Even one year later, Stellar Blade is still going strong. Shift Up's hugely popular action game is about to come to PC, and the studio even seems to have a sequel planned. But that doesn't mean Shift Up doesn't have any other games in development right now; in fact, the team just pulled back the curtain on Project Spirits, and it certainly sounds like an eclectic mix of influences. Potentially pulling from Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, Ghost of Tsushima, and, of course, Stellar Blade, this is one to watch.
With the Stellar Blade PC release date mere days away, Shift Up is setting its sights on something new: Project Spirits, seemingly once Project Witches. We've got a fair bit of information to go off, too, as Shift Up has described the action game on its website.
"Project Spirits is Shift Up's new flagship project, a subculture cross-platform title that embraces the concept of 'Eastern Fantasy.' As a new IP following Stellar Blade and Nikke, it is currently in development as a top-tier quality game for the industry, building on Shift Up's proven track record and expertise in IP creation demonstrated through previous projects."
As for what type of game Project Spirits will end up being, Shift Up's new recruitment drive on its website gives us some pretty solid indicators. The team is recruiting for a number of roles on Project Spirits, like level designer, battle planner, monster artist, and writer, but taking a look at the role of lead content planner provides some answers.
In the job preferences, Shift Up says it would like applicants to have experience planning both JRPGs and anime-style games. Not only that, but the studio even gives some specifics, as it wants potential developers to have played Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, Ghost of Tsushima, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, and Stellar Blade. This could suggest that Project Spirits also has some gacha game elements planned, or at least a similar combat system to these games.
We don't have a launch date for Project Spirits just yet, but a Shift Up report from earlier this year (where the game was referred to as 'Project Witches') indicates that the game should come out in or before 2027.
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