The latest issue of Famitsu includes an interview with Aquaplus president Shimokawa Naoya primarily regarding the upcoming mobile game Utawarerumono: Lost Frag, in which he talks about the game and the future of the series.
Shimokawa says that Lost Frag’s title is derived from how the main theme of the story is things the characters have lost. The title is in katakana, a first in the series, due to it being on a completely different platform from previous games.
When asked about why the game is being released on smartphones, Shimokawa says that the primary motive remains unchanged from when they went from PC to console: That they want as many people as possible to play their game. He says that it was also strongly requested from fans, and that they decided that using a smartphone game to get people unfamiliar with the series interested in it would also help with expanding future console development.
Lost Frag takes place in a new country and region not seen in previous games, which may or may not exist in the same world, which Shimokawa says is a fitting stage for the new story.
Shimokawa next discusses the new characters, saying that they put attention into including elements not seen before. Protagonist Akuta is very different from previous protagonists, while Minagi and Suzuri have different characteristics from the demi-human races that have appeared in previous games, and one can tell from their clothes that they have certain “roles”.
When asked about characters from previous games appearing, Shimokawa says that he cannot answer aside from saying that many previous characters will appear in Lost Frag. Similarly he cannot give details on the game’s system, aside from saying that it is an RPG and will not go against the series’ fundamentals up till now, while also being something someone could pick up and play easier.
The commercial that has been shown is handled by White Fox, which did the Mask of Deception anime adaptation and the previous games’ opening videos, and the theme song includes keywords related to the world and characters.
Finally, Shimokawa says that they are working on other projects aside from Lost Frag, including a console title, and hopes that fans will look forward to further news.
Utawarerumono: Lost Flag will be released in Japan within 2019 for iOS and Android, as a free-to-play title with microtransactions.
