Shangri-La Frontier Game Shannana Playtested Ahead of Launch
The adaptation's deliberate distance from the kusoge identity of its source is a positioning choice, not a defect, and the playtest report frames it that way.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
A playtest of Shangri-La Frontier: Seven Strongest Species, the switch-battle RPG developed by Netmarble, finds it is not a kusoge, the term for bad games the series is built around. The game, announced in July 2022 and in development for PC, iOS, and Android, recreates the original world with original side-story scenarios. Parties of four field two active fighters and two on standby in the playtest version.
The playtest covers the party-combat battle system, where four characters split into two active fighters and two on standby. Characters such as protagonist Sunraku, real name Rakuro Hizutome, appear in 3D cartoon style across movie and cut scenes. The game keeps the kusoge-free setting of Shangri-La Frontier, a full-dive VR world the story bills as a kamige with 30 million registered players. Player parties face the Seven Strongest Species carried over from the original novel by Katarina, serialized on Shosetsuka ni Naro and adapted into a manga by Ryosuke Fuji. The playtest version's specifications are what the impressions describe.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.