Inazuma Eleven: Great Road Of Heroes Receives New Name, Screens, And More Changes

Level-5 has finally shared some new information on its new Inazuma Eleven game. Following the company president's announcement that the developer would be dropping more information in a blog post, we can see that the project has undergone some pretty big changes on the pitch — including a brand new name.

The game will now be called Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes — after previously being called Inazuma Eleven Ares and Great Road of Heroes — Gematsu reports, following Level-5's latest blog post.

There are no new trailers, but we have got a ton of new info on the upcoming game, which has seen a bit of a shift. But this is also the most we've heard about Inazuma Eleven for quite a while, so we're sure you're all eager to see the changes!

First up, let's kick off with this lovely new bit of key art. The new logo, according to Level-5, portrays the sky and the clouds, "before the birth of lightning" (Inazuma can mean lightning in Japanese).

Then the developer goes into the series' traditional pen touch system without a pen. Level-5 wanted to work out whether the game could still work with a touch screen, or whether it could get rid of this functionality. Instead, it came up with the "Free Soccer Interface", an interchangeable system which will let you swap between touch controls or standard controls anytime during a match.

For the Switch version, you can position the screen in handheld mode horizontally or vertically and draw lines to guide players across the pitch. Or on the TV you can swap between horizontal or vertical views using the controller.

Level-5 also shared a graphic depicting how the control system has changed from the previous DS and 3DS titles, along with a batch of screenshots showing just how a typical football match will play out.

The game is also set in a brand-new school, and events no longer take place in a parallel world. The school is in Nagasaki, Kyushu, and the protagonist Unmei Sasanami's story is no longer tied to characters from previous games in the series.

Victory Road of Heroes will have "the longest series yet", according to Level-5. The soccer matches will be "more strategic" than before, too, and you'll be driven by the character's passion throughout the game.

Lastly, there's a brand new mode called "Chronicle Mode". This will let you team up with characters from previous Inazuma Eleven games and is essentially a legacy mode, letting you take on whoever you want on soccer matches. You unlock more characters in-game by clearing achievements, and more characters will be added to the game in future updates.

Level-5 has also launched a brand new teaser website for the game, which is still scheduled for release next year. And the developer has stated that it hopes to share even more information with us in the winter. Will keep our seats warm, then!

For a little bit of insight on why Level-5 decided to change the game's name for a third time, along with more details, you can check out the blog post (in Japanese) right here.

Unfortunately, it's not likely we'll see this new Inazuma Eleven game here in the West as a few years ago, it was reported that Level-5 would be halting all operations in North America.

• Further reading - Professor Layton Dev Level-5 Has No Plans For Future Games Outside Of Japan, Says Report

How do you feel about the name change and new visuals for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes? Are you excited about all of the new info? Let us know!