Jamie C
The Shadow Hearts video game series, a beloved gem in the world of role-playing games, has long captivated gamers with its dark and distinctive blend of supernatural storytelling, rich historical settings, and unique battle mechanics in the form of the Judgement Ring.
Originally developed by Sacnoth and later continued by Nautilus, the series spans 3 games in the series (4 if you are including the PS1 Koudelka game), each intricately weaving together elements of horror, fantasy, and a deep narrative that transcends traditional RPG conventions. As fans eagerly anticipate the potential for a return, we explore the possibility of a remaster or rerelease that could reignite the passion of old fans and introduce this captivating series to a new generation of gamers.
Back in the days of the PS4’s early years, Sony released a handful of PS2 titles as emulated classics with the additions of Trophies. Games like Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto Series, a number of Star Wars licenced games and PaRappa the Rapper 2, just to name a few.
The studio in charge of making these ports possible even reached out to the PlayStation Community to ask what games they would like to see make an appearance. And to their surprise there was a large amount of support for the Shadow Hearts series to make an appearance.
Cut to 2022 when there is still no site of the series making a return, then fans got a glimmer of hope. In light of PlayStation’s 2nd reboot of the PlayStation Plus service, classic PS1, PS2 and PSP titles would now be possible with updated visuals and trophy support with their impressive form of emulation.
Then… news broke that the IP licence holder; Universal Entertainment Corporation, a company who exclusively works in the gambling and hotel entertainment industry, filed a trademark renewal of the Shadow Hearts Series, just in time for the PlayStation Plus reboot.
It’s now been over a year since that news leaked and we still have not see any news of the series making a return. We are though very fortunate to have the original creator of the series make a spiritual successor thanks to a succesful Kickstarter, titled PennyBlood and fans are so hyped for this game.
But, what happened to that trademark? Why did they bother?
Our curiosity and desperation has now got to the best of us. So we reached out to Universal Entertainment Corporation to get a definitive answer.
Unfortunately the answer was not what we were hoping for. A representative of Universal Entertainment Corporation replied back to our request for information of the Shadow Hearts Series and received the following reply;
“Regarding the “Shadow Hearts” series, currently, there is no plan for its remake, sequel or the introduction of an game machines using the game characters/stories.
We appreciate your precious opinion as a reference to our products and services for customers in the future.
Thank you again for your inquiry and we appreciate your continuous support.”
So there you have Shadow Hearts fans! We will not be receiving any form of remake or rerelease.
At least you can rest assured it will not be taking the Konami route and using their IPs to make Pachinko Machines!
It is possible it was a move made in light of the original creator’s pending announcement of Penny Blood and to prevent reviving the series through KickStarter. I have reached back out to Universal Entertainment Corporation for clarification on this theory but yet to hear back from them.
So what are your thoughts on this readers? Let us know on our Social Media platforms.
