Steven Universe Arrives for PS 4 and Xbox One This Summer
One of my favorite RPGs in the last decade was the hilarious South Park: The Stick of Truth which perfectly aped the show’s iconic irreverent comedy. Part of a reason why that game also delivered for longtime series fans was that the South Park town was now explorable — you could walk from Cartman’s couch to City Wok. This element of exploring a show’s town will be an important part of the upcoming Steven Universe: Save the Light, a console RPG that will let fans explore the charming Beach City at long last.
Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe has captivated and stolen the hearts of many since its 2013 debut. And now, Grumpyface Studios will be taking Steven and his friends to PS4 and Xbox One for a new RPG adventure this summer. The studio previously made Steven Universe: Attack the Light, a mobile RPG that utilized Paper Mario-style combat. Save the Light is the sequel to that game, but you can play this one on its own.
As with the previous game, the studio hopes to make this upcoming RPG to appeal to fans and non-fans of the series with a fun combat system. Rebecca Sugar, the bubbly creator of the series, has worked with the studio to make sure the game fits into the show’s mythology and helped with writing some of the game’s dialogue too. As a console game (a first for the studio), it really lets the studio go further in their vision of a Steven Universe RPG game.
One immediate upgrade is that your party not only features Steven, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst, but also Greg and Connie too. Likewise, this game lets you explore the breezy Beach City and run into the show’s cast. The ever-cool DJ, Sour Cream, sends you on a quest to find glow sticks at one point. The game also retain’s the mobile’s visual aesthetic with its pastel color palette. According to GameSpot, the game boasts seven party members, with at least one additional unannounced DLC character after the game’s launch. The article also notes that we can expect to see new Steven Universe characters to debut in the game as well.
Beyond that, the combat is getting a tune-up too. It still has that fun time-sensitive combat of Paper Mario but adds relationship-building to the mix. Now, players can also strengthen the relationship between each of their party members, which in turn, unlocks new team-up attacks and even lets certain characters fuse together in battle. When you level up, you can also upgrade certain skills of characters to further customize your party. From the video previews I’ve seen, I do love how the show’s beloved characters fit into traditional RPG archetypes so well. For instance, Connie uses her sword like a knight while Greg’s basically a bard who swaps the harp for an electric guitar that can do damage to all enemies continuously.
GameSpot also reports that the studio says that the digital-only game will take 10 – 12 hours to complete too, and that they will soon have more information on its release date.
Keep Beach City weird, folks.