Itching for a new game to play? Well look no further because Top Hat Studio’s Sonzai seems to have enough elements to satisfy any avid gamer. Being developed by two person team 2 Odd Diodes, this 2-d, action-brawler platforming RPG has taken nearly 3 years to develop. Boasting entirely hand-drawn animation, the game follows the player as they enter a mysterious and magical town. With heavy inspiration from Persona 5, the game focuses mainly on life, magic, and relationships.
Next month, a demo of the game will be dropping on Steam. This demo will showcase early aspects of the game, such as the beginning and some early combat. At the beginning of the game, the player will be moving to live with their father in the city of Kumotoshi. There, the player will form relationships with classmates and other characters. As they spend more time in the city, the player will learn of the town’s mysterious secrets and foray into the unknown.
We tried our best to make the overall mood of the game pretty “chill”!
-2 Odd Diodes
The townsfolk players will encounter are all entirely unique, each having their own reaction to a newcomer in town. The developers have worked hard to make the city as living as possible, with each NPC having their own developed life, family, and issues. The game places a heavy emphasis on social links and relationships, with both affecting both the player and the outcome of the story as a whole. It is unclear right now, however, whether the game will have a multitude of different endings as a result. Another interesting facet of the game is the romance, but the number of romanceable characters in the game is still unknown.
The combat for the game will be combo based, wherein the player will make use of multiple weapons. This component of the game allows players to freely experiment with different builds, possibly allowing for some creative combinations in the future. So far weapons such as swords, gloves, whips, guns, and grappling hooks have been seen in promotional material. The game also seems movement based with the trailer often showing the player character zipping around the map during combat.
All in all, this metroidvania meets life sim boasts a variety of gameplay components that make it a game any avid gamer should keep an eye on. I personally look forward to playing it’s release next Summer.
Sonzai will be releasing on XBox, Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PS4 in the Summer of 2022.