Marvelous, the studio behind the Story of Seasons and Rune Factory series, returns with a new turn-based JRPG led by Monster Hunter Stories 2 director Katsuhisa Higuchi.
Eternal Anima is a new turn-based JRPG from Marvelous built around a combat system called Future Sight, which allows players to preview enemy actions and their expected results before committing to a response.
Previously known as Project Life is RPG, the game also connects exploration and character progression through Psychometry, an ability that lets protagonist Wade recover memories, classes, and abilities from objects found throughout the world.
Future Sight Lets Players Manipulate Enemy Actions
Future Sight displays upcoming enemy actions and shows what is expected to happen if the current turn sequence remains unchanged. Players can then respond by preparing defenses, delaying enemy actions, interrupting them, or preventing certain attacks from resolving.
Damage output is therefore only one factor when choosing an action. Skills that alter the turn order, delay an enemy, or cancel an incoming ability can directly change the predicted outcome of a round.
The system is built around reading the upcoming sequence and selecting actions that modify it before those events occur.
Psychometry Drives Class Progression
Wade can use Psychometry to access memories contained within objects. Some of these objects provide access to classes and abilities associated with their former owners. These inherited abilities can then be combined when developing Wade’s combat setup.
This means class acquisition is connected directly to exploration. Marvelous has confirmed that players will be able to combine different inherited classes and abilities, although the exact limits of the system have not yet been detailed.
It is currently unclear how many classes can be equipped at once, whether abilities remain available after changing class, or whether passive and active skills use separate slots.
Multiple Eras Exploration Is Connected to Character Development
Objects discovered throughout the world can contain memories from previous generations. These memories provide information about past events while also functioning as a source of new combat abilities and classes.
The system also connects with the game’s time-spanning structure, as Wade investigates events involving different generations and historical periods.
Wade begins his journey in Urvis Ael, an isolated society where seeking change or wishing for a different future is treated as a crime. After being branded a heretic, he escapes across the Forbidden Sea and travels through four lost continents.
The story involves characters from different generations, including ancestors and descendants, as Wade investigates historical events and disasters that shaped the present. Psychometry allows him to access memories connected to those events and recover knowledge left behind by previous generations.
Development Team, Release Date and Platforms
Katsuhisa Higuchi is directing Eternal Anima. The scenario is written by Kazushige Nojima, while Keisuke Makino is responsible for the original story concept. Max Berthelot handles character design while the soundtrack is being produced by Basiscape, with Hitoshi Sakimoto serving as music producer.
Eternal Anima is scheduled for release in March 2027 on:
- PC via Steam
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X|S
- Nintendo Switch 2
Marvelous lists the worldwide release date as March 4, 2027, while the current Steam page displays March 3, 2027 for the PC version.
