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Announced last week, Koei Tecmo is making an Attack on Titan game. It’s being developed by Omega-Force, the developers of all the Dynasty Warriors games. But it won’t be a Warriors game. And they want you to know that.


In an interview with Dengeki Online, producer Hisashi Koinuma talked about the conception of the game. “It came to me when read the original manga and thought to myself, ‘I’d love to play a game where I could fly around using the Omnidirectional Mobility Gear.’” Soon after, Koinuma approached the publisher and the author of Attack on Titan with a proposal for the game. Soon after, the project was set into motion at the beginning of 2014.

One thing Omega-Force is famous for is its Warriors series of games, and its ability to take pretty much anything and turn it into a hack-and-slash Warriors style game. However, due to the nature of the plot of Attack on Titan, such a game style—where a single character fights against an army—was the opposite of what usually goes on. This was something that was so much of a concern that until the game’s reveal, the teaser site for the game displayed the message, “This is not ‘Warriors’.” Said Koinuma, “When I proposed the idea for the game, one thing they were specific about was that it not be a Warriors game.”


As for the game’s plot, Koinuma stated that the game will be made so that players will be able to follow the plot of the original story. However, taking into account the possibility that people who would play the game might have gotten the game not because they are fans of the source material, but because they were interested in seeing what all the hype was about. “Think of it as an action game set in the Attack on Titan world where players can move about freely.” Koinuma explained. “It won’t be something where you simply defeat an enemy to progress the story, but rather the base is an action game and within that you can understand the original story.”

Until now, game development at Omega-Force has generally been PS3-centric, with the PS4 versions of games being simple up-res HD versions. With the Attack on Titan game, however, they have switched gears and are developing specifically for the PS4, with the PS3 versions probably being a down-res version instead. “Ideally, we would like people to play the game on the PS4.” Koinuma said, adding, “We will make it playable on the PS3 and PS Vita as well.”


While the game is slated of release in the West in 2016, and in Japan this Winter—technically, “this Winter” can mean as late as March, 2016—the game is apparently still far from perfect. According to Koinuma, the action part of the game has been remade from scratch three times already, and even in its current form, there are still people at Koei Tecmo who say it’s still not right. “Development on the story, additional challenges, and game system are going smoothly, so once the action part solidifies, I believe we’ll be much closer to completion.” Koinuma noted. “We’re making a new action game that’s not a Warriors game, so the development team is working quite hard.”

Attack on Titan (Working Title) is scheduled for release on the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita in Japan this Winter and in the West in 2016. Hopefully, according to Koinuma, there will be more on the game at this year’s Tokyo Game Show next month.


Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

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