First Details for Exist Archive Reveal Chibi Evil God Protagonists, Dungeon Crawling, More

This week’s Famitsu (via Games Talk) has the first details for Spike Chunsoft and tri-Ace’s newly announced Playstation 4 and PS Vita Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky.

The game is set within modern day Tokyo, Japan, alongside a world on another planet, called “Protolexa.” There are a dozen young protagonists, all of whom are evil, soul-collecting gods who have become embroiled in the issues of all gods. An interview with the development staff has confirmed some tidbits for the game, like its length: players will need at least 40 to 50 hours to complete the main story (this doesn’t include extra dungeons, side quests, and so on).

The keyword for the game is “sharp,” meaning this isn’t your typical good versus evil story, rather one in which the characters deal with the situation at hand. Players will have to make the difficult choice of who to send back to Earth, and in what order to send them back, as this will directly affect the ending of the game. There’s also a boss battle time attack online component, although details for this aren’t available currently.

Yuichiro Saito is the producer, while Yoshiharu Gotanda is the R&D Lead Programmer. Masaki Norimoto is the director and scenario writer, Motoi Sakuraba is composing music, and Mino Taro is handling character designs. As we previously reported, Spike Chunsoft is publishing the game, while tri-Ace is handling the bulk of development (although both developers are working on the game).

The main focus of the game is dungeon crawling. You’ll be able to explore dungeons from a side-view perspective, while the characters are presented in a 3D, chibi-sized style. The characters can use various skills like jumping, dashing, and more to solve puzzles. The enemies are not randomized, they are presented on screen prior to battle.

There’s an “Active Chain Battle” system that lets up to four characters fight in battle. Each party member can be assigned to the Circle, X, Square, or Triangle buttons. If you press a button that is assigned to a character, that character will perform an attack. If you manage to set up a bunch of successful moves, you can increase your score and increase rare item drops.

Battles can be set up with characters in two rows, the front and the back. While the front row gives you a higher attack power, you’re also open to attacks. The back row will lower your attack, but also places you outside the front lines. You can also rotate characters between the two rows. While there are twelve protagonists, the evil gods’ power lurks within them, and can be unleashed via a powerful attack.

The first quartet of characters include: