XSEED's E3 Lineup

XSEED Games is showing off six titles at this year’s E3 and they include everything from a farm-centric RPG to a rhythm-based cooking game.

Story of Seasons is the farming RPG game based on a Harvest Moon title, but it doesn’t brandish the long-standing license name. That being said, it should be something that Harvest Moon fans will quickly recognize and be able to immerse themselves into. The game will let players start a small settlement and tend the crops and animals as they see fit. Using the Nintendo 3DS’s wireless and StreetPass features, XSEED also promises that Story of Seasons will let players connect and visit other people’s farms, cultivate crops together, and exchange gifts. This title is due to be released this Winter.

Corpse Party is a PC remake of the 2011 PSP game with the same now. The Windows version of the RPG claims to feature more characters, interactions, darker story elements, 5,000 lines of Japanese voice-acting from the original indie actors and dozens of shocking, gruesome endings. Players take control of nine main characters and several side characters who’ve been split up into groups of two or three and trapped in a run-down, otherworldly elementary school full of vengeful spirits, deadly mysteries and corpses.

XSEED is also showing two Senran Kagura titles. One, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus is the sequel to the Nintendo 3DS title Senran Kagura Burst. Shinovi Versus is a PSVita title that takes the over-the-top style even farther than before. Players will take control of characters from each of the factions and see the game’s story from each of the four viewpoints. Shinovi Versus promises to feature even more ridiculous mid-air combos, over-the-top humor, secret ninja art techniques and apparently clothes that explode when characters take damage.

The other Senran Kagura title is a little different. Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! is a rhythm-based cooking game. Instead of shinobi battles, the characters will be facing off in the kitchen with cooking fights. This Vita title will also focus a lot on both the humor and eye candy that seem to be staples of this license. The game features 10 initial characters, but that number will grow to 22 when the associated DLC is provided.

XSEED is also featuring a classic dungeon crawler for the PSP called Brandish: The Dark Revenant. This new game lets players control Ares Toraernos, a swordsman who must work his way through 40 floors of monsters, traps and puzzles in the hopes of escaping a labyrinth. During the hero’s journey, the hero will regularly run into his arch rival, a bounty hunter that is also trapped in the maze looking for a way out.

Lastly, XSEED is releasing Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed for both the PS3 and Vita. This title takes players through Tokyo’s "Electric Town" district known as Akihabara (or Akiba). Players will battle vampire-like foes called Synthisters. The only way to battle these creatures is to expose them to direct sunlight, and apparently you do that by fighting them and stripping off their clothes until their flesh is fully exposed. Everyday objects from baseball bats to comic books and motherboards can be used as weapons, and players can take enemies’ unique clothing items for their own personal use.

While XSEED doesn’t have a lot of games to show off this year, what they have seem to be some good titles for those looking for ports of JRPG titles, even if some of them stray a bit from the standard JRPG mold.