Compile Heart and Idea Factory have announced that the school-themed action JRPG Villion:Code is set to release in North America and Europe on January 26, 2027 for PC (Steam), PS5/PS4, and Nintendo Switch. The game initially released in Japan in June last year.

Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series co-creator Kouji “Cozy” Okada serves as Villion:Code’s creator and producer. Artist Ilya Kuvshinov (who worked as a character designer on Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 original new animation and Keiichi Hara’s The Wonderland) serves as character designer, while Shin Megami Tensei veterans Tadashi Satomi and Tsukasa Masuko handled the scenario and music respectively.

Villion:Code takes place in a grim near-future where humanity is on the verge of extinction. After monsters known as GEMs start attacking people, the Adhvan Resilience School (an academy city established with the purpose of saving humanity) seals itself from the outside world. Now isolated, the students must fight off the GEMs and those who have been transformed as a result of the invasion.

The game unfolds through dialogue, exploration, and combat. Villion:Code’s story is presented in a visual novel style. You’ll experience it through conversation and investigation events, while making choices that shape how the story plays out. The game also comes with affinity mechanics that affect how characters perceive and act toward the protagonist, though Okada has confirmed that there are no romance routes available.

As you explore Adhvan City and the Sankhara Domain (made up of randomly generated, tube-shaped dungeons inspired by Buddhism’s Ten Evils), you’ll encounter GEMs that test your combat prowess. Combat is action-oriented and centers on your use of Genome Arms – mutated weapons that literally transform each party member’s arms – to defeat enemies. Switching between melee and long-range Genome Arms lets you string together combos, allowing you to create your own unique playstyle.

In addition to standard attacks, you can perform wall slides to zip around vertically and horizontally across the arena walls, and execute aerial Raid Strike attacks to catch unaware enemies. Stun/RUSH lets your whole party jump in and quickly dispatch all stunned foes (similar to Persona’s All-Out Attacks). Finally, filling up your Elemental Gauge allows you to unleash a powerful Elemental Release special attack. To make sure you aren’t just spamming attack inputs, Villion:Code introduces a deflect/counter system that lets you turn your enemies’ attacks against them with powerful counters.

Completing Sankhara Domain dungeons awards you with EX Factor, an item used to craft Genome Cubes that are essential to powering up your party. These include enhancements to characters’ base stats, additional bonuses, and passive skills. This process, known as Genome Editing, is central to Villion:Code and helps drive the game’s narrative forward.

Villion:Code marks Okada’s return to console game development after over a decade. After spending years working in mobile and handheld development, he decided that his next project would be a game that “you can really sink your teeth into.”

Villion:Code is set to release in North America and Europe on January 26, 2027 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. A Japanese version of the game is currently available on the same platforms.

Villion:Code “is a piece of entertainment, but it also has the potential to change your life.” Character designer Ilya Kuvshinov talks about dev process