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Knights in the Nightmare arriving on Nov. 9, bringing Yggdra Union along
Atlus has good news and bad news for players looking forward to Knights in the Nightmare, the upcoming strategy RPG-slash-bullet hell shooter getting ported to the PSP. We'll give you the bad news first, since that's usually the way to go: The game isn't coming out on October 19 as planned. Instead, you'll have to wait a few more weeks, as the release date has been moved back to November 9. We know, that probably ruins your pre-Halloween plans, but wait for the good news. The good news is that Atlus is including a digital copy of Yggdra Union with the purchase of "each and every launch copy" of Knights in the Nightmare. You may not know all about the Dept. Heaven series, so keep in mind that these are the two episodes of the series continuing where Riviera: The Promised Land started out, all produced by Sting Entertainment. In essence, you'll get two obscure Japanese genre mashups for the price of just one. Aren't you glad we told you the bad news first?
Knights in the Nightmare to keep us up October 19
As revealed by a recent post on PlayStation.Blog, Atlus' strategy-meets-RPG-meets-Bullet Hell shooter Knights in the Nightmare will make the jump from the DS to the PSP on October 19. That should give you 12 good days of play time with which to get totally spooked out before Halloween -- provided you share our mortal fear of multitasking. If you're unfamiliar with the title, which hit Nintendo's handheld last year, you can catch a glimpse of its frothy stew of genres in a new trailer posted just after the jump.
Trine 2 revealed as part of Atlus E3 lineup
Atlus today distributed a list of titles it will showcase at the (extremely impending) Electronic Entertainment Expo next week. One of the names mentioned on the decidedly vague list of games is Trine 2, the follow-up to Frozenbyte's 2009 PC and PSN action-platformer -- and to think some folks assumed Atlus was just going to announce an XBLA version of the original game. How silly! Also included in the publisher's E3 lineup is another unannounced title: Rock of Ages, which is being developed by Zeno Clash creator Ace Team. Additionally, localized versions of Etrian Odyssey 3: The Drowned City and the PSP port of Knights in the Nightmare will be at the show.
Knights in the Nightmare heading to PSP
According to Siliconera, the latest issue of Famitsu brought great news to the loyal fans of Sting-developed strategy-RPGs: Knights in the Nightmare, a former DS exclusive, will soon be ported to the PSP. New features for the port include an animated opening title sequence and some much-needed tutorial missions. There's no official release date or word of an US localization for the title just yet -- we contacted Atlus to try and discern these details, but received a "No Comment" in return. We're as excited by this news as anyone else -- but all that multitasking in the game was pretty difficult to keep track of on two screens. The thought of trying to manage Knights' utterly perplexing combat system on a single screen is downright terrifying.
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Download the Law
Do you have the day off? Why not take a quick vacation down to Miami ... Law. Miami Law. On the DS. There's a demo on the Nintendo Channel, we mean. Okay, that didn't work. We'll start again: "Oh, hey, look, there's a demo for Miami Law on the Nintendo Channel. Let's all download it."Promisingly, the demo is labeled "Vol. 1." We have yet to try the demo to see if it's a good thing, but there seems to be more coming! %Gallery-45960%
Surprise! Atlus including free stuff with Knights in the Nightmare
Atlus has gotten into the habit of releasing bonus stuff of some kind with all of its games. Legacy of Ys, The Dark Spire, and Super Robot Taisen Etc. all come with free soundtracks, and Hammerin' Hero on the PSP includes irresistible figurines for preorders. Knights in the Nightmare is no exception. The company just announced that, like its other recent DS offerings, all copies of Knights will come in an oversized box with a bundled CD soundtrack disc. In addition, preorders from "participating retailers" will include an art book! In its press release about the bundle, Atlus blamed Charlie the Chimpanzee, the ape in charge of the Spoils program, for recent excesses. "In hindsight, hiring a non-human for this position may have been a mistake," said Atlus PR manager Aram Jabbari.New screenshots are available in our gallery, and we've got a second gallery after the break featuring preview images from the art book.%Gallery-21499%
Knights in the Nightmare in North America in June
Atlus has officially announced the North American version of Knights in the Nightmare, the last DS game to come out of that Amazon.ca "leak". Knights is the third game in Sting's "Dept. Heaven" series: Yggdra Union was the first, followed by Riviera. Confusingly, this is "Episode IV" of the series, while Riviera is "Episode I" and Yggdra is "Episode II." A bundle of Knights and Yggdra Union was available in Japan -- wouldn't that be a lovely "Atlus Spoils" bonus?Knights of the Nightmare incorporates "strategy RPG, real-time strategy, and shooter elements" into a game about a wisp who can occupy and control soldiers on a battlefield. Players use the stylus to position soldiers and then fire projectiles at enemies from multiple angles.Knights will be available June 2nd for $34.99. Check our gallery for new English screens, and come back next week when Atlus inevitably announces an included soundtrack!%Gallery-21499%
Atlus leaks: Devil Survivor, Knights in the Nightmare, more
Okay, so we already knew about Atlus's ridiculous surge of DS releases in the first quarter of this year, thanks to the ESRB and, later, Atlus. But what about Q2? In a discovery that will no doubt exasperate Atlus's PR staff, a Siliconera reader found five more unannounced Atlus games on Amazon.ca, all with projected release dates between April and June. The four new DS games are: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier, Sting's Knights in the Nightmare and Dokapon Journey, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, known as Megami Ibunroku Devil Survivor in Japan. The one PSP release in the store's database is Crimson Gem Saga, which is known as Garnet Chronicle in Japan and Astonishia Story 2 in Korea.The bad news is that all we have to go on is Siliconera's word and this image. The listings have all been pulled if they were there.%Gallery-21499%
We keep dreaming of Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in the Nightmare is one of the more confusing games being released this year, but the latest trailer (which Sting ever-so-kindly dubbed in English) reveals a lot about the story and gameplay. The tie-in factor is something called "the wisp," which attacks enemies. You control the wisp with your stylus to kill baddies, and also issue orders to your allies in this real-time strategy game.Some things still remain unexplained -- for example, what are enemy slots and the enemy matrix elements that we're told to master? That doesn't change the fact that this title looks more and more interesting every time new media pops up, though. We've already added it to our possible imports list, which might hurt our wallets when the game releases in September. Gallery: Knights in the Nightmare [Via GoNintendo]
Knights in the Nightmare is just as confusing in videos
Sting's Knights in the Nightmare has managed to catch our attention with its pretty visuals and unique-sounding gameplay, which you can get a small taste of in the video above. Even so, we still don't feel like we've grasped how exactly this "turn-based RTS" works.If you thought the screens needed more explanation, the gameplay footage embedded after the break might just confuse you even more. Knights in the Nightmare screams chaos like no other, although we find it all rather intriguing. Assuming you can get the gameplay figured out, the language barrier won't even be too much of an issue for those hoping to import. The heapings of English voices and texts in the two videos should soothe the fears of all the non-Japanese speaking Sting lovers out there. You'll have to wait a few months, though, since the release date was pushed back to September 25th.Check past the break to get a taste of the baffling gameplay. Gallery: Knights in the Nightmare
Knights in a Box with Yggdra Union
Sting is offering a special limited-edition package of their DS strategy game Knights in the Nightmare that honors the game's history, and (sort of) serves fans of the Dept. Heaven series to which the game belongs. We say "sort of" because the Knights in the Nightmare Dept. Heaven Episodes Series Special Pack includes the new DS game (Episode IV in the Dept. Heaven series) and the Game Boy Advance Yggdra Union (Episode II). There has yet to be an Episode III, and Episode I (Riviera: the Promised Land) isn't included.If you're a fan of Sting's series of tactical RPGs, chances are you have Yggdra Union. And if you're willing to pay 8,190 yen ($79) for a new DS strategy game, you're already a fan. Which means a bunch of Japanese collectors are going to end up with extra copies of Yggdra Union that will never come out of the package.
Knights in the What is Going on Here
It has been over a month since we heard anything new on Knights in the Nightmare, Sting's "turn-based RTS", but the Riviera developer has made up for that lull with official site updates, new screenshots, and a release date for Japan -- July 17, 2008.As with Sting's last handheld strategy title, Yggdra Union, these images are packed with gorgeous sprites and tons of visual data and effects. We have no idea what is going on in half of these screens. What does "touch the box to be defeated enemy" even mean? Hit the gallery below for more beautiful but confusing grabs from the game.%Gallery-21499%[Via NeoGAF]
Anything but a bad dream with Knights in the Nightmare
IGN has a rather lengthy preview up for Knights in the Nightmare, a "turn-based RTS" coming from Sting. Up until we saw this preview, we were all in the same boat, left to ogle a lone scan for the game.Sting's "real-time RTS" isn't so much an contradiction in and of itself, but is actually near-real-time. Players will handle defending and attacking enemy units through the touch-screen, allowing for groups of up to 40 units to be controlled at once. With a clock going continuously for each turn, players will have to act fast in order to make sure their actions are finished before the time runs out. Once the clock hits zero, you can rearm your squad and get ready for the next encounter.The game isn't all fighting, though, as you'll be able to affect the stats of your units through upgrades. What kind of upgrades available depend on the unit's equipment and alignment. Units may also build up their "rage" in standby mode, which will fill a charge gauge that can unleash special attacks.As for the rest of the preview, there are a few plot points that have been revealed, but for the sake of keeping this as spoiler free as possible, we won't go into detail. For that information, hit up the "Read" link below.
Knights in the Nightmare: Sting's new 'turn-based RTS'
No, we don't know what that means either, but according to the GAFfers who posted the latest scans from Famitsu, that's the genre for Sting's Knights in the Nightmare. You may know Sting as the developers (three times over) of Baroque, soon to be released on the Wii by Atlus. This new game is much less creepy, and much more cutesy.Knights in the Nightmare puts the player into the ephemeral, energy-based shoes of a "wisp" who gives commands to knights in battle by occupying them. You'll have to "program" the knights to protect the wisp from from attacking demons. According to the quick translation, the "turn-based real-time" aspect means that there are offensive and defensive turns that run in real-time, which we can only assume means something like the Active Time Battle system. Sting is planning to release this strategy game some time this year. The full scan is after the break!
