Square Enix fans may have been hoping for a new Final Fantasy 7 Remake or Final Fantasy 16 announcement, however, to start off Sony's PlayStation 5 event, Square Enix announced something very different instead. Introducing Project Athia, a new game that Square Enix says is designed exclusively for the PS5. Project Athia is, of course, just a working title for the new game. It should also be noted that Project Athia is also confirmed for the PC.
The short trailer that Square Enix showed for Project Athia during the PS5 event proved it to be a sort of fantasy action game. What might have been gameplay, or a cinematic reproduction of gameplay, showed the game's protagonist leaping from cliff to cliff and then casting a spell that bound a creature in thorns. The trailer ended with a gigantic dragon.
There's more to Project Athia than first meets the eye, however. The trailer begins by making it clear that the protagonist is not from this fantasy world. Instead, they're from the modern world and have somehow been transported into this land of magic and fantastical creatures. How this duality works and whether the modern world will play a larger role remains to be seen.
Luminous Productions describes Project Athia as "the culmination of our philosophy," that philosophy being to fuse new gaming experiences, the latest technologies, and art. Project Athia will transport players "to a vast and detailed world filled with beauty and dismay." But Project Athia isn't just an exploration and atmosphere game, it's also said to be "action-packed" and at times "twisted, tempestuous, and forbidding."
The last key detail about Project Athia that deserves to be mentioned is the engine it's built on. Instead of using Unreal, like Square Enix's recent Final Fantasy titles, Project Athia utilizes Square Enix's in-house engine Luminous Studio. Given Luminous' track record for delays, that may mean Project Athia is a way out from release.
Project Athia has no announced release window but is coming exclusively to PS5.
