Back to School
The wide-reaching Shin Megami Tensei series has been going from strength to strength over the past few years, with critically acclaimed remasters of older titles being released and a brand new title set to hit the stands this year. However, a number of former Shin Megami Tensei developers have gotten together to launch a brand new RPG called Monark, and it seems we’re beginning to get a few cryptic first looks.
Official Twitter and LINE accounts have opened for Monark, along with an intriguing official teaser website. It’s the website that holds the most secrets hinting at the future of Monark, with hidden messages throughout. The main features of the site are a countdown to June 10, when we’re set to see a much more substantial information dump about the game. Also on the website’s main page is a list of names, all but four censored to the point of being illegible. The four names that can be read, however, are Kazunari Suzuki, Tsukasa Masuko, Aya Nishitani, and Ryotaro Ito (likely a typo for Ryutaro Ito) – all developers who have previously worked on the Shin Megami Tensei series.
The website also features a Japanese phone number, 050-3204-4961, that when called plays the sounds of an apparently violent struggle, followed by a scream. After the scream, a man’s voice says (roughly translated from Japanese), “Finally. I’ve been waiting for you, my foolish, silly, precious child.”. It seems that, despite it’s supposed school setting, Monark may have some horror-tinged themes to it.
There are just two secrets left in the site, much more cryptic and difficult to find than the last. There’s a message hidden in the site’s source code – “Four choices. Four fates. The choice is your ego’s to make. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” The final secret comes from Twitter user @Renka_schedule, who found that the common name of the site’s domain is cs.furyu.jp, suggesting that the as-of-yet unrevealed publisher could be FuRyu.
It seems we’ll be getting some more information on Monark on June 10 – Make sure to keep your eye out for it!