Shift Up isn't stopping with Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, with the long-teased Project Spirits set for a proper reveal this year if all continues to go well.
As part of its latest financial briefing, Shift Up says its planning to give the "AAA-class" game an official unveiling this year, and that's not all. Further into the financial presentation, Shift Up offers some more titbits of information to tide us over until then.
Shift Up first tackles a question over Project Spirit's current development status and when it might be unveiled properly. While the Stellar Blade developer isn't going to give much away, we get a sense of what's going on.
In terms of scope, Shift Up says Project Spirit is considered the developer's "next flagship title and a core pipeline project."
When it comes to actually putting the game together, Shift Up says Project Spirits is "progressing smoothly under an efficient and well-structured development process." So much so that the team is aiming to unveil the game in the second half of this year.
In a follow-up answer, Shift Up explains what Project Spirits' "competitive edge" is, given the sort of competition any new game has in the market currently.
"Project Spirits is a AAA-class title built on an 'Eastern fantasy' universe, targeting a global cross-platform live service," Shift Up says. "We are focused on delivering a highly polished game that brings together the development capabilities and live-service experience we have accumulated."
The answer on the whole is interesting, as it sounds like Shift Up is leaning on lessons taken from its other big, rather horny, hit. While plenty may know Shift Up through Stellar Blade, the developer has been working on Goddess of Victory: Nikke for much longer, alongside other games like Destiny Child, which was shut down a few years back.
First released on mobile platforms before coming to PC, Nikke plays the hits as far as gacha action RPGs go. You've got multiple characters you can recruit to your party if you're willing to part with the cash or time – and to make sure you do part with your cash, each anime girl offers the sort of over-the-top proportions you wouldn't want to be seen looking at while working in an office. It's for a story, I swear.
So what links Shift Up's past to its future? Our latest nuggets of information align with the informed community speculation that's been put together through various translated job ads. Alongside multiplayer playable characters, it looks like we're getting open-world areas, towns, dungeons, and a focus on action gameplay.
While Stellar Blade has plenty of semi-open zones and of action-focused combat, everything currently put forward makes this one sound more like Nikke and other games from Shift Up's backlog.
As for when we'll see it, there are a few showcases Shift Up has been known to appear at. Given the update, it sounds like Gamescom is too soon. Tokyo Game Show isn't impossible, but given Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, you'd wonder if The Game Awards is the most likely bet – all things going well, of course.
Either way, it's a long time coming. Project Witches has been kicking around for a while, before it was officially renamed to Project Spirits. The name change came with some new art that was horny enough that cropping it for a previous article was a real chore. Mind you, some weren't impressed, as AI accusations swiftly followed its reveal.
Once Project Spirits is properly revealed, you know people will be closely examining it – for better or for worse.
