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2024 has been a banner year for JRPGs so far. Granblue Fantasy: Relink got the party well and truly going after gestating in development for years, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth followed up in style. Games like Unicorn Overlord have stretched the JRPG genre into more of a strategy vein, while returning golden oldies like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door prove there’s still uncovered treasures in the past.
Now that Summer Game Fest 2024 is nearly here, there’s heightened anticipation for what comes next after these bangers. The good news is there's some sublime-looking new JRPGs on the horizon, and we won't have to wait long to play some of them. Here are five upcoming JRPGs we're keeping an eye on, and keen to know more about, during the Summer Game Fest schedule.
Visions of Mana
Now here’s an incredibly promising JRPG. Visions of Mana is the next release in Square Enix’s long-running JRPG series, and every trailer and screenshot we’ve seen to date is just bursting at the seams with color and personality. Add that Visions of Mana is bringing back the series creator after 16 years, and there’s plenty of reason for veterans to be excited about the new entry.
Visions of Mana is still slated to launch at some point this summer, at the time of writing. Considering we’re almost in June now, the release window for Square Enix’s JRPG is shrinking by the week. A Summer Game Fest showing would be the perfect way for Square Enix to roll out its hot new JRPG in a long-running series, just months before it theoretically launches.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Long-running Persona series creative director Katsuhira Hashino is doing something deliciously different with Metaphor: ReFantazio, a JRPG that eschews Person’s modern trappings for a grand Medieval-style adventure with warring factions in a broken kingdom. Hey, the new game from the Persona lead doesn’t even have romance options, if you need proof of how much of a departure it is.
Metaphor: ReFantazio looks nothing short of fantastic, blending together real-time and turn-based combat to bring something fresh to the JRPG table. Fresh off Unicorn Overlord’s smash-hit launch, now's a great time for Atlus to put its hot new game in front of a huge audience before it arrives with a bang later this year on October 11 across all console platforms and PC. And happily, it looks like we're set to see more, with a recent announcement confirming an exclusive showcase will be happening on June 7.
Blue Protocol
Blue Protocol is giving Genshin Impact vibes, and that's not a bad thing. The free-to-play action-RPG, developed by Bandai Namco and published by Amazon, of all companies, is due out later this year, and is actually a full-on MMORPG. I know we're not exactly short of huge MMOs right now (Final Fantasy 14 is on the cusp of launching its next expansion, even), but the thought of delving into a vast new anime land with big characters and customization options is still an exciting prospect.
What's critical about Blue Protocol is that it just relatively recently abandoned its June 2024 release date, and now doesn't have a release date beyond later this year at some point. Summer Game Fest would be the perfect opportunity for Bandai to show players of Genshin Impact and the new Wuthering Waves why they need to be paying attention to this MMORPG when it launches.
Reynatis
Now here's a bizarre game that came out of nowhere just recently. Reynatis is a vibrant new JRPG with music from Yoko Shimomura of Kingdom Hearts fame, and it’s written by Kazushige Nojima, most recently scribe for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. But wait, there's more! Reynatis has already planned a collaboration with NEO: The World Ends With You, of all things, a sadly overlooked Square Enix series.
Reynatis is due out later this year on September 27, but I'm dying to know more about this intriguing new JRPG before then. If you're going to make a big splash with a JRPG that's gone to painstaking lengths to recreate Shibuya, of all places, what better event to make a splash at than Summer Game Fest?
Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate
Yes, our list contains long-gestating games that we haven't seen or heard much of in years. Square Enix has gone relatively silent on Dragon Quest 12 since it was announced back in 2021, and while a new Dragon Quest is always a treat for JRPG fans far and wide, we'd love to simply know more about the game itself, like story and combat details - considering Yuji Horii previously said Dragon Quest 12 would shake up combat.
I'd love for Square Enix to present Dragon Quest 12 in front of a huge audience at Summer Game Fest. The JRPG series is obviously revered, but it's never had the mainstream success it genuinely deserves outside of Japan. A big splash at Summer Game Fest, especially in the context of 2024 being a banger year for JRPGs, would be a perfect rollout for Dragon Quest 12.
Here are the 15 games we really want to see at Summer Game Fest.
