It’s the debut project of Square Enix’s newly established Studio Istolia, which is headed up by former Tales producer Hideo Baba.
Via an official release, Square Enix explains that the name “Istolia” is based on the Greek word for story. “The aim of the studio is to provide unforgettable stories that will inspire players in their own lives, and bring new game experiences to everyone around the world,” Square Enix adds.
Here is a first look at concept art for the Project Prelude Rune, a completely new IP.
Battle art.
Baba, who previously worked at Namco Bandai, is producing the project.
No word yet on when this title will be released or for which platforms, but Project Prelude Rune appears to be quite early in development. The studio is currently hiring planners, designers, and programmers.
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DISCUSSION
Eh, Squeenix is like Konami at this point - you just have to assume that any given title is going to be shit until proven otherwise. So you can’t get excited about this at all, especially when they don’t tell you the platform. Even the shittiest Chinese poison mobile F2P RPGs have purty concept art, it means nothing at all.
So show us some game - yeah, I know it’s so early in the process that they don’t have anything, so why fucking even bother announcing it now? Right, because Squeenix loves announcing shit 5-10 years before anything ships to make sure we’re properly disappointed and pre-burned out.