Astria Ascending was one of the more eyebrow raising announcements from last Friday's ID@Xbox Showcase. The upcoming RPG boasts beautiful hand-drawn art and classic role-playing combat but, most importantly, is made in part by a murder's row of veterans from JRPG series such as Final Fantasy. 

Players control eight customizable heroes known as Demigods whose collective mission is to defend the world of Orcanon from monsters known as the Noises. Each character hails from a different tribe/race and has their own individual stories as well as interpersonal relationships. Combat looks to be a traditional turn-based affair while exploration involves 2D side scrolling. The game takes players through five cities and features 25 dungeons as well as a host of side quests, mini-games, and other activities. According to the game’s press release, the overall experience should amount to roughly 30 hours of content.

Astria Ascending comes from French-Canadian developer Artisan Studios, who RPG fans may recognize as the makers of Super Neptunia RPG. The team has enlisted several JRPG heavyweights to help create Astria Ascending. The game’s story is being written in part by Kazushige Nojima, writer of the Final Fantasy VII series (including Remake), Final Fantasy VIII, and the Final Fantasy X series. The music is composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto of Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, and Valkyria Chronicles fame. Finally, the art comes from Akihiko Yoshida, main character designer on titles like Nier: Automata and Bravely Default, and Hideo Minaba, who was a primary art lead on Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy’s IX and XIV. 

If Astria Ascending gameplay or developer pedigree has you interested, you should keep any eye out when it launches sometime this year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. 

The ID@Xbox Showcase showed off several promising looking indie projects. Follow the links below to read news for some of the coolest games shown at the event. 

Death’s Door
Loot River
Soup Pot
Nobody Saves the World
Lawn Mowing Simulator 
The Ascent

What do you think of Asteria Ascending? Let us know down in the comments!