It’s been a while since we’ve last heard of Eshigami no Kizuna, Compile Heart’s smartphone title featuring moe-fied Osamu Tezuka characters, but news on the game surfaced recently when it was announced this week that the game’s publisher will be changed from ForwardWorks to Rudel. While the game was supposed to launch in 2019, it was pushed back to 2020 in December. Additionally, new screenshots of what gameplay will be like have also been released. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Compile Heart prefaced the news with an announcement video regarding the publisher change:

﻿

ForwardWorks is a smartphone game-focused subsidiary of Sony that focuses on the publishing and operation of smartphone games. Last year, they fell into controversy due to Disgaea RPG, where a rocky March launch period turned into extended maintenance repairs for more than half a year until November 2019. Meanwhile Rudel is a smartphone game developer which opened in 2013, and has two games in operation: Dragon Egg, and Dragon Smash.

The biggest draw of Eshigami no Kizuna is undoubtedly the characters, which are pretty girl versions of classic Osamu Tezuka Production characters, such as Atom Boy, Black Jack, Phoenix, etc. However, the story itself borrows a bit of Compile Heart’s flair for self-awareness, as you can see below:

“The artists must borrow the power of the gods to fight against Deadline, the God of Destruction, and its minions. Artists – ones who make a living via their own drawings. In a world where tens of thousands of artists fight for their survival, they must now borrow the power of the gods, and create new anthromorphosized beings. And the ones created from the fusion of artists and godly powers are… If you are not accepted in this world, then you will surely disappear. Now fight! The time to test the bonds between artists and Eshigami has arrived!”

Gameplay-wise, it seems that the game will utilize a simplified RPG battle system with a nine-space area to move characters around in. Battles take place in waves, and feature full 3D models. In character profiles, you’ll be able to check out which Tezuka Production character the girl is based on in order to know more about its manga origins.

Here’s a whole bunch of screenshots below:

Eshigami no Kizuna is now open for pre-registration in preparation for its Spring 2020 launch on iOS and Android. Game development is being handled by Winlight.