Square loves to pump out games and most of the time they involve the words “final” and “fantasy.” This is all well and good (more FF remakes please!) but every once in a while a new IP would be nice. Luckily Famitsu has brought us news of a brand new Square RPG titled Sigma Harmonics for the Nintendo DS. The game is 60 percent done and is slated to be released in Japan some time this summer. While there is no word of a U.S. release, Square has recently been very good about bringing all of its games over to the U.S., so I don’t see why this would be any different. After all, our American money is just as good as their Japanese money.

The game, which has a decidedly different look from much of the Final Fantasy series (check the Famitsu scans here), will be an adventure RPG that has more of a mystery/murder storyline than the normal adventure one found in most RPGs. Sounds like a pretty big departure from the traditional Square RPGs, especially since the game will be divided into chapters with each chapter revolving around a different mystery. Since Sigma Harmonics will be played with the DS held sideways it comes off a bit like a Hotel Dusk meets Final Fantasy kind of thing, which I am totally for since Hotel Dusk is one of the best games out there for the DS.

Don’t be too flustered by all this change though, the game will still involve leveling up via battles and while the style is very different it is also very Square. This might be thanks to the fact that Hiroki Chiba, the event director for FFVII and Dirge of Cerberus, is directing along with Yusaku Nakaaki doing character designs. Both are FF alums so one would assume they know how to make a good RPG. On second thought, Dirge of Cerebus, which they both worked on, was neither good nor an RPG, so that’s a bit worrisome. Well, the optimist in me doesn’t care about that and is looking forward to this game as it seems to be offering a new twist on the world or RPGs. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that it will get a U.S. release.