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Armed Fantasia, Penny Blood Games Reveal More Staff

WILD BUNCH Productions and Yukikaze's Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness (the Wild Arms game's spiritual successor) and Penny Blood (the Shadow Hearts game's spiritual successor) announced on Wednesday that composers Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy franchise) and Kenji Ito (SaGa franchise) will join the project. Armed Fantasia's soundtrack will feature Wild Arms composers Elements Garden and Michiko Naruke. Penny Blood's soundtrack will feature music from Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts) and Akari Kaida (Breath of Fire).

The company also announced a “Composer's Dream” CD that will feature Shoji Meguro (Persona franchise) and Yasunori Shiono (Lufia franchise).

As of press time, the campaign has raised US$1,946,632.

The staff of the games will host a livestream for the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign on September 30 at 10:00 p.m. JST (9:00 a.m. EDT) and will host a "Golden Ticket" backer-exclusive concert featuring live performances by Yoshitaka Hirota, Akari Kaida, Michio Okamiya, Chihiro Fujioka, and Shoji Meguro on October 1 at 7:00 p.m. JST (6:00 a.m. EDT).

The double Kickstarter campaign for the games launched on August 30 in Japan (August 29 in U.S. time) and had a shared goal of US$750,000 for a release of both games on PC.

The stretch goals for the games are offered based on three "meters" that meet new goals based on which games backers pledge for. The common stretch goals that offer the games on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo have been met as well as stretch goals for card mini-games, 8-Bit battle remixes and several others.

WILD BUNCH Productions and Yukikaze describe the story of Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness:

In a far flung corner of this world lies the land of Londenium, where a young man named Ingram loses his grandfather; the final tether binding him to his hometown. With no other reason to stay, and in hopes of reconnecting with his childhood friend, Ingram sets out on a new adventure as a Pathfinder, a branch of adventurers that utilize the powerful ARM (Aether Reaction Maximizer) weaponry to dispose of Anomalies that ravage the land.

Ingram's journey will lead him to cross destinies with many a new friend and foe, and become embroiled in a monumental battle that'll strike through Londenium's past and its future.

The game will be a turn-based JRPG adventure that will have puzzle elements and large-scale exploration.

Akifumi Kaneko is the lead game designer.

WILD BUNCH Productions and Yukikaze describe the story of Penny Blood:

Penny Blood's story begins with Matthew Farrell, a lone wolf private detective in New York working for the Bureau of Investigation. Despite hating the accursed powers he inherited from his father, he utilizes his fusion transformation abilities to hunt down monsters at the behest of the Bureau.

One day, Matthew is tasked with investigating a strange incident that occurred at a mental asylum in New York. After rushing to the asylum, he finds it teeming with grotesque, rampaging creatures. Utilizing his hidden power, Matthew manages to achieve a narrow victory.

In order to unearth the truth behind the bizarre incident, Matthew's investigation will take him from America to the distant continent of Asia, including Japan and China, as well as to the far corners of Europe. Along the way, he will encounter those who fight for vengeance, those who seek to utilize the aberrant horrors for their own gain, and those who simply wish to destroy. Penny Blood tells the tale of a man who must become that which he seeks to vanquish.

The game will be a turn-based JRPG that will feature a "twitch-trigger reaction time" and a "Sanity Points" system.

Matsuzo Machida is directing the game, and Akifumi Kaneko is the lead game designer. Miyako Kato is designing the characters. Yoshitaka Hirota and Akari Kaida are composing the music.

The original Wild Arms game shipped for PlayStation in 1996. The franchise's Wild Arms XF game shipped for PlayStation Portable in 2007 and ForwardWorks' Wild Arms Million Memories smartphone role-playing game launched in September 2018. The franchise received a television anime adaptation, titled Wild Arms - Twilight Venom, in 1999. Wakako Oba launched the Wild Arms Hananusubito (Wild Arms - Flower Thieves) manga adaptation of the games in 2001. The games combine fantasy with a Wild West setting.

The original Shadow Hearts game launched for PlayStation 2 in 2001. The game was a sequel to the 1999 PlayStation game Koudelka. Shadow Hearts: Covenant, a sequel to Shadow Hearts, launched in 2004. The spinoff game to the series Shadow Hearts: From the New World launched in 2005.

Source: Press release