Gamescom is right around the corner, and Sega recently announced that they’ll be showing off a brand new AAA title at the show. In a press release, Sega said fans will get “a first-hand look at an all-new AAA game that has yet to be revealed to the public.”
While this could certainly be something entirely new, our money is on Sega reinvigorating an old series or project.
After all, Sega has taken to doing this in multiple ways; bringing back the classic strategy series with Valkyria Chronicles 4, developing a brand new Sakura Wars, the re-release of Catherine: Full Body, and the Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD version.
Clearly, Sega wants to bring back some of their most popular properties, and no doubt their recent success is part of the reason for doing so. We have a few guesses as to what Sega’s new AAA game at Gamescom could be.
Jet Set Radio
There are countless Sega series that fans would love to see return, but none more so than Jet Set Radio. The ridiculously stylish game has you playing as a gang of youths called the GGs, competing with other gangs in Tokyo-to over turf.
However, turf is decided by whoever tags it with graffiti the best, and the inline-skating gameplay has you tagging as fast as you can, while authorities in the somewhat dystopian world pursue you on foot, in helicopters, and even tanks.
Jet Set Radio is a brilliant cult classic title and the sequel, Jet Set Radio Future, is just as good if not even better. It’s one of the most unique games that Sega has ever produced, and fans have been absolutely clamoring for a new game for years.
Sega is certainly on a wave of success lately with the Persona series, Yakuza, Valkyria, the upcoming Sakura Wars, and more. They’re in a position where they might be able to invest in some of their older IP, and if that’s the case, Jet Set Radio should be number one. If Sega’s looking for a big reveal at Gamescom, this would be it.
 Nights
Nights put a fascinating twist on the platformer and collectathon genres, splitting its gameplay into two sections. At the beginning of each level, you initially control a young hero or heroine named Claris and Elliot who basically have their emotions stolen by Wizeman’s minions.
The second, and more prevalent, piece of gameplay involves you controlling Nights in flying segments which play somewhat like a 2D platformer, but revolves around a 3D environment.
For a while, Nights turned into a bit of a mascot for Sega, but the series just didn’t take off all that well, unfortunately. The first game, Nights: Into Dreams, released on Sega Dreamcast while the second game, Nights: Journey of Dreams, released on the Nintendo Wii.
Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, has expressed interest in the past at making another Nights game. Coincidentally, Sega also recently just filed a trademark for Nights Dream Wheel.
While it’s impossible to say exactly what this could be, it could indicate that Sega is gearing up to unveil a brand new Nights game at Gamescom. With the success of the Nintendo Switch, it’d be the perfect place to put a gorgeous new Nights.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Horror games have had a resurgence in recent years with titles like Amnesia, Darkwood, Until Dawn, and the Resident Evil 2 remake. One fantastic horror series that’s been absent during that whole resurgence is Condemned, which comprises of two games published by Sega and developed by Monolith Productions, who would go on to make Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.
The Condemned games were known for being super visceral horror games, with a big emphasis on melee combat. In particular, the bear chase from Condemned 2: Bloodshot is well known as one of the greatest, most terrifying sequences in horror game history.
Unfortunately, Condemned 2, as good as it was, just didn’t sell very well, and suffered from a tacked-on multiplayer mode like many games around the 2010 days.
Even so, with horror games and their recent comeback, now would be the time to reintroduce Condemned and see how it can be reinvented.
Valkyria
Yes, Valkyria Chronicles 4 just came out in 2018, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t see anything from the franchise soon. The series went on quite a hiatus after Valkyria Chronicles 3, taking nearly seven years to release the next game.
There’s no doubt that multiple ideas or prototypes were tossed around during that time, and it’s likely that the next Valkyria title we see will be a small step from 4, rather than a big one.
If you look at the series, there were two years between the release of Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 2, with the first in 2008 and the second in 2010. However, there was only one year of development between Valkyria Chronicles 2 and 3, with the latter releasing in 2011, although it never did release in the west.
We could easily see a new Valkyria game coming sooner rather than later, and although it’d likely have a while until release, Gamescom would be a good time to announce it.
Sega is clearly trying to stack the deck for their upcoming releases, and their upcoming stable is nothing short of impressive with Sakura Wars, Persona 5 Royal, Shin Megami Tensei V, and a new Yakuza soon to be announced.
Project Re Fantasy
The elusive Project Re Fantasy is easily one of the most exciting projects around for RPG fans. If you don’t know, Project Re Fantasy is a new game spearheaded by Atlus’ Studio Zero, with Katsura Hashino, director and producer of Persona 5, serving as the director on the game.
We still don’t know a whole lot about the project, outside of a couple of conceptual teaser videos that Atlus has shared, and it’s long past time for the game’s big unveiling.
In December 2018, Hashino implied that Project Re Fantasy was roughly halfway through development and that the team would have more info to share after the release of Catherine: Full Body, which released on February 14, 2019 in Japan. We still have yet to hear any concrete information, so Gamescom might be when we finally get to see what the project is all about.
With Persona 5 Royal on the way in Japan later this year, and Catherine: Full Body out in September in the West, it’s about time that we see what’s next from Atlus. However you look at it, we’re bound to see more from Project Re Fantasy as either Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show.
Although we already know the existence of Project Re Fantasy, Atlus still needs to unveil the game’s true name and nature.
Published: Aug 8, 2019 10:06 am