One of the breakout hits of 2019 for Koei Tecmo was Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout from Gust. Ryza’s thick thighs and shapely bottom helped the game move more than 350,000 copies around the globe. Well, Koei didn’t want that momentum to go to waste, and they already have Gust working on several new unannounced titles.

Sankaku Complex picked up the news from an interview that Gust brand manager Junzo Hosoi had with Famitsu, where Hosoi revealed that Akira Tsuchiya, famous for the Ar Tonelico games, would be helping out with one of the new projects, saying…

“While I’ll rely on reliable staff to run development, going forward I’ll still take responsibility and work together with the development team. Even now, there are several unannounced new titles in the works, including a game developed together with Tsuchiya.

 

“I’d like to say this again, but there are several unannounced Gust brand new titles in the works, and I hope you’ll look forward to them. Also, I’ll be working together closely with Tsuchiya on both game development on product lineups.”

Tsuchiya’s last outing for Gust was Atelier Ryza, where he worked as a writer. Before that he was the producer for the yuri-themed JRPG, Nights of Azure.

So this is someone who helped Gust achieve great success in recent times, and it’s obvious why they would have him back to work on one of their new titles.

Apparently it’s a game in an existing franchise because Tsuchiya let slip that the game would only be in development over the course of the next year, which means it’s likely another Atelier outing.

Sankaku Complex translated what Tsuchiya told Famitsu, where he said…

“I think about what we’re going to do over the next year every day. While it’s tough, I believe there’s no way except to keep challenging myself, and I hope fans will continue to look after me in the future as well.”

If it’s not another Atelier title, then it’s likely something that uses an established game engine and has an asset pipeline already setup. So even if it is a new IP, it’s likely based on existing tech that’s already prepped for content propagation.

We’ll likely find out more about the new projects when the time is right, sometime later into 2020.

(Thanks for the news tip VersedGamer)