NIS America announced it will bring Aquaplus and Tamsoft’s PS4 exclusiveUtawarerumono Zanto the west in Fall 2019. The announcement was previously leaked by Koch Media France who uploaded the reveal trailer a few hours too early.
Utawarerumonois initially a trilogy mixing visual novel and tactical RPG elements.Utawarerumono Zanis the first action RPG of the franchise and the first game in full 3D. Players make a team of four out of 12 characters and can freely switch between the four in battle. There’s also equipment to custom and new skills to learn through quests. The game also has an online co-op mode.
The story ofZancovers the events from the second game,Utawarerumono Mask of Deception. While it takes place years after the first game and mostly features new characters, the story was cut down quite a bit inUtawarerumono Zan, so newcomers who didn’t playMask of Deceptionor the rest of the trilogy will easily lose track of what’s going on.
A limited edition forUtawarerumono Zanwas also announced in the west and is only available on NIS America’sonline shop.
The firstUtawarerumonogame released on PC in Japan in 2002. The game took place in a country based on feudal Japan inhabited by humans with animal ears and tails. The story specifically followed an amnesic masked man named Hakuoro and the group of people who welcomed him, as they got engulfed in war.
Utawarerumono’s story and characters, down to their clothing, are heavily influenced byAinu culture. TheUtawarerumonofranchise is quite popular among connoisseurs, and the first game had multiple ports and remakes along with an anime adaptation. While Aquaplus and the game’s scenarists revealed quite early it would receive sequels and that the story was planned as a trilogy, for a multitude of reasons, the second game only released in 2015, 13 years later. With a bit more luck,Utawarerumonocould have become a huge franchise like Type-Moon’sFate/Stay Night.
We’ve reviewed the previous games of the series: The second gameUtawarerumono Mask of Deception, released on PS Vita and PS4 on March 2017, and the third game,Utawarerumono Mask of Truth, released for the same platforms on September 2017.
A PS4 and Vita remake of the first game was already released in Japan in April 2018, and it’ll come early 2020 on PS4 and Vita in the west asUtawarerumono Prelude to The Fallen.
The Japanese release ofUtawarerumono Zanhad collaboration costumes fromTrails of Cold Steel 4.It’ll be interesting if these are included in the western version as well, as we’ll only getTrails of Cold Steel 3by Fall 2019.The costumes are part of a long collaboration between Falcom and Aquaplus, and live concerts featuring OST from franchises of both studiosmight be happening in the near future.
you’re able to find the announcement trailer forUtawarerumono Zanbelow. We’ve covered past Japanesegameplay trailersas well.
