VA-11 Hall-A developers are doing what Square Enix won’t: making a spiritual successor to cult classic JRPG Parasite Eve

The developers behind VA-11 Hall-A just dropped a trailer for their next game that looks to be a spiritual successor to the Parasite Eve series, and it absolutely slaps.

Square Soft’s experimental era spawned so many gems at the turn of the century, both in and out of the Final Fantasy series, and chief among them was 1998’s Parasite Eve, a cult classic that mixed survival horror elements with turn-based RPG combat. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi served as its producer, while Kingdom Hearts’ composer Yoko Shimomura was behind the decks, a combo that made Parasite Eve destined for greatness, but after releasing one sequel, the publisher largely forgot about the series.

Sukeban Games hasn’t, though. The studio behind the “booze em’ up about waifus, technology, and post-dystopia life” VA-11 Hall-A, which enjoys an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, announced their next game .45 Parabellum Bloodhound a couple weeks ago and just released a new trailer down below. It perfectly recaptures the grunge-ish aesthetic from early-2000s Japanese media and its PSX blockiness has me fawning.

.45 Parabellum Bloudhound’s Steam blurb boasts of an “active time action” battle system, “suitable for both hardcore and vibes-based players,” that lets you position your character around levels before stopping time to attack or chain skills, à la Parasite Eve. “Follow the raw tales of Reila Mikazuchi; a killing machine emerging from depression looking to rebuild her life doing what she knows best,” the description continues. “A path well-traveled where the consequences are known, but is her biggest foe really in front of her gun?”

Oh, and that thumping soundtrack? What’s not to love? No release date yet for this one, sadly.

For now, check out the other upcoming indie games of 2024 and beyond.