Project Athia PS5 Open World

Project Athia was announced at the PlayStation 5's reveal event last month as a console exclusive. The Square Enix title certainly looked the part in its short gameplay trailer, but it's clearly still very early in development, and knowing Square Enix, it's probably been announced a decade too soon.

Snark aside, Project Athia's back in the conversation after Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda commented on the game in an interview with Japanese publication Weekly Toyo Keizai Plus (as translated by Gematsu). As it turns out, Project Athia's set to be an open world experience. "The game Project Athia (title tentative), which we will release for PS5, is an open-world style game in which users can freely move around the game world," Matsuda confirms.

He goes on to praise the PS5, stating that Project Athia is built to take advantage of the best technology available: "PS5 dramatically improves video technology, such as with the implementation of light-reflecting ‘ray-tracing’ technology. Compared to what you see on PC, it is nearly identical. By utilising these special traits, we’re able to create incredibly precise imagery. We still plan on developing well-balanced games tailored to a platform’s traits, including smartphone and cloud-based games, but we will never stop developing for high-end platforms such as PS5. Because these things are packed with the best technology."

Are you looking forward to seeing more of Project Athia? How long do you think this thing will be in development? Place your bets in the comments section below.

[source premium.toyokeizai.net, via blog.hokanko-alt.com, gematsu.com]