Spike Chunsoft announces survival RPG Zanki Zero for PS4, PS Vita [Update]

The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has the exclusive reveal of Zanki Zero, an all-new RPG from Spike Chunsoft.

The game is being worked on by much of the Danganronpa series development staff, including Yoshinori Terasawa and Takayuki Sugawara. It is set in a ruined world and follows the story of eight survivors. Its official genre title is “nonstop zanki survival RPG.” (Editor’s Note: “Zanki” means “remaining lives.”)

Further information has yet to leak from the magazine.

Thanks, Famitsu.

Update 7:45 a.m.: Here’s an overview of the story:

God created the world in seven days. It only took one day for humans to destroy the world. Life as we knew it until yesterday sank to the bottom of the sea. We do not yet know the broken world and the reasons left behind there. An earth where ruins drift about. Buildings, houses, light posts. Cars, traffic lights, asphalt—. Modern civilization was destroyed, and became ruins drifting in the sea. New ruins drift one after the other before the protagonist, who lives on one of those ruin islands.

Here are tidbits from an interview with producer Yoshinori Terasawa and supervisor Takayuki Sugawara:

• This project has been on the back burner since about six years prior to Dananronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.
• It is a post-apocalyptic survival RPG set in bright ruins.
• All eight characters that make up the party can be said to be the protagonist.
• The character being focused on changes for each chapter.
• Lively people of old age will appear and play a big role. (Editor’s Note: Famitsu has artwork of both the protagonists and their old age forms.)
• There is no transition between field exploration and the battle screen. It’s seamless.
• It’s an RPG with strong action elements. It will be possible to evade enemy attacks and attack.
• The main enemies are the animals that have adapted the environment of the world after it was destroyed.
• You can get materials and food ingredients by defeating enemies.
• There is a sheep mascot character more similar to Danganronpa‘s Monomi than Monokuma.
• It is completely different from the Danganronpa series, but will similarly offer surprises.

Development is currently 10 percent complete. A release window was not announced.

Thanks, Hachima Kikou.