After teasing its revival earlier this week, prolific Japanese developer Level-5 has announced that they are bringing horror game Ushiro to the Switch. The reveal comes as part of Famitsu's celebration of 20 years of Level-5, and was further reported on by Gematsu, among others. The entire feature on Level-5 is said to take up 40 pages of the next issue of Weekly Famitsu and include a "long interview" with CEO Akihiro Hino. We don't currently know when Ushiro is set to release, but we can look forward to more information about the surprise soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVTyva5nFeQ
A horror RPG set in modern-day Japan, Ushiro represents some highly original thinking on the part of Level-5. The original story of Ushiro covers the life of a suicidal Japanese schoolgirl who makes a contract with a ghost. In exchange for her life, the ghost will grant her one wish. The Japanese title "うしろ" literally translates to "Behind," referencing the ghost haunting the schoolgirl. Supposedly, Ushiro was going to feature turn-based battles and an explorable version of Tokyo. There's no telling just how much Ushiro has changed in the 10 years since it was originally announced, but hopefully, we'll get to see some updated footage soon.
Level-5 has been known in recent years for their work on the Professor Layton puzzle series, as well as the pair of Ni no Kuni games and Yo-Kai Watch. Before that, they worked on a couple of Dragon Quest games, as well as the criminally overlooked Rogue Galaxy and Dark Cloud RPGs. With its widely appealing and mechanically complex games, Level-5 has risen to the top echelon of Japanese developers, even as they're not a household name like Capcom or Square Enix. With many developers announcing remasters of games thought to be long forgotten, here's to hoping that Ushiro stands up to Level-5's pedigree.
Are you interested in Ushiro? Is there another Level 5 canceled game that you would rather have been announced? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
