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A new turn-based JRPG has been revealed; one that revolves around the seven deadly sins, while also featuring heavy inspiration from the original Shin Megami Tensei games. The game, titled Monark, is being developed by Lancarse, a company that has previously worked on Lost Dimension, in addition to assisting with development on Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. The reason for Monark taking cues from the Shin Megami Tensei series is due to the fact that the game's lead writer is Ryutaro Ito, who was the main writer for Shin Megami Tensei I and II.

A debut trailer showcases some of the story elements, the characters, the school setting, and a glimpse of the battle system. Monark is planned for release in Japan for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch on October 14th. Currently, there is no confirmation of a western localization, though publisher FuRyu claims an English dubbed voice-over will be added to the game post-release, implying that we might see an official English reveal at E3, or sometime in the future.

[UPDATE] NIS America will be localizing the game for launch in 2022.

 

[RichardTheKing]

>"featuring heavy inspiration from the original Shin Megami Tensei games"
>"Monark"

Gee, that sounds familiar; will it feature, I dunno, jails and desires? Hopefully development won't be a scramble, and result in too many employees giving up the phantom.

 

[MohammedQ8]

No thanks I will wait for their newer game called “sunkist” lol

 

[vincentx77]

Here's hoping it's a little more SMT and a little less Persona.

 

[GamerzHell9137]

I knew that voice of the singer was familiar. Its the voice provider of Cevio AI KAFU

 

[ZeroFX]

Nice, i liked that loli!!

 

[Ace001]

Looking forward to it! i never really finished SMT:IF so the school setting will be a welcome one to me.

Here's hoping it's a little more SMT and a little less Persona.

Yes i really hope for the same, i mean i like persona but damn The mainline games are 100x Better.

 

[matpower]

As a Brazilian, this is an unfortunate name.

But hey, it looks interesting. Be it SMT-inspired or Persona-inspired, I'm taking it.

 

[Beerus]

ooh I like the character design, also seems pretty interesting combat looks more like FE imo and the skeleton people remind me of en en no shouboutai

 

[diggeloid]

This looks like the logical middle ground between Persona's upbeat happy high school vibes, and SMT's dark and serious aesthetics.

It'll probably be a good game, but tbh I feel like I've played it already considering how many hours I've put into Persona and SMT in the past. It'll probably be the same thing, just with different anime hairstyles.

 

[SkittleDash]

Now this is interesting. If it's from the SMT devs, I have high expectations. But looking at the trailer, it does indeed look promising. I look forward to it. :3

 

[ertaboy356b]

I will keep my expectations low on this one. Most "spiritual successors" either lacking or totally sucks.

 

[MetoMeto]

I will keep my expectations low on this one. Most "spiritual successors" either lacking or totally sucks.

"spiritual successor" funny misspelling of the word "copy"

 

[Clydefrosch]

characters seem pretty cringe, 3d models feel extremely lifeless, gameplay animations are stiff and non-dynamic.
everyone looks the same in their skull gear.

 

[raharaha]

I don't know. The characters are too persona-like but with two folds cringe-ness. At least the battle systems look promising. It reminds me of trails in the sky.

 

[FAST6191]

This got lost in a sea of tabs but here now.

Saw the metal skeleton thing at the start and thought "ooh". Then saw the rest. Soft focus 3d models like that does very little for me, though I also have rules for anime/manga (and I guess now games following from that) of "if it is set in a school then it really has to prove itself first", I have similarly also always found the Persona and SMT games a bit of a slog, Demi Kids* on the GBA being about as much fun as I have ever had). The almost "edge detection" art/effect at 3:07 also does something for me if I am seeking another positive.
What glimpses of the battle system that I saw also did little to intrigue me but that is something you sometimes just have to play.

*those new to this spinoff do note the light and dark versions are substantially different (it is not necessarily your typical pokemon "different" versions approach) with most finding the dark version to be quite a bit harder.