As the company behind wildly successful franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest, it's impossible to deny that Square Enix is one of the titans in the game industry, producing RPGs that have defined the genre. Project Athia is only the next title in the company's repertoire -- but what exactly is Project Athia? Although it's being made by such a high profile company, information about it is pretty scarce. It was only revealed last June, so there aren't a lot of announcements for curious players to work with. Still, what's been seen so far indicates that the game is worth watching.
The Premise
Consumers have only known about Project Athia for about two months, ever since the trailer was revealed at the PlayStation 5 event in June. It's quite a short trailer with no confirmed gameplay footage, but it does reveal enough to sort out the game's concept. This new IP appears to tell the story of an unnamed female character who has somehow been spirited away from the modern world and dropped in a fantasy world. Both the trailer and the game's page on the Square Enix website contain the same cryptic phrases about truths and devotions. Seemingly, this game is written around themes like identity, discovery, and changing perceptions.
The trailer seems to promise that the player character will wield some impressive adventuring skills and magical powers in spite of her displacement from her world. She conjures a tremendous mass of vines to protect herself from a pack of large wolf monsters and leaps from rock to rock to navigate very jagged terrain. If that wasn't enough to summarize the fantastical premise, the trailer ends with a shot of a tremendous fiery dragon. Square Enix clearly wants to promise fantasy battles of epic proportions.
One presumes that, knowing the company behind Project Athia, there will be RPG components at play in this game. It seems likely that Square Enix will want to introduce mechanics like a magic progressions system. The one feature of the game that's already been confirmed is that it's an open world adventure. Players might be able to have some Skyrim-esque adventures exploring this mysterious setting at their own pace. If the parkour maneuvers are anything to go by, there'll be some very satisfying movement options to explore with too.
Building Expectations
It goes without saying that nearly every detail about Project Athia is an inscrutable mystery for now. Until Square Enix comes forward to talk about it, the trailer is a speculation gold mine, chock full of eldritch monsters and shadowy mystery. A few technical details are known. The game is being made for PS5 and PC using the Luminous Engine, which ought to draw some attention. Luminous Engine has already received acclaim for rendering graphics of a mind-bogglingly high quality. It seems ideal to use that engine for an ambitious new fantasy adventure.
It's worth noting that Project Athia is only the working title, so the game might be called something completely different once Square Enix releases more information about it. Curious players should be wary of a name change, so they know what to follow. A working title also means that it's probably going to be a while before Square Enix comes forward with more information about the game. It's probably in very early stages, so players will have to be patient.
However, the curious would be wise to pay a visit to the game's aforementioned page on the Square Enix website. There, players can sign up to receive updates about the game as soon as the developers come forward with new information. Even if it takes a while to pay off, there's no harm in being in the loop. Square Enix probably feels very confident about Project Athia if it was willing to reveal this project so soon, so maybe it won't be too long after all before updates start trickling in.
Project Athia is in development for PS5.