The Witch and the Hundred Cavalrymen Gets A Load of Screenshots, Info.

Giuseppe Nelva October 5, 2011 11:21 AM EST

Nippon Ichi Software released today a large batch of screenshots, art and information about their upcoming JRPG The Witch and the Hundred Cavalrymen, to be released in 2012 (at least in Japan) on PS3.

The game will be released in two editions, normal and limited, even if the prices of both haven’t been anounced yet. The limited edition will include a soundtrack CD, a hardcover artbook and a Nendroid series figurine of Metallica.

Defied “Dark Fantasy Action RPG”, the game will revolve about the adventures of the swamp witch Metallica and Hyaku Kihei (Hundred Cavalrymen) that serves her as a soldier. Despite the name, Hundred Cavalrymen is actually one entity.

Based in the Witch Museum, the game will have a variety of missions, and the player will actually play Hundred Cavalrymen, struggling not only to fight a variety of enemies, but also to avoid traps and solve puzzles.

Hundred cavalrymen uses the energy given by the Witch’s magic (called GigaCal, or GigaCalories), and needs for it to be constantly replenished, or he will die.

The name “Hundred Cavalrymen” isn’t random, as while he’s a single entity, he actually embodies the spirit of 100 died knights. That gives him the power to assume the form of those knights in order to change his abilities and powers, allowing for a wide variety of tactics to be used in the battlefield.

The little knight can grow in levels and power by defeating the enemies he meets on the battlefield, but also by gabbing and using the items dropped by them, further increasing his combat prowess.

Hundred Cavalrymen, due to his status, doesn’t have a concept of morality, so the player can even commit crimes and murders, but the main story will be integrated by many side-quests that may be influenced by this kind of actions and solved in different ways, adding a layer of freedom and sandbox roleplay to the game.

Metallica herself is definitely an anti-heroine (or almost a stereotypical villainess), she proclaims herself a genius, and she guards her swamp fiercely. She also (surprise, surprise) aims to conquer the world with any mean possible.

Giant boss battles will also be present in the game, and the world will be fully explorable, leaving to the player the choice on how to asssociate with the many NPCs, monsters and animals that populate it. Some may be enemies or friends depending on how the player approaches them and behaves.

The game is produced directly by the president of Nippon Ichi and producer of the Disgaea series, The game director will be Tatsuya Izumi (Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness), Takehito Harada (that worked on several Disgaea games himself) will work on the character design and Tenpei Sato (that again worked on multiple Disgaea titles) will compose the musical score.

The cast is quite stellar for the fans of Nippon Ichi games, proving that the developer is putting all it’s weight into this game.

You can see the whole gallery of screenshots and art released below.