CyberConnect2 has now confirmed the release date of Fuga: Memories of Steel 2.
Fuga: Memories of Steel 2 will be releasing this May 11, 2023. It is a digital only release, available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows, via Steam and Epic Games Store.
They have also revealed the bonuses that will come with the Deluxe Edition, which will again be strictly a digital release. There will be an 80 page digital art book and a 15 track digital soundtrack. In-game, you will also get these items:
- Sleepwear costumes for all characters (only to be used in intermission and expedition scenes)
- Dummy energy for the Managarm (allows players to use the Managarm once without a character’s life force)
- Dummy soul for the Soul Cannon (allows players to use the Soul Cannon once without sacrificing a character)
As we had already covered, Fuga: Memories of Steel 2 is a turn based RPG based on Cyberconnect2’s Little Trail Bronx universe. Cyberconnect2 promised to have improved both the tactical battle game design, as well as the narrative. They have also added a Turbo Mode, that will allow players to skip through the story if that isn’t their interest.
Cyberconnect2’s Little Trail Bronx universe is a genuinely interesting segment of Japanese gaming, unique even among independent developers like them. This world is a combination of steampunk mechs and furries, or anthropomorphism, with an aesthetic that belies its broader ambitions. The main conflict has been between the Caninu, or dog people, who have been the protagonists in these games so far, and the Felineko, or cat people.
So far, Cyberconnect2 has only made four games in this universe: Tail Concerto, Solatorobo: Red The Hunter, and the two Fuga games. Tail Concerto, published in 1999 for the PlayStation, is an action platformer for the PlayStation. It has the simplest story, and is somewhat not canon to the rest of the series as it undergoes a reboot. That reboot, Solatorobo, takes all the way to 2010 to be released, now on the Nintendo DS. This one raises the ambition as a 3D action RPG with puzzle solving and exploration elements.
Unfortunately, both Tail Concerto and Solatorobo would prove financially unsuccessful, but it’s testament to Cyberconnect2’s interest that they have revisited these ideas again. (On the side, these games are now some of the rarest and most expensive, thanks to the renewed interest from a fandom that emerged years after their release.) The first Fuga: Memories of Steel takes the franchise in a dark direction, going a few decades earlier in the timeline where a world war is taking place. This time, a group of children controls a giant mech as a weapon of war.
One interesting element that Cyberconnect2 hasn’t discussed yet are the alternate endings of Fuga: Memories of Steel. Without spoiling too much, not every character in the first Fuga game can be in the sequel, if you wanted to follow the storyline of your personal playthrough. If Fuga 2 will have a way to have you carry over your save from the first game, in the same way the Mass Effect games did, is yet to be seen.
You can watch the official trailer below.
Source: Twitter
