Square Enix has announced its first large-scale theme park. It’s called Ninja Tower Tokyo and will open next year in Tokyo Tower.
The landmark might seem like an unlikely spot for such an attraction, but in 2015 a One Piece theme park opened in Tokyo Tower.
This past April, Square Enix established a “Live Interactive Works” division to make digital projects for parks, shopping malls, and event-type spaces. Ninja Tower Tokyo, which promises to “a ninja entertainment experience,” is the first of its kind from Square Enix and its new division. Further details about Ninja Tower Tokyo are scant.
At this year’s Leisure Japan Theme Park Expo, the company also showed off two of its first two Live Interactive Works projects, which might provide clues as to what to expect from the ninja theme park. These projects, however, are standalone experiences and most likely won’t be at Ninja Tower Tokyo. They do show what Live Interactive Works can do.
According to Famitsu, one of the division’s new projects is Crystal Story, which previously got a teaser trailer.
Players walk through an enclosed booth with a lantern. Inside, there are glowing crystals and digital projections. By using the lamp and listening to dialogues, players try to discover where to go next. Square Enix calls this the “first” of its “night walk series.”
According to Famitsu, Crystal Story is an RPG-like experience, but it sounds like a Square Enix-ified escape room. The demo was about five minutes, but there are plans to extend the experience to over an hour. Expect large numbers of players to take the night walk simultaneously.
The other Live Interactive Works project Square Enix showed was Yokero. It’s much more active than Crystal Story, with players having to jump and dodge digital floor projections.
Other fantasy-themed and kid-friendly projects were announced, including a Sherlock Holmes-style sleuth adventure and a kaiju game that lets kids destroy buildings. Square Enix plans to install these types of experiences at various theme parks across Japan.