Atlus Reveals Studio Zero and New RPG Codenamed Project Re Fantasy

Published: December 22, 2016 12:15 PM /

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Weekly Famitsu Scan RPG Project Re Fantasy

Atlus has revealed their latest upcoming game, titled Project Re Fantasy, which will be coming from their newly opened internal studio called “Studio Zero”. Project Re Fantasy will be a brand new series, and will take place, as the codename says, in a fantasy styled world, different to their other, more modern themed games like Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. While major details about the game were not disclosed, Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu featured an article discussing the staff behind the game and information about Studio Zero.

According to Atlus directors Naoto Hiraoka and Katsura Hashino, Project Re Fantasy will have Persona series veterans such as artist Shigenori Soejima and composer Shoji Meguro working on the title. In Famitsu’s interview with them, the two explain the reasons for forming Studio Zero, as well as a few bits of information about their new game.

Gematsu has a translation of the interview, with the following summarized:

During Persona 5's creation, Atlus staff had wanted to develop new IPs, but were unable to do so, as the team was too busy. After Persona 5 had wrapped up and the team was more available, Katsura Hashino was given the go-ahead by Naoto Hiraoka to form Studio Zero and start work on Project Re Fantasy. Soejima and Meguro were included in Studio Zero's team so that the two could branch out and use their talent for other games, but they will still both be a prominent part of the Persona series.

Speaking of Persona, and perhaps most interestingly of all, Hiraoka talks about the future and what Atlus has planned for 2017. “We’re steadily developing other titles behind the scenes, including Persona. We plan to announce future titles in the new year, without keeping you waiting too long.”

While Atlus typically writes games that have settings based on the real world, they wanted to tackle the traditional fantasy genre, as Hashino claims, "Atlus has dared to create series set in contemporary times and cherished its stance of aiming to counter the typical." Project Re Fantasy will take the standard fantasy theme, but will also add Atlus's own flair to it.

There's no planned system that Studio Zero has decided upon at this time, but they do mention that Project Re Fantasy will be a home console title that will take a "reasonable" amount of time to complete development.

Atlus will be hosting a NicoNico livestream on December 23 at 8:00pm JST in order to share more details about Project Re Fantasy with the public.

What do you think of this new game? Are you excited for it? Do you think this will get a Western release? Let us know in the comments below!

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