Suda51’s next game will likely revisit the dark and chaotic creative style of Moonlight Syndrome, Silver Case and killer7

Just about a month ago, game designer Goichi Suda (known as Suda51) announced that his development studio Grasshopper Manufacture would part ways with its parent company Net Ease Games as of October 1, becoming independent once again.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Suda talked about his plans for the future following this big turning point.

After wrapping up the development of Romeo is a Dead Man, which released in February this year, Suda has been dedicating most of his time to his CEO duties. As he explains, he has been actively working on creating a better development environment for Grasshopper Manufacture, and it seems like things are starting to settle down.  

In terms of future game releases, while nothing seems to be decided just yet, Suda has expressed the ambition to revisit the creative trajectory of some of his earlier titles, specifically Moonlight Syndrome – which he considers his starting point – as well as The Silver Case, Flower, Sun and Rain and killer7.

“I think No More Heroes led many to view Grasshopper Manufacture as a studio that makes upbeat, flashy action games. However, I’d like to show everyone once more the side of Grasshopper Manufacture that we’ve shown before, as a studio that specializes in creating dark, serious, and chaotic worldviews like the title leading up to killer7,” Suda commented.

Apparently, Suda is currently “immersing himself” in the world of his earlier games while actively working on plans for a new one. As a side note, since he considers Moonlight Syndrome to be a particularly significant title, before anything else, Suda has expressed the wish to give the game a proper overseas release.

While Suda has previously told us that he “will not be returning to adventure games” for the foreseeable future, it seems like the past couple of years have led him to ultimately change his mind.

“I’ll have no choice but to write the scenarios myself,” Suda told Famitsu. “But that’s really just a battle with myself. I’m thinking of rolling up my sleeves and diving back into the world of writing. Currently, I’m in the idling phase…or rather, I’d say it’s more like I’m waiting for a brand-new car I bought to be delivered to my place. Yeah, it still hasn’t been delivered. Sorry (laughs).”

On the other hand, he has also expressed worry about whether a “darker” game like one of his earlier titles would resonate with today’s society. “I was only able to write those scenarios from back then because of how broken I was at the time,” he added.

Related: “My target audience is myself.” Suda51 and Fumito Ueda discuss their game design philosophies, the inherent violence of action games, and what it takes to be a director