Kouji Okada helped co-found Atlus and is one of the co-creators of its two biggest JRPG series in Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. He left the company in 2003 to form now-shuttered studio Gaia, and hasn't been active in game development for 16 years. Until now: JRPG studio Compile Hearts, best known for the Neptunia series, has revealed Okada is working on a new "school life RPG" alongside fellow Atlus veterans.
And in case the significance of Okada's input was unclear to you, Compile Hearts has you covered: they describe the game as “Okada’s ultimate message to those who will lead the next generation”.
Compile Heart launched a teaser website today featuring an oblique, sci-fi trailer loosely reminiscent of the Megami Tensei universe, albeit with a slight horror bent. A name wasn't revealed nor a release window, but Compile Hearts has promised a proper reveal on January 29.
Okada is joined by writer Tadashi Satomi, who is credited as a scenario writer for Persona 2 and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga and its sequel, among others. Aside from Megami Tensei, he's also responsible for writing The Caligula Effect series, as well as Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. The composer for Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei and many other early Atlus JRPGs, Tsukasa Masuko, is also part of the team. Masuko most recently worked on The Caligula Effect series and Monark.
While Okada and co were instrumental in the creation of Megami Tensei and its Persona offshoot, the series has evolved a fair bit since their departure. Okada didn't work on Persona 3, for example, which was the first instalment to feature its now series-defining social links system.
Still, Okada was undeniably responsible for setting the tone of the series with 1996's Revelations: Persona, and the Persona-fusing elements have been there right from the start, as has its high school setting.
It's shaping up to be a pretty good year for people who love surrealist JRPGs set in Japanese high schools: Persona 4 Revival is on the way, and a Persona 6 announcement is definitely going to happen at some point (touch wood).
