Earlier this week, Konami treated classic RPG fans to something special: a live stream dedicated entirely to Suikoden. The franchise has lacked a brand new entry since a Japanese and PSP-only side story over a decade ago, so expectations for what this would entail were all over the place. So it was with an unusual mix of feelings that fans met the announcements of a Suikoden anime (yay!), and a brand new Suikoden video game at last…for mobile (okay, sure!). With gacha mechanics (oh no!).
Let’s start with the anime, which is simply titled Suikoden: The Anime. It’s based on the events of Suikoden 2, and will be the first production of Konami animation. We didn’t really get to much of what it looks like just yet, nor did we learn any details about whether or not it will be easy to access outside of Japan. All we got was a brief scenery clip:
Still, that’s exciting news for Suikoden die-hards, and tentatively a cool entry point for Suikoden newcomers if the anime becomes widely available.
The second major announcement has fans feeling a little more conflicted. A brand new game, entitled Suikoden Star Leap, was announced, and it looks really beautiful, with that Octopath Traveler-style of 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds. It apparently takes place a few years before Suikoden 1 and a few years after Suikoden 5, and includes the traditional 108 characters just like the other Suikodens.
However, it’s getting released…on mobile. And for now, seemingly nothing else. That alone may not deter die-hard Suikoden fans, but we also learned that Star Leap will have gacha mechanics and some sort of ongoing monetization. It’s a rather disappointing inclusion for a game series that has historically existed only in premium games released on console and PC, but we’ll have to wait and see if the monetization decisions end up holding back players’ ability to enjoy the game or collect all 108 characters.
In the meantime, Suikoden fans can content themselves with the re-releases of Suikoden 1 and 2 via Suikoden I&II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars. A new trailer for this collection was also shown during the live event, and it’s officially out tomorrow, March 6.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
