ATLUS With a New RPG Game. Not Connected With Shin Megami Tensei and Persona Games

By Danica Arkwright - 21 Dec '16 11:45AM

ATLUS informed its fans that they'll be having a brand new RPG game sometime soon. The said game is not related to the Shin Megami Tensei or the Persona series.

According to AnimeNewsNetwork, ATLUS revealed through Famitsu that they have a brand new role-playing game project. The project is not in any way related to the company's popular series such as Shin Megami Tensei series and the Persona series. The announcement will be broadcasted via the NicoNico live stream on Friday at 8 PM JST.

This new project from ATLUS will be handled by one of their new in-house production studio called "Studio Zero." Studio Zero will be led by Katsura Hashino, known as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Persona 3,4,5 director. He will be the producer and director for the upcoming RPG title. Not much has been revealed for the RPG except that it is going to be fantasy-themed RPG. Gematsu informed that Hashino, along with Naoto Hiraoka, who is the supervisor for ATLUS consumer software development will discuss the new studio as well as more detail about their RPG project in the issue of Famitsu for December 22.

Hashino also discussed that this upcoming RPG project is a challenge for them. This will be ATLUS' own attempt to tackle on what is the common norm for fantasy-themed RPGs. He also noted that the Shin Megami Tensei series is a project that goes away from what is "common" in fantasy-themed RPG. The Shin Megami Tensei is known to have "dark themes" when it comes to their games.

Below is a snippet of Hashino's statement via Gematsu. "The Shin Megami Tensei series was released as an "opposition" to such a "common" world view, and the Persona series was released as its spin-off. Both series, even today in their latest entries, have always been made with the concept that it will be a counter to the times. And now, in addition to continuing the titles within those series, what will our approach to a new RPG be? That is, to challenge the norms of the genre gamers have been consuming for decades."

To know more about Hashino's message, visit Studio Zero's official website. (Note that the website is in Japanese).

ATLUS' latest game, Persona 5 is currently out in Japan. The game was first released in Japan last September 15, 2016. Its Western release has been delayed from February, it will be on April 4, 2017.