PlayStation 4

Star Ocean: The Second Story R, the remake of the 1998 classic RPG, is now available worldwide both physically and digitally on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

In Star Ocean: The Second Story, the story begins with Claude, a Federation officer, who finds himself transported to an undeveloped planet. While searching for a way home, an encounter with a girl named Rena draws them into a quest to save her people, just as an ancient prophecy foretold. Players will begin their adventure with either Claude or Rena, and depending on their choice, the perspectives and the allies' players recruit will change. Players will get to know party members through the unique ‘Private Actions System’, which will allow them to grow relationships and unlock a variety of different endings.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a 2.5 remake developed by Gemdrops featuring a rearranged soundtrack, new difficulty settings, numerous quality-of-life improvements and more.

If you never heard of this game, you can try the demo where you can play the first three hours of the game. You can import your save to the full game. Below you can watch the launch trailer.

During the latest Nintendo Direct Square Enix has announced that Star Ocean: The Second Story will be getting a remake titled Star Ocean: The Second Story R. This will be a 2.5D remake.

Star Ocean: The Second Story was originally released in 1998 on the PlayStation. In 2009 an enhanced remaster titled Star Ocean: Second Evolution was released on the PlayStation Portable. The story begins with Claude, a Federation officer, who finds himself transported to an undeveloped planet. While searching for a way home, an encounter with a girl named Rena draws them into a quest to save her people, just as an ancient prophecy foretold. Players will begin their adventure with either Claude or Rena, and depending on their choice, the perspectives and the allies' players recruit will change. Players will get to know party members through the unique ‘Private Actions System’, which will allow them to grow relationships and unlock a variety of different endings.

The remake will feature new difficulty modes, new battle mechanics, full Japanese and English voice overs, original and re-arranged music and fast-travel.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R will be released on 2 November 2023 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. You can now pre-order the game and the collector's edition. You can watch the trailer below.

Square Enix has recently announced that Live A Live, that was released on Nintendo Switch last year, will also be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam on 27 April 2023.

Live A Live is a RPG in which the player explore eight different stories with eight different characters, each set within different time periods spanning from a pre-historic era to the Wild West, and more. It was originally released in 1994 on the Super Famicom in Japan. In 2022 a remake in HD-2D (the same graphical style from Octopath Traveler) was releaeed worldwide on Nintendo Switch.

A playable demo is available to download from the PlayStation Store and Steam. Players will be able to play the opening sections of three of the eight stories in the game: The Wild West, Twilight of Edo Japan, and The Distant Future. The saved progress can be carried over to the full version.

Below you can watch the announcement trailer.

Earlier this week reports where coming in that the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series is coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch after it has been rated by the ESRB. Today, on the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series, Square Enix has confirmed that the series will be released in Spring 2023.

If you want to digitally purchase these games, you have the option to purchase them individually or together as a bundle. If you want he Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series physical, there are two limited editions available: Standard Edition and the FF35th Anniversary Edition.

The FF35th Anniversary Edition will include the following:

• FINAL FANTASY I-VI COLLECTION - physical collection of all games for either PS4 or Nintendo Switch-
• Anniversary Edition GOODS BOX.
• A bonus lenticular sleeve for the game package.
• 2-disc vinyl record set featuring newly arranged game music with exclusive cover artwork by Kazuko Shibuya
• A specially compiled artbook showcasing beautiful character pixel art.
• Eight stylized pixel art character figures in window packaging.

Both physical editions are exclusive to the Square Enix Store and are now available for pre-order. However a couple of hours after the announcement the Standard Edition is already sold out.