Bandai Namco Entertainment has released new details on the first free story update coming to Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. The first update titled Ancient Apostles: The Reaper of the Woods focuses on Sinon and Kirito as they investigate cases of villagers being attacked near the “lost woods.” The update is scheduled to launch in Fall 2020 and adds a new story scenario, a new weapon and finishing arts for Sinon, four additional SAO Gameverse heroines from past games, and Live2D to event cutscenes among other things.
You can check out the list of additions coming with the story update below.
- What is “Ancient Apostles Reaper of the Woods”?
- It is an additional free scenario focused on one of the characters from the main game
- Event scenes in the upcoming Additional Story updates and DLCs will now feature Live2D
- Newly added boss enemies
- New Sinon Character art and weapon
- New Sinon Finish Arts broll
- New Live 2D Adventure scene
- Additional playable game-original heroines (Rain, Strea, Kureha, Tia)
- New Costumes, Weapons, and Finish Arts added for the new original characters
The screenplay for Ancient Apostles: the Reaper of the Woods is written by Kana Akatsuki, the author of the Violet Evergarden light novels. A synopsis of the 1st story update is as follows (translation via Gematsu):
A legend about an archer who fell into forbidden love with a divine beast.
A terrifying divine beast who resembles the grim reaper lived in the great forest.
People relied on a young archeress that often was called “the free shooter” to slay this beast. Although she and the beast fell in love besides their differences.
The people became furious when they discovered this, and killed both the beast and the archeress. After their death, they make anyone who steps foot into the forest lose their way, transforming the forest into the “lost forest.”
Kirito and Sinon investigate multiple cases of villagers getting assaulted near the “lost forest.”
Bandai Namco also released a preview of the Live2D cutscene and Sinon’s finishing art. You can watch both videos below.
Live2D Preview
Sinon Finish Art
Sinon’s new character art as well as Rain, Strea, Kureha and Tia’s new designs were also revealed. You can check those out below.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
