Artisan Studios, the developer behind Astria Ascending, has announced their next project. Lost Hellden is an action JRPG that is coming in 2025.
Alongside the announcement is a trailer that demonstrates the art style they’re using, which is confusingly called “Deep 2D.” They explain it: “You play in 3D in hand-painted artworks with dynamic lighting and weather.” To me, it looks like 3D polygonal models with hand-painted textures over hybrid 2D pre-rendered backgrounds. Maybe they’re referring to the way the lighting and real-time weather give the 2D backgrounds some tangible depth. That sort of sounds like how it was done in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil.
Anyway, I’m getting off track. It looks pretty convincing. It reminds me of a more high-fidelity PS1-era JRPG, and I mean that as a compliment.
The gameplay looks like instanced battles that mix “action and strategy.” It features eight characters that you can customize to your play style.
The team working on it features Hitoshi Sakimoto on audio and music, best known for compositions on Final Fantasy XII, Tactics Ogre, and Valkyria Chronicles. The illustrator is Takeshi Oga, who worked on the Gravity Rush and Siren series. That’s some good pedigree.
Lost Hellden is planned for 2025 on PC and consoles.