As a result, Tokyo RPG Factory will dissolve and no longer exist as a separate developer. It’s similar to the merger with Forspoken developer Luminous Productions last year in May following the action RPG’s lackluster sales. It’s worth noting that both companies were subsidiaries of Square Enix, though it’s unknown if the mergers have resulted in any layoffs.

Square Enix has several titles in the works, like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launching on February 29th for PS5 and Visions of Mana arriving this Summer for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It also has The Rising Tide expansion for Final Fantasy 16 and Dawntrail for Final Fantasy 14 in the pipeline. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

At its recent E3 2019 presser, publisher Square Enix announced that Oninaki would be releasing on August 22nd for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Check out the release date trailer below to get an idea of the RPG’s gameplay.

Oninaki is developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, the same team behind Lost Sphear and I Am Setsuna. It’s more of an action RPG though as players equip different Daemons to fight alongside them, each providing a different weapon type and ability. You can switch between these in the middle of battle though, going from the jumping ability of a spear to the quick slicing of a blade.

The story is about a Watcher named Kagachi, an individual responsible for ferrying Lost Souls to the Afterlife. When Kagachi meets Linne, who appeared before he became a Watcher, he embarks on a journey to cure her amnesia. For more information on the various characters and entities that you’ll meet, head here.

Tokyo RPG Factory’s action RPG Oninaki will be releasing this Summer for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. Japan has a more definitive release date – it’s out on August 22nd for PS4 and Switch. Check out the latest gameplay trailer below, which reveals the various Daemons that can be equipped.

Each Daemon represents a special Lost Soul, who will fight with the protagonist Kagachi. They enable the use of different weapon types and abilities in battles. However, it’s possible to mix and match attacks together in real-time, allowing players to leap into enemies with Zaav’s spear or block damage with Wil’s axe.

Telling the story of a Watcher who guides Lost Souls to the afterlife, Oninaki comes from the development team of Lost Sphear and I Am Setsuna. It’s published by Square Enix, who will likely offer a more conclusive Summer release date for the West at E3. Stay tuned for more information in the meantime.

Oninaki is the latest effort from Tokyo RPG Factory, better known for I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. As an action RPG, it sees a Watcher doing his best to ferry lost souls into the afterlife. Who are the characters driving this intriguing epic? A new trailer from Square Enix has the answers.

There’s Kagachi, the protagonist and Watcher who believes in carrying out his duties of killing. Linne is a stranger that appeared before Kagachi prior to his life as a Watcher. She’s back, has amnesia and mysteriously remains the same age. Kushi is a Watcher with more experience and serves as a mentor of sorts to Kagachi.

Mayura is Kushi’s daughter and has been Kagachi’s friend since childhood. Finally, there’s the Night Devil, a strange individual that’s after Linne and is seemingly a “ghost from the past.” Oninaki will be releasing in Summer 2019 for PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch so we’ll have time to unravel the mystery for ourselves.

Oninaki, the next project being developed by I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphere developers Tokyo RPG Factory, was recently revealed and confirmed for a launch later this year, and while the disappointing track record of the developer attached with the project would mean that it’s best to be cautious about Oninaki as well, it’s looked pretty good from what little we’ve seen of it so far.

Now, courtesy of the game’s official webpage, we have new information on its narrative setup, and the lore that serves as the foundations for the world it will take place in. The world of Oninaki is one where reincarnation is seen like a natural part of life, and death is celebrated instead of mourned. A chosen few called Watchers, however, are tasked with making sure that some souls called the Lost who’ve suffered in their life are guided safely to the next realm. Oninaki’s story places its focus on one Watcher, named Kagachi.

A bunch of screenshots for the game have also been released, showing characters, combat, its mechanic that allows players to travel between the two realms, and more. While not the most technically impressive, the screenshots do exhibit a nice art style. Take a look below.

Oninaki is due out on PS4, Switch, and PC later this year.

Square Enix have announced the new game from Tokyo RPG Factory, the developers of old school retro-inspired I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphere. Their third title, which looks like it will follow similar design philosophies, is Oninaki. A trailer for the game, showcasing some gameplay and giving some basic details on its setting and story, was also released. Check it out below.

Unlike I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphere, Oninaki is employing a non-turn based, action-RPG combat system, and will see you taking on the role of a Watcher named Kagachi. Kagachi, as a Watcher, can move between the realms of the living and the dead, which he must do to save the souls of the Lost, in what is being described as a “story of life and reincarnation”.

Players will be capturing Daemons, which will serve the purpose of classes, with each Daemon possessing its own unique skills and abilities that can be called upon to manifest during combat. Capturing Daemons and choosing which ones to call to your aid during combat will be a vital part of the gameplay loop.

Oninaki is out this Summer on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC. A more specific release date for the game hasn’t been given out.

Lost Sphear is the second game that has been made by Tokyo RPG factory, with their first game having been the beloved I am Setsuna. If you’ve ever played any traditional JRPGs such as games from the Final Fantasy series, then this game is bound to feel familiar to you, with its familiar art style and Active Time Battle system.

The game follows the hero Katana who along with his friends is trying to solve the mystery behind why things are slowly disappearing in the world. As the protagonist then, your role is to try and restore the world to its former state. As you go on recovering different memories, you can slowly restore parts of the world. There are lots of battles to fight and loot to collect in this game and the following walkthrough will surely be helpful if you’re ever feeling lost in the game.

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The studio known as Tokyo RPG Factory seems to have been set up by Square Enix for that specific purpose- to recapture the charm and brilliance of classic JRPGs by recreating their style of gameplay and storytelling in today’s modern landscape. Their first effort, I Am Setsuna, didn’t come close to doing that, despite having a fair share of its own strengths, but having learnt from their past mistakes and efforts, the developers have made a concerted effort to accomplish their ultimate goal with Lost Sphear. And though I can safely say that Lost Sphear still isn’t the kind of instant classic the developers may have been hoping it would be, it’s a solid JRPG in its own right which accomplishes quite a lot.

"While Lost Sphear isn’t the kind of instant classic the developers may have been hoping it would be, it’s a solid JRPG in its own right which accomplishes quite a lot."

The biggest strengths and weaknesses of Lost Sphear both stem from the same thing, that being the very premise of this game. It takes inspiration from a number of the genre’s greatest titles to date, from Final Fantasy 6 to Xenogears. And in attempting to recreate the perfect old school JRPG experience, Lost Sphear ends up exuding the kind of charm and focussed simplicity that you don’t often see in games these days. But as a result of that very reliance on nostalgia and old school game design, it also ends up feeling quite unremarkable in many respects- solid, and a great deal of fun, but unremarkable nonetheless.

Take the game’s story, for example. Lost Sphear tells the story of Kanata, an orphan boy living an idyllic village life with his fellow orphan friends, but when things, places, and people mysteriously start vanishing into white plumes of nothingness, he’s thrust into events far beyond his understanding. He realizes that he has the ability to restore these “Lost” objects by making use of the memories they leave behind, since these memories are, in a way, what gives everything shape and form. With this newfound power, Kanata and his companions get pulled into a story that escalates quite quickly, and has far-reaching consequences for the world they inhabit in more ways than one.

It’s a fairly generic setup in tone and style, especially if you’re familiar with the kind of old JRPGs Lost Sphear tries to imitate. And though the foundation itself lacks originality, the game has to be given credit for building on it in commendable ways. The plot moves at a brisk pace, and there’s always enough to keep the player invested in the events, to keep you curious about what happens next. There’s a few twists and turns along the road, and pleasantly enough, quite a lot of them are hard to predict and will genuinely surprise you. The concept of memories being, in essence, the ultimate life force for not just people, but inanimate objects as well, is also an interesting one, and the game keeps finding ways to make use of it in unique ways, utilizing it for both, personal tales and ones of large-scale consequences.

"As a result of that very reliance on nostalgia and old school game design, Lost Sphear ends up feeling quite unremarkable in many respects- solid, and a great deal of fun, but unremarkable nonetheless."

The plot is often let down by some shoddy writing, though. Lost Sphear, like the JRPGs of old it attempts to emulate, has a serious issue with heavy-handed exposition, and oftentimes it emits a frustrating lack of subtlety. Over the years, the RPG genre has started showing signs of becoming mature enough to realize the importance of the mantra “show, don’t tell”, but Lost Sphear seems to have a complete lack of that understanding. All too often the game feels the need to bombard the player with unnecessary cutscenes with overly long dialogue and overzealous explanations of things that would have been better left to interpretation. Just as regressive are the characters, almost all of whom fit into tropes and genre conventions so well that they almost seem to be the very definitions of said tropes. That’s not to say they’re bad characters per se- for the most part they have well-defined traits and backstories, and a few of them are likeable enough, but given how generic they are, it’s just a little hard to care too much about them.

When it comes to combat, Lost Sphear does a much better job of creating a system that’s a balanced mixture of old and new. It is essentially a turn based combat system with an ATB bar similar to Final Fantasy games of old, but the game continues to add plenty of layers on top of this core to make for a deceptively deep system. For starters, while you’re in the middle of turns, you can freely move your characters about on the battlefield, which lets you use their positioning to your benefit, such as being able to hit multiple enemies with the same attack, or being able to evade certain enemy attacks. In and of itself, this mechanic lends an added layer of strategy to battles, especially in some of the more challenging fights, where figuring out the tells of enemies’ attacks in order to evade them beforehand adds a unique twist of urgency and an extra bit of challenge.

Then there’s the Momentum bar, which keeps filling up as battles progress, and with the press of a button at the right time, allows you to deal boosted damage to enemies. It’s a pretty simple move both in definition and in practice, but in the heat of battle where you have to keep an eye on it while also remaining aware of all your enemies and their attacks, landing the right Momentum strike at the right time against the right enemy can give you a significant edge. There are also Spritnites to use, which, by definition, are basically your Mana moves, but these too have an added layer of strategy, since each Spritnite move can also be equipped with Momentum, which can provide some quite useful buffs and debuffs. And then there are artefacts, “Lost” items in the overworld that you can restore using memories to give you added boosts and abilities.

"When it comes to combat, Lost Sphear does a much better job of creating a system that’s a balanced mixture of old and new."

It all makes for a combat system that has a surprising amount of depth and strategy involved, and continues to be entertaining throughout the course of the game. After the first few hours, Lost Sphear also throws Vulcosuits into the mix, which are basically huge mech suits which let you both, deal and take massive amounts of damage. Though the concept of the Volcosuits is an interesting one, Lost Sphear unfortunately fails to ever make use of them properly. The use of Volcusuits is governed by the VP meter, which, at least until very late into the game, depletes at a pretty alarming rate, meaning that these suits are best left unused until you’re in desperate need of them, such as instances when you have to get past a particularly tough boss.

And there will be tough bosses- almost unfairly so, in fact. Too many times in my playthrough, I ran into bosses that brought about astonishing spikes in difficulty, many of whom were in fact able to wipe out my entire party with their first few attacks, without even giving me the chance to make a single move of my own. I’m all for challenging boss battles, especially in RPGs, but there’s challenging, and then there’s batshit insane. Lost Sphear’s boss encounters all too often fall into the latter category. Outside of these bosses, though, the game’s difficulty is almost leisurely. Dungeon design is, for the most part, simple and straightforward, while there are no random battles either, neither in the dungeons, nor in the overworld, so exploration, while never as much of an emphasis as it often is in RPGs, is always a pleasure, light though it may be.

If you get the feeling that “solid, but unremarkable” is a sense that pervades every aspect of Lost Sphear, you’re not wrong. That phrase can be used to describe the game’s production values as well, and a huge reason for that is its goal to emulate the classic JRPGs of old. Cutscenes have no voice acting, so emotions and feelings are portrayed through on screen prompts on top of characters’ heads, such as a drop of sweat signifying embarrassment or uncertainty, or an exclamation point emoting surprise or awe. The soundtrack consists of a number of melodies that fit the game’s themes and story beats almost perfectly, all of which are hummable, to be sure, but probably won’t rank among your favourite tracks of the year.

"If you get the feeling that “solid, but unremarkable” is a sense that pervades every aspect of Lost Sphear, you’re not wrong."

Visually, Lost Sphear is a very good looking game. It has a top down fixed camera perspective, akin to RPGs of the late 80s and early 90s, and has a very similar sprite-based look- only instead of sprites it makes use of 3D polygonal models and assets. It’s got a clean, simplistic look that has a unique charm of its own, and though it doesn’t do anything extraordinary or doesn’t break any barriers, its attractive art style has to be complimented. The overworld looks great for the most part, while a number of locations are very well designed, such as a graveyard of hulking, shattered ships and galleys, or an industrial city that spews smog all over the land. That said, there are plenty of instances when the game reuses several of its assets, such as the interiors of buildings (especially inns), for instance, and that sort of laziness is hard to overlook.

Lost Sphear a very enjoyable and well made game, but then again, there are so many classic JRPGs that you can always revisit (or visit, if you’ve never played them) that would give you a much better experience. There’s also the fact that, at least right now (at launch), Lost Sphear is priced at a bafflingly steep $50, and unless you’re a dedicated fan of such JRPGs, I don’t think it completely justifies a purchase at that price- not when there’s so many other, much better games on the market that you can purchase for pretty the same amount of money (if not less). It’s fair to say that Lost Sphear is a victim of its very premise, the same premise it also benefits from in many ways. Its focussed simplicity and its old school charm are pleasantly refreshing, especially in a genre that seems to be insistent on constantly one-upping itself with complex webs of mechanics and vast, sweeping adventures. But in trying to achieve that old school charm, Lost Sphear ends up failing to do anything that can make it stand out.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Square Enix’s Tokyo RPG Factory, devoted to making classic Japanese role playing games like last year’s I Am Setuna, has a new project in development. It’s called Lost Sphear and will once again follow in the footsteps of the classic JRPGs of yore. Check out the first trailer below.

As per Square Enix, one of the themes is “Manifesting thoughts into matter.” Like I Am Setuna, Lost Sphear will have an Active Time Battle system but one that allows for changing party members’ positions during a fight.

Players will take on the role of Kanata, a boy who must rebuild his town that’s disappearing from some strange occurrence. People and places are gone and it’s up to Kanata’s memories to bring them back.

Releasing in early 2018 for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, Lost Sphear appears to be yet-another low-budget JRPG from the publishing house behind Final Fantasy. What are your thoughts on it so far? Let us know below.

Often times, it’s hard to start a game, take a short game (say a week), then come back and remember all those controls. But, as time goes by so does our memories fade away; those of the games of yesterday: we forget the strategizing of character classes, the mages of black and white magics, the trivial side quests that often lead to nothing so great. And at last, we forget our roots.

We forget them because with time we too have moved on to bigger games, more immersion, more precision, more story, and more gameplay. I Am Setsuna from Tokyo RPG Factory wants us to remember those golden days of our past — they want us to go back and appreciate the genre that has come so far and is still evolving with each new game. Does that mean I Am Setsuna is a stunningly great game brought forward into today’s world? No. Not at all, but it helps for those of us that grew up in the 1990s with classics that Setsuna is trying to reproduce.

I Am Setsuna is set in a forever snowy world where winter has come and stayed. A massive monster roams the great lands destroying everything in its path, with a passion for complete an utter destruction of the world. As the world inches ever closer to its inevitable end, a great sadness befalls over the survivors of this nightmarish winter hell and it’s up to the main protagonist Endir to save the day.

"There are tones of brighter colors within the game sparsely used, and that makes them feel that much more special when you get past all the sadness before them."

Endir is a mercenary who is destined to protect the female Setsuna as she’s set to give herself up for sacrifice, to help end the bloodshed and bring peace back to the world. Now, this may all sound cliché for many JRPGs, especially those found back in the 1990s, and it is. The great melancholy that strangles the planet feels like it was torn right out of a “How to” guide for making a classic RPG. Especially with its isometric angle, and yes, even an airship.

Most modern day JRPGs are beyond gorgeous; what Square Enix does with their Final Fantasy games, or even the vastness of the Star Ocean series, RPGs are about epic proportions and beautiful detail. I Am Setsuna may not be as huge as some past and present JRPGs, but it does give a large enough scale that lets us appreciate the beauty of it all. Its doomsday-style scenario and world setting of relentless snow and ice are extraordinarily cool. The tones Setsuna rehashes and forcibly sets into our minds while playing match the setting quite well. The colors, often whites and grays, are usually offset by a unique enemy that’s modeled in a very old fashioned sort of way. There are tones of brighter colors within the game sparsely used, and that makes them feel that much more special when you get past all the sadness before them.

As the game progresses, you will be joined by other team members, just like in most other JRPGs out there. Each one will be a different class of character, with different HP, MP, Combo attacks, and abilities. Each character carries a story of their own that adds to the world’s tone and their struggles of how they came to be. With that in mind, the battle mechanics are turn-based just like in traditional JRPGs. One hit per character either before or after the enemies’ turn. Nothing unique or substantially harsh about it. This is how I enjoy my RPGs, because as I’ve pointed out before, this is how I remember them. Unfortunately, the game gives off large moments of gameplay instructions without any real examples to show for it. There are moments when I was sitting back and trying to remember a certain concept for what the game was trying to push. And then there are those moments deep in the game where I often forgot about certain moves or ideas that were lightly spoken of early on in the game.

"When it comes right down to the wire, I am Setsuna tries to identify itself as a 1990s love letter to the older fans, and quite possibly people who are just learning of this early-style genre today."

The fantasy setting is a great platform for video game music and I am Setsuna is no exception. Always playing on the melancholy tones while out in the vast lands of the world, there are often hymns of something greater to come. But greater doesn’t always mean good. There are moments when there are tones of greater evil, but there is always a time of hope within the musics fantastical melodies.

When it comes right down to the wire, I am Setsuna tries to identify itself as a 1990s love letter to the older fans, and quite possibly people who are just learning of this early-style genre today. It gets a lot of the elements correct but the lack of momentum at times, and the confusing controls make it not quite as perfect as I’d like to remember my JRPGs being.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.