PlatinumGames, the Japanese studio responsible for theBayonettaseries, and which partnered with Square Enix to developNier: Automata,has revealed its next game -World of Demons. The announcement trailer, released earlier this week, showcased the game’s artistic style which evokes direct parallels to the 2006 game,Okami.
Okamiwas developed by Clover Studio in partnership with Capcom, and when that studio was closed down, three of the key developers who had worked on Okami;Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya, were among those who founded Platinum Games. Now, following therelease of the remastered Okami HD,Platinum Games seems to have decided to return to its roots withWorld of Demons, invoking much of the style of its predecessor.
Like Okamibefore it, the art style ofWorld of Demonsis heavily inspired by the traditional Japanese painting styles of ukiyo-e and sumi-e, with movements in the game accentuated by splashes of colored ink in a world reminiscent of an artist’s canvas. Platinum Games is certainly relishing the chance to draw comparisons to Okami, as the studio has brought in Hiroshi Yamaguchi, the Japanese composer responsible for Okami’ssoundtrack, to compose the soundtrack forWorld of Demons. However, unlikeŌkami, which was recently announcedwill get a Nintendo Switch release,World of Demonswill not be coming to consoles. Instead, the title is being developed for mobile devices.
The new game is being designed specifically for touch-sensitive mobile platforms, with movement and combat maneuvers controlled by the player with swipes and taps on the touch screen. Rather than the sweeping landscapes ofOkami,World of Demons' encounters take place in individual, arena-like stages.
While Platinum Games may have larger titles,such asBayonetta 3,in development, the studio is certainly not treatingWorld of Demons’development lightly. In fact, Platinum Games appears to be taking the design of the game’s yokai (creatures from Japanese folklore) very seriously, with their portrayals highly faithful to appearances in famed historical texts such as the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo, or “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons,” one of the 17th-century artist Toriyama Sekien’s famous yokai bestiaries. Take for example, the Nuppeppo, which appears briefly duringWorld of Demons’announcement trailer (pictured below), and Sekien’s illustration of the creature. The game’s script, in fact, has been written by husband and wife, Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda, who together had previously produced official English translations of Sekien’s work.
While fans ofOkamimay be disappointed to see thatWorld of Demonswill not be releasing on console, the title looks set to deliver a far more detailed portrayal of Japanese folklore than appeared in the 2006 title. Fans of Platinum Games' work in general certainly have plenty more to look forward to this year withBayonetta 3,and there are evenrumors that the studio is working onVanquish 2.
World of Demonswill release this summer on iOS devices, and on Android devices later in the year.
