Square Enix Upcoming Mystery Game ‘Paranormasight’ Features Notable Developers, Including The World Ends With You Character Designer

The upcoming Square Enix-developed mystery adventure that many fans have glossed over, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, has a notable character designer, Gen Kobayashi. For those unaware of who this individual is, he is quite the accomplished illustrator.

For starters, he’s likely well-known for his efforts behind the lead character design art of The World Ends With You and for having worked on the character designs of NEO: The World Ends With You. Further, he has worked on several Kingdom Hearts releases, including the HD Remixes, Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts III. Since The World Ends with You is primarily beloved for its unique art style, fans of that series should check out this game. The presentation in Paranormasight, while distinct, possesses inherent similarities to The World Ends with You.

Moreover, Paranormasight’s composer, Hidenori Iwasaki, has worked on various projects, including being the composer for Left Alive and the synthesizer programmer for The Bouncer. I suppose all your projects can’t be winners. Still, Iwasaki did direct the soundtracks for SaGa: Scarlet Grace, the Adventure of Mana Remake, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles – Remastered Edition.

Lastly, Paranormasight’s director and writer is Takanari Ishiyama, who is nowhere near as prominent as the other two revealed staff members. He was the event director, scenario director, and one of the co-directors for the forgotten Final Fantasy XII sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. Besides his time with that game, he did some audio work for the original Metal Gear Solid and far more niche Japanese titles.

This staff lineup is promising and exciting, even in the case of this writer, since he’ll be bringing something new to the table that most Western audiences aren’t aware of. Although honestly, I have no idea why Square has not promoted Paranormasight with the fact that its character designer worked on The World Ends with You. I know for a fact that this title would have gotten far, far more attention if that trivia was out in the open rather than oddly veiled.

Regardless, here’s hoping this news informs more prospective players of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo because not only has it been severely overlooked, but it seems pretty rad.

Thanks to the Japanese outlet Automaton and the game’s official app store page for sharing the staff information.

In case you missed it, check out our announcement coverage for the game’s reveal trailer.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo follows a mystery adventure where players will be faced with curses that they have to overcome. Gameplay takes on visual novel adventure elements where players will interact with other characters and uncover the truth of a string of incidents.

During gameplay, players will explore ambient 360 backgrounds. With the full support and cooperation of the Sumida City Tourism Division, the local museum, the tourist association, and the local community, real-life scenery from Sumida has been photographed with a 360° camera and recreated as photo spheres that cover the entire sky and surroundings.

Players will look for clues, but exploring could lead them to a bad end. There are multiple characters and multiple points of view, but players will need to deploy curses at the opportune moment or risk being cursed themselves. The main question of the game is, “How far would you go to bring someone back from the dead?”

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo will launch for PC via Steam and iOS and Andriod devices on March 8, 2023, and on Nintendo Switch on March 9, 2023.