Do you remember Shadow Hearts? It’s a PS2 franchise that has been gathering dust for quite a while now, but it seems as though it might be on the road back to relevance.
Released in 1999 on the PS1, Koudelka launched to moderate success. The SNK published title was set in the haunted Nemeton Monastery in Wales and won fans over with its turn-based battles, rich exploration, and puzzle elements. Shadow Hearts, launched in 2001 and spawned from the original release, becoming a PS2 trilogy that was beloved by a small pocket of fans, and it seems that with the impending launch of Sony’s revised PlayStation Plus platform over May/June that the Shadow Hearts titles may once again be getting some love.
Eagle-eyed fans spotted what bots had picked up in Japan, which was an updating of the Shadow Hearts licence. We’ve seen a bit of this behaviour recently; Ridge Racer 2, Tekken 2, Worms World Party, Mr. Driller, Worms Armageddon had all been recently spotted on the PSN back-end, meanwhile we also learned that a series of PlayStation exclusive Syphon Filter games were all recently rated by the Korean Ratings Board including PS1 titles Syphon Filter and Syphon Filter 2 as well as PSP releases Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow. Conspicuously in that instance, some of the franchise’s middle entries, Syphon Filter 3, and Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain were absent.
The result of this recent Shadow Hearts news, alongside the other leaks, listings and ratings is increased speculation around the upcoming PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe backwards compatible libary. Depsite announcing the service in March, and then providing official launch dates in April, there is still currently a lot unsaid about the service, leading to hesitancy amongst some corners of the PlayStation community. One thing we do know is coming to Premium/Deluxe is the ability to play 2 hour trials of games before you commit to buying them, in a move that sits PS+ alongside what Valve offers in the PC space with Steam. With the service kicking off in Asian markets (Japan excluded) in less than two weeks, the expectation is mounting that we’ll be getting further updates imminently. Perhaps we’ll see these leaked titles show up?
