Artisan Studios has today showcased a first look at its upcoming JRPG Lost Hellden, which is set to come to PC and consoles — including Switch — in 2025.
Revealed by IGN, the debut trailer looks really rather beautiful with painterly "deep 2D" visuals and what promises to be an action-packed score by Final Fantasy XII and Tactics Ogre composer Hitoshi Sakimoto.
As is summarised in the trailer (and elaborated on the game's website), Lost Hellden will see you adventuring through a world where everyone is bound to one of the seven deadly sins — something they are taught to fight against should they otherwise turn into evil beasts.
According to the Steam page, you will take on the evils of the world through "a battle system mixing action and strategy," with plenty of customisation options along the way.
You can read a little more about the game's story and get a look at some screenshots below.
On a planet called Era, people are bound to one of the Seven Deadly Sins before their first birthday via a religious ceremony called the Nexus Ritual. All their life, the inhabitants of Era have to fight against their urges. Should they fail and succumb, they transform into mindless and aggressive beasts. The Unio religion representatives – the Arkhons – ensure that everyone follows the rules and put down any monsters that appear in the cities.
One day, a woman gives birth to twins, something that never happened before. The Prime Arkhon, supreme leader of Era, conducts the Nexus Ritual himself. However, something goes wrong, and one baby is bound to all seven sins, while the other receives none.
The twins are taken to the capital, Avilah, where they are brought up as Arkhon apprentices. They are never allowed to leave the walls of the sanctuary…
But one day, Leht, the twin bound to the seven sins, manages to leave the city. His brother Cyphel is sent on a mission to find and bring him back. He is accompanied by two seasoned Arkhons, Gram and Enki.
The journey of Cyphel and Leht is one of self-discovery, one that will allow them to grow and become the people they were destined to be.
We don't have a firm release date for this one just yet outside of "2025," but we will be keeping an eye out over the coming months for more news about what we can expect on Switch.
What do you make of Lost Hellden so far? Let us know in the comments.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 32
The premise sounds really interesting and I really like Sakimoto's previous works. Something to keep my eyes on, I guess
Lost me at the premise. Still though. Art looks decent.
Now this sounds really interesting. I wonder if they can deliver on that plot, or if it will just devolve into the usual monster slaying heroics? But I have a good feeling about this. This could be fascinating. For some reason, it's reminiscent of the glorious El Shaddai for me. Will be watching this one!
Dang the story sounds really interesting. I might have to check it out.
Looks promising. I question the release date. I don’t know - I’m not going to get my hopes up too much because other RPG-veterans-make-a-new-ip projects have either not materialized or suffered extensive delays. But, if they can actually pull it off, I’m certainly interested. The art looks great.
The description of the main characters sounds kind of like Final Fantasy IV. Could be interesting.
Wow it looks way better than Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Day one buy indeed.
You had me at Hitoshi Sakimoto. I'm a huge fan of his work!
Now I'll read the rest of the article and see if the game looks good.
‘born bound to one of the 7 sins’
That is the stupidest premise ever
And combat reminiscent of Tales and Star Ocean to boot. Definitely a game to mark on next year's release calendar.
Rad as heck - I'm seeing echoes of Radiata Stories and Bravely Default, though it looks entirely unique.
looks deadly. I need a new RPG. I'm currently playing super mario RPG and paper mario 64 and i'm looking forward to a more serious RPG.
This one looks very interesting, but let's be real... they will most likely not finish the switch version. It just feels like that is what will happen.
@Antraxx777 I agree with you on that, but it looks like it could have some real potential... aside from the first sentence about being "attached to one of the seven deadly sins." Kind of a "Wtf does that nonsense mean right now?"
Be nice if they at least do a Demo for everyone to try out.
@Unit_DTH I think it means that when someone is born after they turn 1 year old they have urges based on the sin that they are bound to. Ex. Someone bound to the greed sin will have urges to steal or hoard money or someone bound to sloth will have urges to be lazy etc.
@Greatluigi Yeah, I had thought of it that way. It just seemed like a bizarre way to start off the story introduction for the teaser of this game.
Well, you can count me in
I'm digging this story. I'm getting weird Xenoblade Chronicles and Baten Kaitos vibes. I'm liking what I see so far and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Looks exactly like my kind of jrpg
I don't know, man. These aren't high school kids with powers. I see no social bonding tish. I'm scared and confused.
So, their Focus is to stay pure and if they fail they become Cie'th. Could be interesting.
Sounds interesting! The studio (Artisan Studios) is the one behind Astria Ascending, which also had an intriguing setup. That game was very pretty, with well-designed (albeit grueling) combat (the mobs were overbearing even on standard difficulties. Fortunately the difficulty options were plentiful), lovely art, and engrossing (2D) exploration. Sakimoto did the music for it as well (and did a very good job).
Ultimately, its storytelling was the only let-down. The characters failed to build any meaningful connection with me or each other, and all of their biggest scenes were flashbacks about what led them to the story's opening. Too bad it was so disappointing in that regard because I liked the rest of it. (Especially the tile minigame, J-Ster!)
All that to say I'll keep an eye on Lost Hellden!
Don't listen to Ondore's lies!
@hendie001 There are TONS of fantastic RPGs on the Switch already.
Well, the premise is interesting and the game looks good. Will keep an eye on it!
Something something JRPG... with someone who did that, composed for that game, drew that character etc.
This advertising formula tells a lot about a game's quality.
@Cromulent_JohnyCakes I'm Captain Basch fon Rosenburg of Dalmasca!
Looks really cool and the premise sounds interesting so I'm even more glad than I already was that it's confirmed also for Switch!
Stunning visuals you say. Maybe the backgrounds, but the characters just look really cheap and crudely designed. Idk it just gives off a really basic vibe to me, especially when the cutscenes are done with character overlays instead of in-field animations.
@rushiosan Basch lives!
Looks dope, though I'll probably pick it up on PS5 if there are graphical compromises here.
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