Valkyria: Azure Revolution
 Japanese logo | |
| Developer(s) | Media.Vision |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Director(s) | Takeshi Ozawa |
| Producer(s) |
Youichi Shimosato Katsura Mikami |
| Artist(s) |
Hiro Kiyohara Takayama Toshiaki |
| Composer(s) | Yasunori Mitsuda |
| Series | Valkyria |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 4 |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
Valkyria: Azure Revolution (Japanese: 蒼き革命のヴァルキュリア Hepburn: Aoki Kakumei no Varukyuria, lit. Valkyria of the Blue Revolution) is an upcoming role-playing video game in development by Media.Vision for PlayStation 4. It is planned to be released by Sega in Japan in late 2016. It is part of the Valkyria series, but is considered to be separate from the previous games.
Gameplay
Valkyria: Azure Revolution is a real-time role-playing video game with strategy elements. The flow of the game consists of the player preparing at their base, going to the battlefield to achieve their objectives, and then returning to the base again.[1][2] The game includes permanent death, meaning that characters that die are removed from the game; the player can choose to retry if one of their characters die.[3]
Plot
Setting and characters
The small country of Jutland is economically blockaded by Rus, a powerful empire that expanded its territory and achieved rapid industrial development after discovering the azure mineral Ragnite; this mineral is used as an energy resource, but also has magical properties. Wanting independence from colonial rule, Jutland strikes the base of the empire's army. In addition to humans, the game world is inhabited by Valkyria; they are "supernatural" in comparison to humans, and close to being gods. Players take the role of Amleth, the commanding officer of Jutland's elite anti-Valkyria unit. Among other characters are Jutland's princess Ophelia, and Brynhildr, a Valkyria who is on the Rus empire's side.[2]
Development
The game is being developed by Media.Vision, and is directed by Takeshi Ozawa and produced by Youichi Shimosato and Katsura Mikami. The characters are designed by Hiro Kiyohara and Takayama Toshiaki, and modeled by Flight Unit. The game uses the Gouache Drawing Engine for the graphics, with which the development team intends to depict the game in a painting-like manner. The game was announced for PlayStation 4 in November 2015 alongside a PlayStation 4 version of Valkyria Chronicles; a demo for Azure Revolution will be included with the Chronicles remaster, and Sega plans to gather feedback on the game from people who play the demo.[2] This is a change compared to previous games by the developer, where the demo was released close to the release of the final product, making the demo have no effect on the development.[3] The game is planned to be released by Sega in Japan in Q4 of 2016 for PlayStation 4.[2][4]
Work on the game began with the development team wanting to create something new related to the Valkyria series; at first, they considered making a real-time strategy game, but decided to make a real-time role-playing game instead, as they thought more people would want to play that. Ozawa said that while there are aspects of the game that are similar to Valkyria Chronicles, the game is mostly different. Shimosato saw it as a new series within the Valkyria franchise; he referred to it as the Kakumei ("Revolution") series, and called previous Valkyria games the Senjou ("Battlefield") series.[2]
One of the game's themes is death; the development team felt that if characters would not die, the player would not feel fear, which is what led to the inclusion of permanent death in the game. They included story events for specific characters, to make the player feel motivated to keep everyone alive; while the main story continues, events relating to specific characters do not occur if that character is dead. However, they intended for it to be possible to experience everything in the game if the player puts effort into it, with it being possibly to retry if a character dies. The development team did not want to tone down the obstacles the player faces in the game; instead, they plan to include an easier mode.[3]
The music is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, who chose to use a classical sound for the game. He intended to express the game's worldview through the music, and used seamless switching between battle and field music, something that was new to him. The main theme was performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; according to Mitsuda, the scale of the recording session was larger than what was usual for Japanese video games. One song, "Eternal Rest", was sung by Sarah Àlainn; according to her and Mitsuda, it is a positive song themed around death. Because of its similarity to hymns, Àlainn attempted to express the song with a "mystic yet dark feeling to the singing".[5]
References
- ↑ Sato (2015-11-17). "Valkyria: Azure Revolution Announced For PlayStation 4". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Romano, Sal (2015-11-17). "Valkyria: Azure Revolution, Valkyria Chronicles Remaster announced for PS4 (Update 4)". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- 1 2 3 Romano, Sal (2015-11-24). "Valkyria: Azure Revolution has permanent death". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ "Valkyria: Azure Revolution Game Announced for PS4". Anime News Network. 2015-11-18. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
- ↑ Sato (2016-01-22). "Valkyria: Azure Revolution Gets An Extended Trailer, Details And Concept Behind Its Music". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
| ||||||||||