild-fee choice. Every file still asks. That is still the route split.
• Story maps. NG+ does not open a fourth continent. You walk a different spine; see the world map.
• Recollection. A route clear auto-unlocks that route’s main gallery. Guild-quest rows stay manual. You will not 100% the album on three endings.

Defeat endings count. You do not need a “clean” win to unlock NG+ or the mercenary board for that route’s crew.

Imperial Knights part.last — late campaign and a finished route

Why file one should be Route 1

Butts and the hideout trash are tuned so a fresh Diana loses. Winning the hideout on file one is a curiosity, not a plan. Route 3’s Puremite Golem, Ariel, and Fortress Eraser assume Ether Knight stats and a four-slot board that already contains people you met on Route 1. Route 2’s Bio Worm timer and Jupiter Mountain traps assume the same.

Intended order:

1. Route 1, dress sale, church party, Ether Knight, one of the three Route 1 finales (normal / crest / defeat).
2. NG+ into Route 3 or 2 with Lysithea hireable.
3. The remaining spine.
4. Extra files only if you want the other quest flags (Ariel on the lighthouse, Pan in the arena, Ellis on the casino ship, and so on).

That last loop is how blogs arrive at five clears. Three endings see the plot. Five endings see every job-specific flag. The checklist is the box list; this page is the file plan.

What to do on the NG+ title click

1. Keep the cleared file. Do not overwrite the manor backup from file one — you still want a Route 1 save if a crest cleanse is unfinished.
2. Confirm the mercenary desk lists last-route heroines before you pick the fee. If the board is empty, you loaded the wrong slot.
3. Decide the fee with the route planner, not from memory. Borrowing is now legal because Butts is no longer a wall.
4. Re-buy Repair Kits and status rings. Carried gold makes people skip shops; Mud Poison still poisons.
5. After Ether Knight, re-gear. Class-up unequips Diana. The Ether Knight page already nags about this; NG+ players still walk into Svalt in underwear.

Combat on a strong file

Overleveling makes field trash die on contact (there is a setting to keep fights). Boss tells do not vanish. Bio Worm’s delayed breath is still a forced loss. Demon Svalt still blinds. Reinhardt still follows mana drain with a party nuke. Read combat even when your attack stat looks embarrassing.

Hire male mercenaries when you do not want armor-break on a filler slot. Hire Lysithea the moment she is on the board; Mina Heal is the reason Route 2 and 3 feel human. Party cost is still level × 100 G per hire, which is why NG+ gold matters more than NG+ nostalgia.

DLC, patches, and version folders

NG+ does not include Japanese DLC. Circle Poison’s August 2026 FAQ: Steam 1.00 does not bundle the DLC pack. When Kagura’s Steam DLC ships, it will be a separate SKU — see DLC notes.

If you also keep a Japanese DLsite tree, Ver1.10(NEW) (27 August 2026) is the combat-image hotfix. Saves move by copying the www/save folder into the new www directory. That copy is unsupported. Do not mix it with Steam Cloud. Controls covers Cloud timing; this paragraph is only for people who own both builds.

A sane five-file sketch

• File A: Route 1, crest on, crest ending. Keep a pre-cleanse save.
• File A2 (same route, later): cleanse, normal ending, gold hair or silver hair — whichever you skipped.
• File B: NG+ Route 2, Tania/Pan board, herb/brigand/ghost jobs as wanted.
• File C: NG+ Route 3, Ellis/Ariel, Machant voucher spent, casino optional.
• File D: NG+ Route 1 again with Ariel/Pan/Ellis hired for the three extra job flags.

You can collapse A and A2 if you only care about one Route 1 ending. You cannot collapse B and C; they are different maps. You cannot skip A if you want the church kit on the later boards.

When a later file feels easy, you are using the system correctly. When it feels impossible, you started on the hideout with a blank save. Load the clear, not the manor.