Level-5 Is Hiring For A New RPG Project

The creators of Professor Layton, Yo-Kai Watch, Ni No Kuni, and Fantasy Life are recruiting for a new RPG that's in development.

The fact that Level-5 describe the project as "brand new" means that it won't be a continuation of any of those series, and the artwork above appears to show some concept art for the RPG, which looks like it'll combine cyberpunk elements with Level-5's signature fairytale style.

The positions are:

• Game Director
• Producer
• Programmer (with server-side development preferred)
• Planner
• 3D Character Designer
• 3D Character Motion Designer
• 3D Map Designer
• Effect Designer
• UI Designer
• Test Player (part-time)

There's not much to go on from this list, although the fact that they're hiring a Director seems to imply that the project isn't currently being spearheaded by anyone in particular. Also, needing a programmer with server experience might mean that the game has online multiplayer. Other than that, we can just tell that the game is going to be 3D, and include both characters and maps.

However, the job descriptions include the following tidbits:

• "Experience in games for smartphones"
• "Experience in developing native Android/iOS applications"
• Experience in physics simulation and AI programming, such as crowd simulation
• The map data will include "towns, fields, dungeons, etc." as well as "map gimmicks and plants"
• Experience with developing for consoles "such as PS3, PS4, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, etc." is mentioned in the 3D Map Designer post
• The Effects Designer post also mentions preferential treatment for anyone who's worked on console games
• The Tester job asks for "those who like consumer games, online games, smartphone app games, browser games"

So it seems likely that the game is a mobile game, with typical open-world RPG elements, and the potential to also be on console.

In order to accept any of the jobs, applicants must be in Japan or able to move to Japan, and speak "business-level" Japanese. All of the roles can be remote, but still require living in Japan. Some of the roles — including the UI Designer, Programmer, and Planner, but not the Producer or Director — are marked as "Urgent Recruitment", which might imply that work is already underway and more help is needed ASAP.

Don't get too hyped, though — Level-5 said last year that they had no plans for future games outside of Japan, having shuttered their North American offices in 2019. We're still getting Switch ports of Ni No Kuni 2 and Layton's Mystery Journey, and we've also been promised Yo-Kai Watch 4 and Inazuma Eleven: Great Road of Heroes, though we haven't had news on the former for ages, and the latter was just delayed to 2023.

What are your hopes for this new Level-5 RPG? Let us know in the comments.