Square Enix have been busy releasing remasters of their classic titles and new entries in their existing series.
But along the way, they have also announced a slew of new IPs such as the upcoming magical adventure Forspoken or the farming sim Harvestella.
Amongst these new games is the strategy RPG The Diofield Chronicle, which is due to be released later this year.
We were lucky enough to play an early build of this upcoming game before Square Enix releases it to the world.
The Diofield Chronicle is an adventure that takes place in a continent plagued by constant war.
The Kingdom of Alletain has become the new target of the Trovelt-Schoevian Empire after their victory over the Rowetale Alliance.
The game follows a mercenary group called the Blue Foxes who find themselves caught in the middle of the conflict.
The early chapters of The Diofield Chronicle waste no time in throwing players straight into the midst of battle.
The game also does a grand job of introducing The Diofield Chronicle’s lore which is already filled with interesting characters and compelling backstories.
It will be great to see how the story develops over the course of the game.
The Diofield Chronicle’s visual style is a blend of anime with medieval aesthetics, similar to games like Triangle Strategy or Fire Emblem.
Characters have been designed by Taiki who is known for his work on the Lord of Vermilion series.
The character art has been illustrated by designer Isamu Kamikokuryo and they are already one of the stand out features in The Diofield Chronicle.
The orchestral soundtrack has been created by world-renowned composers Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell, known best for their work on Game of Thrones.
The game also features voice acting in English and Japanese, that help bring the action to life.
This early playthrough shows that a lot has gone into creating the fantastical world of The Diofield Chronicle with each design element effortlessly blending well together.
The Diofield Chronicle is a real-time strategy RPG where players will control units that battle other armies.
Players will be able to control a single character or unit at any given time while issuing real-time commands.
Every character has a range and will automatically attack once an enemy enters it. Each character has their own strengths, Iscarion the archer will be able to deal damage on multiple enemies while Andrias is better for close combat.
They all come equipped with special skills to deal more damage which works with a cool-down mechanic.
There is also a special summon that can be called upon using an item called a Magilum Orb.
As this is real-time the game required a lot of quick thinking and clever pre-planning. Players will be able to set movement paths for their characters to follow, being able to carefully position them in strategic locations.
The enemy A.I. can also be clever with the units carefully deciding how and when to attack the player's units.
Every mission will have a main victory condition alongside several objectives to complete.
There are bonus items that can be unlocked by meeting specific requirements such as keeping everyone alive or completing missions in a certain time frame.
The missions themselves vary with the victory conditions, difficulty, and length to complete them which keep everything from becoming repetitive.
Missions are very thrilling as there are so many ways to complete the main objective. What I found interesting is that the game allows players to set their own checkpoints allowing them to come back and try a different strategy.
The game also makes it clear how difficult every mission is by stating the required level to complete them, so it will be up to the player to choose what to do.
When not in battle players will return to Elm Camp which acts as the game's hub where they will control Andrias and interact with other characters.
Here players will also be able to customise their units with new weapons and increase their rank through training.
The Diofield Chronicle is shaping up to be an intense adventure that requires quick-thinking tactics. I am looking forward to what unique challenges will be thrown in the latter stages of the game.
The Diofield Chronicle will be released on 22 September for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5
