Artisan Studios has announced Lost Hellden, a turn-based RPG that features contributions from veteran Japanese game developers.
Launching at an unspecified time in 2025, Lost Hellden is set in a land known as Era, whose people are bound to one of the seven deadly sins in their first year of life. Should they succumb to their assigned sin, then a "fate worse than death awaits them," according to the description on the game's Steam page.
Lost Hellden will feature what developer Artisan Studios is calling 'Deep 2D technology,' the trailer showing off 3D-rendered characters against detailed hand-drawn 2D backgrounds complete with dynamic weather and lighting. It sounds a bit like Chrono Cross or the Baten Kaitos games, albeit with what will probably be less static backgrounds.
What's more, Lost Hellden is being worked on by a rather prolific bunch. Music and audio direction come from Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose resume includes Final Fantasy 12, Valkyria Chronicles, and Tactics Ogre. Illustrator Takeshi Oga previously worked on the PlayStation classic Gravity Rush and the Siren survival horror series.
Not much else is known about Lost Hellden at present. But one thing's for certain; even at this early stage, the game looks utterly stunning. The hand-painted backgrounds are exceptionally detailed with a strong mix of striking vistas, peculiar locales, and horror elements here and there for good measure. From what little we've seen so far, there's not much to pull from the battle system, but at surface level, it looks competent enough.
Lost Hellden will be released sometime in 2025. Alongside PC, the game seems to be coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
With Lost Hellden now on your radar, consider checking out our guides to the best RPGs and best single player games to plan out your backlog between now and its eventual 2025 release.
