An established industry insider has narrowed down the potential release date of theStar Ocean: The Second Storyremake, in addition to sharing some more insight into the rumored project. Theclassic PS1 RPG remake leaked onlinein mid-June after some high-definition character artwork from the game prematurely found its way to the support website of Square Enix North America.
Star Oceanis the first-ever franchise from the JRPG veterans at tri-Ace, who are also known as the creators of theValkyrie Profilegames and co-developers ofFinal Fantasy 13-2. To date, theStar Oceanseries has received six mainline installments, as well as multiple spin-offs, remakes, and remasters. The latest such title arrived in 2019 withStar Ocean: First Departure R, an HD remaster of the original game’s PSP remake, which released for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
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A reimagined version of the second entry in the franchise is now slated to release less than a year since thecritically acclaimedStar Ocean: The Divine Forcehit the market, according to YouTuber Nate the Hate. The known leaker recently took to the ResetEra forums to state thatThe Second Storyremake is slated to launch by the 2023 holiday season. And while the insider also mentioned that the scope of the nextStar Oceangame is definitely greater than that ofFirst Departure R, he is still not certain whether the remake will be based on the 1998 original for the PS1 or its PSP remaster from 2009.
For context, the remaster—Star Ocean: Second Evolution—featured mostly unchanged gameplay but introduced a higher-quality soundtrack, additional story missions, and new animated cutscenes. An updated version ofStar Ocean: Second Evolutionwith improved graphics and even more content made its way to the PS4 and PS Vita in 2015, but only in Japan. And whileSquare Enixand tri-Ace’s track record would imply that the upcoming remake will be based on the 2009 remaster, the recently leaked character artwork featured the logo of the original game.
As for the veracity of this newly surfaced information, Nate the Hate has historically offered legitimate scoops. So, while all unofficial insight should be taken with a healthy dose of reservations, this claim that remake ofStar Ocean: The Second Storyis releasing by late 2023 does come from a fairly trustworthy source with a long track record of leaking everything from new Nintendo Switch Online games to showcase lineups. This development marks Nate the Hate’s second major leak in the last month, as it was only a few weeks ago that the same insidernarrowed down thePersona 6release window.
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