Despite how little was truly revealed, the most exciting news to come out of TGS 2015 (for me, at least) has been the revealing of what Project Setsuna actually is. Officially titled Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna (which means The Sacrifice of Sorrow and Snow), Tokyo RPG Factory’s first title looks to embody everything Square Enix meant when they stated that they plan for future games to be “heavy JRPGs”. Just take a look at the footage below:
According to Famitsu, by way of Siliconera, the game will be completely top-down as seen above. Both battle and travel will take place like this with no screen change. Chrono Trigger anyone? I’m not the first person on the Internet to make the connection, but it is worth pointing out that any inspiration taken from that title is golden, as the game was the undisputed pinnacle of the genre. The article also pointed out that the game is 60% done (in weird Japanese developer numbers) and will release in Japan in early 2016 on PS4 and PS Vita. The West has no release window as of yet.
Square Enix is certainly grasping for heart-strings with this game. Just go to the official website and listen to some of the soundtrack. I’ve been letting it loop as I write this article, and am instantly reminded of my favorite Uematsu tracks. Everything about it plays to the JRPG fans love of the old-school. It’s ironic, then, that thematically it is a very somber game, when it puts so much joy into my heart to see it in motion.
Unrelated, but everytime I see the word Setsuna, I think o fSetsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00.