Not too long after the introduction of Gust’s teaser website earlier this week, this week’s issue of Famitsu broke the news that Gust is working on an entirely new IP – an Action RPG called “Yoru no Nai Kuni” or “Land of No Night.” Details are scant as there isn’t much commentary or media on the game except for initial Famitsu coverage. But the game takes place in a world where people don’t sleep, and the battle system is said to emphasize cooperation. Koei Tecmo’s Keisuke Kikuchi is the development producer, previously working on Fatal Frame and Deception (to note, Koei Tecmo owns Gust.)
Interestingly, the game is planned for release on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. A Japan-made RPG going cross-gen nowadays seems hardly surprising, but it’s noteworthy to see the Vita joining the ranks here. Gust should still have some familiarity developing for the Vita, if their recent “Plus” version ports of Atelier games are any indication.
It stood to reason that this would be a new IP. The text on the teaser website says “shoujo” cross Gust, implying something about shoujo being an important part of whatever Gust would be doing next. Shoujo typically refers to females under twenty, and, while the Atelier series that Gust is most known for nowadays tends to feature cute young girls, the pre-announcement behavior wasn’t inconsistent with prior Atelier games. Usually, when Gust teases a new Atelier game, it is assigned a codename comprised of the letter A and the number that the new title will take within the franchise (for example, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea‘s codename was Project A16.)
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out considering that developing an action RPG is a first for Gust. Gamers in Japan won’t have to wait long to find out; the game comes out for all platforms on August 27 of this year.
