Shueisha Games and DeskWorks recently announced Chronoscript: The Endless End, their new exploration-based 2D action adventure set to release in 2026. Blurring the lines between 3D and 2D hand-drawn graphics in a “story inside a story” premise, and expanding upon the hits like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, the game promises a fresh take on the metroidvania genre, which the developers fittingly nicknamed “metroidvania plus.”
In an interview with AUTOMATON, game director Tom Fujii, designer Nam Namba (DeskWorks) and producer Masami Yamamoto (Shueisha) talked about where the upcoming game stands among other metroidvania titles in terms of difficulty – and why making it difficult was so important to them.
“I believe it falls into the category of high-difficulty games. But I wouldn’t call it super-high-difficulty,” Fujii said. As he explains, the game isn’t supposed to be hellishly hard to play, but the players will get the option to toggle permadeath or ramp up the difficulty if they’re up for a challenge. However, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be easy either.
Going into the game blind and actually clearing on the first try it is going to be quite difficult, if not impossible, Fujii explains. While it doesn’t contain too many beginner traps, the game was designed so the player will have to learn from their mistakes and grow in order to clear it, as they gradually get better at controls, learn enemy behavior patterns, and enhance character skills in an RPG-like fashion. As the Chronoscript devs suggest, this was a conscious design decision made to evoke a certain “sense of accomplishment” which has become less and less prominent in recent games, as most developers are shifting focus on playability and user-friendliness.
“The sense of accomplishment you get from playing games used to be something truly special. But nowadays, as games are becoming much easier due to developers focusing on user-friendliness, that feeling is rapidly fading away. That’s why we’ve always wanted to bring back a certain level of challenge […] and that’s why I think Chronoscript will hit home for people who are seeking the sense of accomplishment that can only be achieved through playing games.” Yamamoto explained.
So, rather than making Chronoscript beginner-friendly and easy for anyone to pick up, it was developed with seasoned action gamers in mind (and those who are open for a bit of a challenge). As Yamamoto said, the sense of accomplishment only feels special precisely because it is not something everyone can achieve. “We don’t think such a sense of accomplishment can be achieved by playing a game that everybody is able to clear.”
“When it comes to story-driven titles [like Urban Myth Dissolution Center], I think we’ve managed to succeed in creating a game that is designed so that anybody can complete it. However, Chronoscript: The Endless End is an action game, and while we do want more new people to play it, our main goal is for the game to be enjoyed by those who are already fans of the genre.”
Chronoscript: The Endless End is set to release in 2026, for PC (Steam) and PlayStation 5.
Related articles:
