Venus Vacation Prism switches to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s game engine for extra wetness and steamy breaths

In a recent interview with AUTOMATON, the producer of Venus Vacation Prism –Dead or Alive Xtreme–, Yasunori Sakuda revealed that the upcoming romance game will use the Katana Engine to give the game a tropical sexiness that goes beyond what we’ve seen in the Dead or Alive series so far.  

The Katana Engine is a proprietary game engine developed by Koei Tecmo. It has been used for various games made by its in-house studios, including Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, numerous Atelier titles, and Dynasty Warriors 9. However, Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (DOAXVV), Venus Prism’s spiritual predecessor, did not use this engine. Instead, they used the Yawaraka Engine, focusing on expressing the softness of skin in DOAX3 and emotional elements like blushing in DOAXVV. 

This switch to the Katana Engine for Venus Vacation Prism is all part of increasing the realism and sense of intimacy in the game between the player and the six DOA girls that they can romance. Unlike DOAXVV with its big cast, events and gacha system, Venus Vacation Prism is a one-time purchase romance game that focuses on allowing the player to get up close and personal with a smaller group of DOA series girls, promising a deeper experience. 

 “For Venus Vacation Prism’s visual concept, we are focusing our attention on a sexiness where you can feel the humidity.” Sakuda explains. “We want players to feel not only the wetness of the girls’ skin at close quarters, but also the temperature of their breath.” In other words, the devs are striving to up the sensory immersion through visual improvements – to make sure that DOA girls like Honoka and Misaki look and “feel” real even in close-up situations. 

The Katana Engine will also allow Venus Prism Vacation to have more varied weather than the sunny Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation. As well as making the girls look more enticing, “The Katana Engine is also overwhelmingly superior in terms of expressiveness when it comes to changes in the environment,” Sakuda states.  “To be more specific, we often received requests from players to make it rain in DOAXVV.” He explains that the developers were unable to fulfill these requests as it is not possible to depict rain and its effects on the environments and characters in DOAXVV, as the game was not designed for this.  “However, thanks to the power of the Katana Engine, we were able to express this immediately in VVP,” Sakuda adds. It seems we can expect some sultry rainy scenes in Venus Vacation Prism. 

Sakuda also explains that he is aware of concerns raised by some fans regarding the new 3D models revealed for VVP. He reassures fans that the team are still adjusting the characters to make sure that they look cute enough to meet players’ expectations in the final game. He promises a level of detail that cannot be experienced in DOAXVV’s close-up scenes. “We are continuously striving to surpass ourselves, but to be honest, I will be happy if at the end of the day, people say that “Both the girls in DOAXVV and the girls in VVP are cute.” 

Venus Vacation Prism –Dead or Alive Xtreme- is scheduled to be released on PS4/PS5 and PC (Steam) on March 6, 2025. More info about the game and characters can be found on the official English website.