With the "Summer of Nippon Ichi" fast approaching, the Japanese developer and publisher streamed an event to showcase some upcoming games. NIS has streamed announcement broadcasts in the past, though nothing has been quite as substantial or as today's stream. The stream aped Windows XP and Windows 10, and seemed to be styled similarly to a Nintendo Direct. Despite two new game announcements, and a surprise Disgaea HD reveal, NIS did not reveal Disgaea 6, much to the dismay of their fans. Regardless, there's a lot to sift through in the broadcast, which you can watch below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYEIuQcHeeY
One of the more interesting announcements was The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince during the broadcast. Conceived by a female web developer on-staff, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a completely new development for NIS. This is not the first time NIS has taken staff ideas for games as part of a concerted effort to generate brand new creative ideas. Previously, htoL#NiQ and Yomawari: Night Alone stemmed from this internal development effort, though it's not clear if the team that worked on those two games will be developing The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince.
With a hand-drawn art style that smacks of Don't Starve, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince concerns, unsurprisingly, a blind prince. He is led by a monster that masquerades as a princess, hence the title. Promising a "bittersweet love story," NIS did not reveal any information about a release window or platforms but will have more to show off in the future. Famitsu did release some in-development footage, which you can watch below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnKE1sr2JT8
The other new game from the Summer of Nippon Ichi is Project Nightmare, a live-action horror adventure game. It's unclear if this is the same game that was teased last year in Nippon Ichi's "Summer Greeting Card." Previous "Summer Greeting Cards" have teased The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2, and Disgaea 5, among other games. The footage was reported shot around Nippon Ichi's offices in Gebu prefecture, according to Siliconera.
The idea for Project Nightmare comes from advancements in graphical technology. Instead of aiming for near-photorealism, why not "just use live action footage" appears to be Nippon Ichi's thinking. Much like The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, there is no information about a release window or platforms at this time. You can watch the trailer as part of the entire broadcast below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYEIuQcHeeY&t=517s
The final major game announcement to come from the Summer of Nippon Ichi was the surprise announcement of a Disgaea HD remake. 2018 marks the 15th anniversary of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness's release and Nippon Ichi saw fit to update the classic strategy game for modern consoles. Disgaea was originally released on the PS2, before making its way to the PSP, Nintendo DS, and finally the PC two years ago.
Disgaea does not have a specific release date locked down, but NIS is aiming for a "Summer 2018" window. No platforms have been announced either, though as Disgaea 5 released on PS4 and Switch, it would be surprising if NIS left those two platforms out. Should NIS choose to bring Disgaea HD to PC, the hope is that the port will be better this time around. We found the PC port of the original Disgaea: Hour of Darkness to be subpar, and so did many others, reporting bugs, crashes, and a general lack of polish.
That wraps it up for new games announced by Nippon Ichi. There was a considerable portion of the video devoted to Your Four Knight Princess Training Story, which releases next month in Japan. With this rush of game announcements, it seems that Nippon Ichi will have their hands full developing two new games, plus a remake of their most famous franchise. As Nippon Ichi likes to announce games for the second half of the year around E3, this may well be the last major news we hear from the developer for some time. In the meantime, we'll keep you updated with any new information regarding anything revealed today.
Is there anything you would have liked to see out of Nippon Ichi that wasn't revealed today? Disgaea 6? Something else? How do you feel about the three games revealed today? Whatever your thoughts, let us know in the comments below!
