Today, Sega announced SolSeraph, a hybrid of action game and city builder coming from the developers at ACE Team – the studio that previously brought us delightfully oddball creations like Rock of Ages and Zeno Clash. SolSeraph is basically a new take on Square’s classic SNES title, ActRaiser, and the developers aren’t being shy about letting that inspiration show.
You play as the god Helios, guiding humankind to prosperity while fighting back the monsters that plague the earth. In one half of the game, you’ll go to top-down strategy as you lead tribes to build their villages, expand their population, and defend against enemies. In the other half, it’s a side-scrolling action game where you directly fight to clear out enemy lairs and open new lands for your people’s expansion.
In short, it’s totally a new ActRaiser. Yuzo Koshiro, who did the soundtrack for the SNES game, has composed the opening theme for SolSeraph. A quick look at the trailer – with its not quite Mode 7 map spinning – is enough to indicate exactly what the developers are going for.
SolSeraph is launching very soon – July 10 on Steam and consoles. It’ll be $14.99 USD, with what Sega calls “commensurate European pricing.”
Check out the trailer in full above.
Read more: Check out the best strategy games on PC
We’re probably never going to get an ActRaiser 3 – even ActRaiser 2 wasn’t a real sequel – but hopefully SolSeraph will properly scratch that itch. We’ll find out in just a few weeks.