Nippon Ichi Software is undoubtedly one of the best developers out there, and has been for some time now. From the Disgaea series to void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium to newer titles like Process of Elimination, the developer is hard at work producing some of the games I find the most intriguing. Today, it announced a new RPG featuring literally hundreds of skills and described as “superpowers x academy RPG”: Xicatrice. So far, it’s only been announced for Japan.
It was about a century ago that superpowers started to be a thing. Some people with these powers contributed to society, whereas others abused them or ran wild. Incidents caused by superpowers still exist. In response, the Anti Abnormal Unusual Talent Team, or AUT, was created; it is a law enforcement agency comprised of superpower users. Unfortunately, the number of incidents kept increasing, leading to the creation of the Reserve Anti Unusual Talent Team (RAUT). The RAUT is meant to watch over and train children awakening to superpowers. However, they can still be mobilized if need-be.
Play as a teacher (a former AUT member who lost their abilities) who leads a special unit of students on dangerous missions in response to emergencies. These seven students have special “superpowers.” The title of the game, Xicatrice is based on the French word for scar (cicatrice), as the students are emotionally scarred by their pasts. If the superpower users can’t overcome these scars, the superpower will basically swallow them up. Understanding their troubles is imperative to succeeding in missions.
Since the player is a teacher, they will plan weekly lessons to help the students develop. The students’ basic stats will increased based on the decisions made here. Each student has specific subjects they are good and not so good at, and some learn easier than others. The teacher can also go out with students on the weekend (that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen) to help improve their basic stats. Time moves forward with every lesson or outing.
Once a skill is learned in class, equip the character with it prior to battle. There is a limit to the skills that can be equipped, and they can be changed according to the enemy. With both active and passive skills, there are a whopping 300 to learn. Some become more helpful when combined with another skill. The maximum number of equipped skills increases as the student grows.
Developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software, Xicatrice will be released for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on June 29 in Japan. If it comes west, it could unfortunately be months before we hear about it.
