This afternoon’s Nintendo Direct held many surprise announcements, including bothLuigi’s Mansion 3and a newAnimal Crossinggame for Nintendo Switch. But one of the most interesting and understated announcements of the event wasTown, a new RPG coming fromPokemondeveloper Game Freak. According to the Nintendo DirectTown, which is a working title and may eventually change, is a Nintendo Switch exclusive planned for release sometime in 2019.
Nintendo isn’t willing to share many details regardingTownjust yet but did confirm thatTownwill be an RPG. The game takes place entirely within a single village, said to have a major secret for players to discover. Players take on the role of an adventurer defending the town from monsters that have begun to suddenly appear. To defend the town, players will have to utilize the talents of all the town’s inhabitants, perhaps even those within the castle above.
It’s unclear as to whether building up or expanding the town itself will be part ofTown. Perhaps just exploring and meeting the town’s inhabitants are all that’s involved, but knowingGame Freakthere’s likely more toTown’s gameplay than is immediately apparent.
Townisn’t Game Freak’s first experimental release outside of thePokemonfranchise. The studio has a long history of releasing unique and quirky games, though none have proven the same success as the games the company is known for. Few know that Game Freak’s first game for Nintendo was the Yoshi puzzle game for NES and Game Boy, originally released in 1991.
Game Freak’s post-Pokemongames are much more interesting. There’s the 2005 action-platformerDrill Dozerand the 2012 rhythm gameHarmoKnight, each for Nintendo’s handheld platforms. Game Freak would then go outside of Nintendo’s publishing, working with Sega to releaseTembo the Badass Elephantand self-publishingGiga Wreckeron PC. And now Game Freak’s latest game isTown, yet another unique spin on a well-tread genre with all of the studio’s charming and friendly personality.
More information onTownis likely to be shared in the month’s to come, so look forward to future Nintendo Directs for updates.
Townis planned to release in 2018 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
