Square Enix’s PS5 game Project Athia will be an open world game, according to Square Enix president and representative director Yosuka Matsuda in a statement given to a Japanese publication that has since been translated. Project Athia is slated to be a PlayStation 5 & PC title, and was first unveiled in June alongside the information that it would be created using the Luminous Engine and developed by Luminous Productions.
After a long period of very little information, news began hitting hard and fast regarding PS5 details like hardware specs, technological capabilities, and most importantly what some of its games will be after launch. With so many console-defining exclusives for the PlayStation 4, the expectation among consumers and analysts is more of the same from Sony with its next-gen console. While Project Athia won’t be exclusive to PS5, it will be a title to watch thanks to the pedigree of the publisher and developer making it, especially given the success of other recent Square Enix projects like FF7 Remake.
In an interview originally in Weekly Toyo Keizai Plus that has since been translated by Gematsu, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda revealed that Project Athia will be open world. While that revelation on its own isn’t necessarily a shock given the popularity of that design model for modern games, it does mark something of a departure for Square Enix, which has tended towards more structured experiences historically. Matsuda also suggested that the performance of Project Athia on PS5 compared to how it displays on PC will be “nearly identical,” a comparison that will no doubt ignite more debate between consumers deciding whether or not they’ll invest in both a gaming PC and a next-gen console in the future. Here’s the whole quote from Matsuda while discussing Project Athia:
“The game Project Athia (title tentative), which we will release for PS5, is an open-world style game in which users can freely move around the game world. PS5 dramatically improves video technology, such as with the implementation of light-reflecting ‘ray-tracing’ technology. Compared to what you see on PC, it is nearly identical.”
There is exceptionally little information about Project Athia available currently, but it sounds like the game will be a graphical powerhouse. It will be interesting to see how Square Enix uses the power of the PlayStation 5 given that it has its own in-house engine in Luminous. How Project Athia turns out could be an interesting look into how adaptable the PS5 is for developers’ different situations.
For now, though, consumers simply know they’ll be getting an open world PS5 game from Square Enix that’s currently called Project Athia. With so little to go on, it’s hard to get properly excited for the title, but the dramatic improvement of video technology highlighted by Matsuda should mean whatever glimpses fans get of Project Athia in the future will at least be eye-catching.
Project Athia is currently in development for PS5 and PC.
