TeamNora Games and publisher HypeTrain Digital have announced that DeathStick, an upcoming 2D Metroidvania title, is undergoing a name-change.
The game will now be known as Akatori, combining the two Japanese words: 赤い “Akai”, meaning 'red' and 鳥 “Tori”, meaning 'bird'. The new name refers to the red canary that the main character meets at the beginning of the game – an animal which transforms into a staff and becomes your weapon.
No reasoning has been provided for the name-change, but it could well be to do with the fact that 'death stick' is sometimes used as a slang term for a cigarette – not exactly the meaning the developer originally had in mind, we're sure.
As for the game itself, it's still on track to launch on Switch in 2022. We'll leave you with an official description:
The ancient God has been dormant for many ages. All this time, two dimensions of the magical world of Aarkalia co-existed in balance. But one day, everything will change – the endless power of ancient God will be brought upon the Aarkalia to turn it into ashes.
Only the young girl Mako can stop the dark ritual from happening. Embark on this fascinating adventure, uncover its mysteries and help Mako discover her true destiny!
Akatori has a unique world-switching mechanic: a World Warp ability turns the special in-game areas 180 degrees, transfers the protagonist into another dimension and unlocks new locations.
Comments 25
Regardless of the reason for the change, the new name sounds much better so good decision.
They don’t want to sell us Death Sticks. They want to go home and rethink their lives.
The game itself looks awesome, I just feel like devs shoot themselves in the foot sometimes by announcing too early. 2022 seems so far away lol.
Akatori sounds way cooler than deathstick
'Hey did you pick up that new game?'
"Whats it called?"
'DeathStick.'
Meanwhile this sounds way cooler as I said
'Hey are you going to get Akatori?'
"Yeah it sounds super cool!"
Sounds way better than deathstick
@veesonic Everyone will probably forget all about it so as long as they market it well closer to launch it'll be about as good as a new announcement anyway so probably not a big deal.
@TheSmashTheorist Yeah, DeathStick wasn't a great choice. When I hear that name, I instantly expect the game to be shovelware and there's a good chance I might not even give it a look. Akatori on the other hand sounds quite interesting and makes me want to actually look into what it is.
@Deady A++ comment
@BenAV I like the new name, Deathstick is a Quentin Tarantino movie where Danny Trejo kills people by flicking them with toothpicks, but I did have a quick Daikatana flashback from the new name, and that's never good. 😂
@Deady Beat me to it!
deathstick ain't a bad name but not something you'd match to what we see here
Awesome another great Metroidvania game which I won't be able to get into cause I'm way behind on all my Metroidvania playthrough.
@rjejr Even as an English name, Red Bird sounds much better than BIG SWORD
The original title sounds like it should have come with a surgeon general's warning.
@Kieroni The type of media that BIG SWORD works for as a title would not be fit for a family friendly site. (insert eggplant emoji here) 🤣
@rjejr Oh jeez, don't give them any ideas.
Looks good from the very short trailer. That said, can we keep to the more recent trend of announcing games closer to an actual release?
In an ideal world, games would be announced, and relased within the same year.
Understandable since death stick® is the name of a drug in Disney's™ Star wars™, and they will defend their copywrite as death stick®'s are a potential expanded universe plotline subject matter for an exciting Disney™ and Disney +™ new show.
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What's really bugging me about this name change is that the Japanese text behind the English text doesn't match phonetically. It says Akaitori behind the word Akatori. Help.
I like the look of the game but in two years I will have forgotten it.
Oh what’s in a name. why does that remind me of poetry somehow??
@Deady These ARE the comments I’m looking for!
Weird that they picked a name that sounds so much like food. Mmmm chicken yakitori.
Immortals Fenyx Rising envies this name change greatly
@SirAileron Haha, I'm not the only one. If they want it to be Akatori they have to remove the hiragana!
wanna buy some death sticks?
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