A few weeks after the Australian classification was spotted, Sega confirmed that Shining Resonance Refrain will come West this summer. The classification, as we originally reported, carried a "Mature 15+" rating, which did indeed translate to a "Teen" rating here. The localization of Refrain will not be coming just to the PS4, either. Switch, Xbox One and PC owners will also have a chance to purchase Refrain, too. This marks the first time a Shining game will be available on a Nintendo console since Shining Force appeared on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, and the first time ever for a Microsoft console. Shining Resonance Refrain will release sometime this summer, and run $49.99.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZPpeMCJCu0&feature=youtu.be
The first Shining game to come to America and beyond in over 10 years, Refrain is a remake of the PS3 original, released in 2014. This remaster packages in all of the DLC released so far, as well as offering dual English and Japanese audio tracks. Not only that, but two new characters are included as part of the "Refrain mode," which will expand on the story and universe offered in the main game. No special editions were announced at this time, though preordering Shining Resonance Refrain does net you a steel slipcase at no extra cost.
Shining Resonance Refrain tells the story of the swordsman Yuma, as he and his friends fight against a malevolent empire. Your entire party wields ancient Armonics, weapons that combine fighting prowess with instruments. By making clever use of your abilities, your party will be able to perform songs on the battlefield. If you're interested in seeing Shining Resonance Refrain in action, you can check out Sega's Twitch channel at noon PST this Friday to see some gameplay.
Refrain's localization is the realization of producer Makoto Suzuki's dream. Localization Producer James Kuroki said in an interview that he hopes Refrain will "serve as the vanguard for future Shining titles." Whether this means we'll get a chance to expand our limited backlog of Shining games is hard to say. As there have been no true Shining games since 2014's Resonance, we will have to wait a while longer to see where Sega will take the series next. In the meantime, all owners of modern consoles and PC gamers will be able to get their hands on Shining Resonance Refrain sometime this summer.
