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If you haven’t heard about XSEED Games, you should take a look. They are a Japanese game publisher that has been delivering impressively engaging titles since 2004. Their goal is to bridge the exciting, competitive, and innovative Japanese and North American gaming cultures. Their large selection of titles across nearly every platform offers a lot of incredibly fun worlds to explore, but they’ve recently announced some big new updates sure to please any fan of Japanese gaming.
First up, their highly-anticipated Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle, a new card battle RPG, is coming to Nintendo Switch on August 10, 2021, and is available for pre-order today. Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle is a new version of the mobile and PC classic that includes cards from the first three sets of the original mobile and PC game along with brand new cards unique to this title.
If you were a fan of the original game then you should check out Champion’s Battle. Everything you love about the mobile and PC version is still here including strategic deck building and intense card battles. The all-new battle animations and new cards will provide more than enough fun for both experienced Shadowverse players as well as those new to the game.
Next on the list is a complete reimagining of the incredibly popular game that defined the farming genre back in 2003, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. That’s right, Mineral Town is back and better than ever!
The Story of Seasons games date back to 1996 with the launch of the original Harvest Moon on the Super Nintendo console.
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town launched on the Game Boy Advance a few years into the new millennium and quickly became one of the most loved farming games in the genre. For this version, the graphics have been recreated to modern-day standards, while core features such as multi-floor mining and fan-favorite horse racing have been refined and improved upon.
Newcomers to the series will discover the compelling farming gameplay and complex characters that made this series the standard in the genre, and veterans will be able to enjoy a return to a wonderful world with updated systems, character designs, and a completely new translation.
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town rebuilds the best-selling farm/life simulator with modern graphics and a few new things that fans of the series and newcomers will both enjoy.
Ready to work and play? Choose your character's appearance and clothing to suit your sense of style.
Itching to get to the good life? Seedline mode lets you start with more money, ready-to-harvest crops, and faster relationship progression. Expand your farmstead, renovate your home, and upgrade your tools for a fully customizable farming experience.
Relive your love of the original or dive into it to experience the magic of Mineral Town for the first time with Story of Seasons. The game is available now for Steam and Nintendo Switch for $39.99.
And for the first time, Story of Seasons is launching on Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It arrives in Fall 2021 with pricing to be announced later this year.
Continuing down the list is Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed. In celebration of the cult classic’s 10th anniversary, Hellbound & Debriefed is the precursor to Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, the smash hit that introduced a Western audience to the seedy underworld lurking in the shadows of the haven of “otaku” culture in the Akihabara district of Tokyo.
Probably the most impressive aspect of the game is the world the developers have created. As in the original Akiba's Trip released in Japan in 2011, players can wander through the real Akihabara district of Tokyo brought to life with painstaking detail, complete with accurate street layouts and shops based on real businesses operating at the time.
Aside from the impressive setting, the gameplay and incredibly deep amount of customization lets you make the game and your character your own. You can wield an arsenal of replicas, collectibles, and other amusing objects as you fight off vampires while wearing a stylish array of customizable clothes and costumes.
Fans of truly dynamic stories will appreciate how much your character’s choices affect the storyline in the game. Unlike some other games that still direct your character to a limited number of options and outcomes, your choices Hellbound & Debriefed can result in a wide variety of different outcomes.
Much like with Story of Seasons, this new imagining of the original hit updates the series with modern graphics while keeping the same world and gameplay that endeared fans to the original. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is coming to PC, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch on July 20. You can pre-order now to reserve your copy. The Day 1 ‘10th Anniversary Edition’ comes with a 96-page softcover art book with 60 pages of new art and a 2-disc soundtrack consisting of 47 tracks.
Last up on the list are two games coming to the incredibly popular Story of Seasons spinoff franchise, Rune Factory. The first is Rune Factory 4 Special, an expanded and improved version of Rune Factory 4 with graphics remastered for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC so players can experience the glory of Selphia in full high definition. In addition to the remastered graphics, the audio has been updated with full support for English and Japanese.
This special edition of Rune Factory 4 brings more than just updated graphics and audio though. Much like the beloved series on which Rune Factory is based, one of the most-loved parts of the original Rune Factory 4 was the ability to develop relationships with the townspeople, even choosing to marry one if you chose. In this version, those relationships are taken to the next level with an all-new Newlywed Mode which lets you upload your saved data from the previous game and play through a standalone adventure based on your new life with your partner.
In addition to Newlywed Mode, the exclusive Another Episode DLC lets players get a glimpse of what the future has in store for them and their partner in these fully voiced vignettes featuring illustrations by Yukihiro "Yukihi" Kofuyu. The DLC includes an episode about each marriage candidate for a total of 12. More information about when you can get the DLC on PS4, Xbox One, and PC is coming soon.
For those hoping for some updates to the adventuring aspects of the game, the new Hell Mode gives players an entirely new challenge beyond the original Hard Mode. Needless to say, it’s quite a challenge.
Rune Factory 4 Special is coming to Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC later this year. Pricing will be announced later this year.
Yes, you’re right, I did say two games were coming to the Rune Factory franchise. Rune Factory 5 is coming to the Nintendo Switch in early 2022! The forthcoming entry to the series brings all the great things you know and love from the earlier games, plus the ability to team up with the local townsfolk to battle monsters and unleash powerful combination attacks adding a whole new element to combat.
XSEED hasn’t released much more info about Rune Factory 5 yet but be sure to stay tuned for more updates later this year.
