Almost Missed It: I Am Setsuna For #NintendoSwitch

I had no idea what I Am Setsuna was and didn’t think I’d care. I saw the name listed in Nintendo’s recent 2017 Nintendo Switch lineup image on twitter. No video was shown of it during the Switch presentation nor during Treehouse Live. What was this game? I passed it over and didn’t think about it much. Then, I saw a Nintendo Enthusiast video that showed off a lot of games that are coming for the Switch this year. One of the games shown off is I Am Setsuna. As soon as I saw that it was from Square Enix and that it was an rpg, I was interested in it. I almost missed I Am Setsuna. Maybe you did too. Let me tell you about the game.

I Am Setsuna was released last year for the PlayStation 4 and PC. So I imagine there are some gamers that had heard of it. I had not heard of the game because I do not play games on the PlayStation 4 or PC. My first introduction to the game was during a Nintendo Enthusiast video showing off many of the upcoming Nintendo Switch games.

My jaw was on the floor as soon as I saw it. The graphics looked wonderful and the gameplay looked much like an older turn-based rpg. I did some searches for the game on youtube and found more information and video of it.

I Am Setsuna is developed by a company called Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix. The game takes many inspirations from past rpgs such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy. The graphics are perhaps a bit old school but also very beautifully HD. I watched a video where someone said that Tokyo RPG Factory took a lot of inspiration and paid a lot of homage to older Square rpgs.

The Chrono Trigger inspirations were obvious to me after watching more video of the game. I Am Setsuna has Techs and Tech Combos much like Chrono Trigger. And the overworld of the game looks a bit like Chrono Trigger, along with some Final Fantasy inspiration. I suppose there are people who don’t like all these callbacks to old rpgs, but I love it. I am a huge fan of old school turn-based rpgs.

I hope I Am Setsuna does great on the Nintendo Switch. Square looks to have a lot of rpg plans for the system; several Dragon Quest games and Project Octopath Traveler are planned for the system. I hope the sells of I Am Setsuna convince Square to stay the course. I’d love to see the Nintendo Switch become a great platform for turn-based rpgs. The 3DS has been a fantastic home for them and it would be nice to see the Switch get lots of rpgs too!

What do you think of I Am Setsuna? Have you played it elsewhere?

Take a look at these two videos for the game. The first one is the Nintendo Switch footage and the second one is a trailer of the game for PS4 and PC from last year!