Going Diablo? Square UE action-RPG to have online play, says Ichimura

Square Enix's upcoming Unreal Engine action-RPG is to feature online play in some form, project lead Ryutaro Ichimura has said.

"We have experience making RPGs, but not exactly with action-RPGs, so we're going to have a special need for people with extensive action experience - as well as network experience, because that's certainly going to feature in the game too," Ichimura told Famitsu, as reported by 1UP.

Square Enix's Unreal Engine action-RPG, confirmed in this week's Famitsu, has Gothic styling and is intended for a global release, but isn't being specifically made for the west.

"We do have the worldwide market in mind with this title," said the developer, previously the was the co-producer of Dragon Quest IX.

"We're prepared to deploy along those lines. However, we're not trying to make a game for overseas gamers - the challenge we're undertaking here is to present a fun game to the entire world that only Japanese people like us can make."

Ichimura said he believes Japanese developers tend to miss the mark if their sole intention is to sell their work in the US and Europe.

"I think Japanese studios have a tendency to make these 'good enough' imitation backdrops when they're making a game set outside of Japan," he said.

"We're working closely with our overseas staff to keep this game from winding up that way. We're not trying to push what we want to do on others - our approach is to gauge what gamers want right now and take that one step forward.

"That's why I've been traveling around the world for the past two years, to fully investigate our potential userbase. If anything seems off to the gamers in terms of art style or the test gameplay, we write detailed reports and rework the problem area."

The game's team currently stands at around 35, with recruiting on the project set to ramp up soon.