Square Enix’s Project Athia is one of the more enigmatic PS5 console exclusives. It’s an open world game from Luminous Productions of Final Fantasy 15 but we know next to nothing about it (even it’s current name is a working title). Still, it looks gorgeous and a recent demo by the developer CEDEC 2020 highlights the power of the Luminous Engine for generating landscapes.
Essentially, creating a world map of this scale manually has “reached its limit”. So Luminous Engine makes this easier, automatically placing rivers, houses, plants and so on in a meaningful way thanks to rules ascribed by its node-based tools. This helps to create large areas in real time and ensuring they’re optimized.
Project Athia doesn’t currently have a release date but it’s coming to PC along with PS5. The story focuses on a woman who’s in a world that’s not her own, one where “truths will be questioned” and “devotions will be doubted.” Whatever we’ve seen thus far seems to indicate some very fast and open exploration along with more action-oriented combat. Stay tuned for more details in the coming year though.
