Vanillaware’s New Year Artwork Released, and It’s Beautiful and Meaningful

Today 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim developer Vanillaware released its traditional new year art by president and artist George Kamitani.

Many pay particular attention to the art released in this occasion, as it often includes hints to the developer’s plans for new games.

For instance, the artwork released in 2013 pretty much revealed 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim ahead of the official announcement in 2015.

That being said, hints are rarely that explicit, and often none exists (or at least none is found), so we’ll have to wait and see on this.

That being said, the artwork is certainly meaningful in another way as it portrays a creature called Kutabe (or Bai Ze) in Chinese tradition.

According to Japanese folklore, its image has the power to ward off disease. I don’t think I need to explain this one.

Vanillaware has teased a possible new fantasy game to come after 13 Sentinels, and promised to reveal it after the release of the game.

Yet, we’re still waiting to hear more.

In the meanwhile, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is currently available exclusively for PS4. We recently learned that it shipped over 300,000 copies.

If you want to see more of the game, you can read our review, check out the launch trailer, another story trailer, another video, some spiffy gameplay, another trailer, an extensive batch of screenshots that showcased new characters, the previous gallery of screenshots, more images and artwork, another gameplay reveal, and an earlier trailer.

You can also check out a message from director George Kamitani who expressed his pride in the game.