In addition to its previously announced Stellar Blade sequel, and continued development on its titillating smartphone title NIKKE: Goddess of Victory, Korean developer Shift Up has been working on a third game named Project Witches.
That title has now been renamed Project Spirits, and here’s your very first look at its artwork:

The game is being described as a “subculture cross-platform title” which embraces “Eastern fantasy”.
The blurb continues: “As a new intellectual property following Stellar Blade and NIKKE, it is currently in development as a top-tier quality game for the industry, building on Shift Up’s proven track record and expertise in IP creation demonstrated through previous projects.”
The company’s currently recruiting for the release across a number of roles, including character artists, level designers, monster artists, and writers. It specifically mentions proficiency with Unreal Engine 5, open worlds, and JRPGs.
Our prediction is that this will be Shift Up’s answer to Genshin Impact, delivering a rich sandbox experience that scales across a variety of different hardware specifications, from smartphones all the way through to consoles.
This initial artwork definitely feels more NIKKE than Stellar Blade, and there are explicit references to anime games in the job listings. The dev says it’s aiming for a 2027 release, so you may not have to wait too long for more information.
[source shiftup.co.kr]

Comments 98
@Frmknst
And it will make a crap ton of money, just like Nikke.
It's a breath of fresh air to finally see a realistic depiction of an everyday woman.
@Czar_Khastik banger after banger after banger . But holy hell this depiction is particularly depraved
How embarrassing.
Plenty of room in this world for both realistic and exaggerated characters.
The people who create the problems for our community are those who try to censor the enjoyment of others.
The sheer second hand embarrassment.
I see the budgets just got bigger for this one 😛
They must be fans of Arsenal FC as they only make games for gooners
Please be a single player game, too many gachas already and a lot more coming.
Hopefully not a gacha but those designs certainly look gacha-esque
Anime is so creepy
Jiggle physics will be dialled to 12 for this game. If its a gacha then im out.
I take it the two of them set out on a quest for the world's greatest chiropractor.
Based Shift Up
This feels end up as a mobile game just like Nikke. But it works for Shift Up so there's no reason for them to stop doing making games that brought them money.
@Frmknst I don't think you know what porn is, if you think this is lol
@Frmknst imagine censoring word titties. so funny that you guys are fine with games like gta or last of us where people kill each other but tits? hell no, too controversial
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Is it any more ridiculous than a 'roids ridden Kratos ambling around in nowt but a cod piece when it's -40°?
@ATaco I watch porn a good bit and have a very healthy sex life.
In fact, just the other day I was wondering why it is that I get so many porn addict scare ads on how to not watch porn. I've never ONCE looked up how not to watch porn.
That said, how embarrassing.
@LikelySatan
An interesting bit of trivia. Here I play games like Nikke, ZZZ and all those other "gooner games" and yet I've never gotten a single ad like that. Perhaps they've mixed the two of us up?
@Frmknst You clearly never watch porn or played hentai games.
So is this "project witches" that was on their road map or something different?
@ATaco I think you might be taking this seriously. I'm not. Have fun.
@naruball I think you should stick to Forspoken (Think you said you liked it), because this genre is clearly not for you, which is cool, but no need to say this is embarrassing.
@LikelySatan
Understandable. I might pop into doom articles and start calling the people who enjoy it murderers in training. All in jest I assure you!
@Oram77 already beat it, but thanks for the suggestion, I guess. Plenty of games with beautiful female protagonists. This is simply ridiculous, in my view, just like it would be if male characters had abnormally big bulges and were the center of the advertisement of a game.
@ATaco Eh...no one said that besides the insecurities ringing in your head. If you went to a Doom article and said something stupid, I would laugh at you and maybe roll my eyes, but this projection here is way more pathetic. So bye bro. Don't need that toxicity
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@Propaperpusher just wanted to say that 99% of @Czar_Khastik 's posts are meant to be funny. This, too, is supposed to be sarcastic.
I'm totally not blushing looking at the artwork right now.👀💦
@Kidfunkadelic83
@Kingy
@UltimateOtaku91
Unfortunately this game was already confirmed to be gacha last year. I read in Gematsu (see second link below) that it is positioned as a successor to NIKKE and got compared to the likes of FGO, Genshin, and Star Rail.
@Oram77: Yep, this is the one that was on their roadmap.
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/04/shift-up-hiring-for-aaa-urban-sci-fi-action-rpg-for-console-pc-and-mobile
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/05/shift-up-considering-stellar-blade-pc-version-and-sequel-cross-platform-project-code-named-project-witches
If you’d told me this art was for a parody game I’d have believed you 😂
Big boobs, angry prudes.
Just another day at PushSquare headquarters.
@LifeGirl maybe on their next game they could have vickie pollard off little Britain as the art work. Nope thought not
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@Coolmusic Bummer.
That seems excessive.
@Czar_Khastik yeah, the over censorship of the gaming community in general is a bit depressing. Whether it is controversial opinions or the female form.
We are often being treated like naughty school children rather than respected as adults.
Ah look people intentionally clicking on an article that they don’t need to if they don’t like it to try and push that they have the right view.
If it’s not for you. Ignore it. Just as you would any other game you aren’t interested in.
Hey @Czar_Khastik, that was my mistake, sorry! Your comment is live again : )
@naruball I mean, if it helps sell the product then what does it matter what the centre of the promotion is?
@DreamlandGem Thanks, appreciate it 😎 My intention really wasn't to insult the people who want to play the game since we all have different tastes and that's how it should be.
@Kienda Exactly, this should be an open space for everyone and it should especially be something positive which my comments intend to be: to bring out a laugh or two and to point out the things I think are bad in this hobby of ours.
And here's an anegdote: At some point in time I was playing Final Fantasy 6 which is regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made and my friend saw me playing so he asked me why I'm a playing a game about dwarves. I wasn't mad, but instead I laughed since it's just his point of view which I understand because on screen the pixel characters really look like that.
Every Stellar Blade article. One day I will get here early enough to watch it unfold in real time.
@Czar_Khastik I love your comments man. Watching your comments drop on a new article is like opening a booster pack 😂
i don’t get the squeamish prudes that click these types of articles, you hate it & belittle it but can’t stop letting it catch your attention enough to click on it and comment about it; i don’t care for it personally (don’t like anime) but i don’t mind either
so weird
@saffeqwe THIS.
People act like they're pitching to a select audience when it's been shown that, in general, both men and women prefer to play as attractive characters rather than the ogre-like protagonists AAA studios have been pushing recently.
@PlatinumMikey Not all Anime is creepy, Anime like Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Dr Stone, Sword Art Online, Solo Levelling and thousands of others don't base their main selling point off having characters that are overly sexualised.
Its pretty obvious Shift Ups main focus is targeting horny males and Anime fans who are into fan service.
@exit Nice, thanks 😂 Now you made me think about all those pokemon booster packs I opened as a kid, good times.
@Perturbator Those 90s Christian conservatives snuck back into the conversation on the lack of morality in games
@Oram77 hey, if it doesn't matter to you, it's all good. I personally find it embarrassing. That's all. Like they don't have a good game and need to reduce it to the lowest and easiest way to attract an audience.
Some devs needs to touch grass from time to time.
The industry is finally taken seriously after decades of ridicule, do we really still need exaggerated tits to sell to horny kids? (DON'T ANSWER THAT)
I wish it's a full single player $60-$70 games like stellar blade but I think it will be free to play games 😕
The art is great though, 100% no dei/esg lol.
Ps. I love that western gamers (?) that have p**hub and onlyfans legal in their country suddenly become chaste when it's about digital (not real) woman in gaming, I think they should learn the difference between fantasy (it's not real) and real life.
Very BIG ... pixels.
I'll keep an eye open on this, but that first look doesn't appeal to me.
@UltimateOtaku91 plenty of single players games out there lmao
@arsmolinarc yes we do some men are just very lonely
@UltimateOtaku91 I would suggest more classic such as The Grave of Fireflies, Spirited Away, Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Psycho Pass, Monster, or Full Metal Alchemist.
But i noticed people like him doesn't care to do some research and get proper knowledge before throwing silly generalization towards anime. They only want to judge the medium and people who likes it and then acts holier than thou.
Well that's just ridiculous, they're massive, how are you supposed to fight with those , completely unrealistic and they should be ashamed of themselves , i mean how are you even supposed to run with two massive swords like that😏
@arsmolinarc The movie industry gave us Citizen Kane, Godfather, Eraerhead but also Nymphomaniac and Freddy Got Fingered. Literature gave us Shakespeare, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Cervantes but then also gave us Jackie Collins and 50 Shades Of Grey. Music gave us Beethoven, Bach and Miles Davis but also 'I Like Big Bootys And I Cannot Lie'. Art gave us Michelangelo, Goya, Titian, Turner but also gave us Tracey Emin's Bed.
All artistic genres have multiple avenues where guff sits along masterpieces.
@Brundleflies21 I just googled Tracey emins bed , good god it sold for £2.5 million , they couldve had my daughters for a fraction of that , its exactly the same.
@LifeGirl agree! But honestly, the ones who complain about these depictions just complain and let those who love it enjoy. The ones who don’t like games where the female lead isn’t hypersexualized will go out of their way to destroy the game. Just look how they did Aloy when she wasn’t made to look like a supermodel… 🤷🏾♂️
@PuppetMaster Looove Patlabor! And I revisited Ghost in the Shell (my first 4K Blu Ray!) for the first time in years last week — dang, that film holds up.
To he fair. Those who are talking about the prudes who clicked on this article. Know that the Assassins Creed: Shadows articles were also filled with more comments from those upset about the game than those who were playing it and enjoying it. People are always more engaged with things that pissed them off, I guess.
@Brundleflies21 I’m sure Baby Got Back falls on the “masterpiece” side, right? 😏
Wow, you can't even paint the embarrasment on some folk's faces 😃 I take it these games are made for teenage boys or those with a little less shall we say "experience"
@Andee Ikr. An anime from 1995 still looks amazing after 3 decades. I don't know how Japanese animators did it back then but their works are the definition of "magic".
And if you can find the bluray copy, i also would reccomend some titles like Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ninja Scroll, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on' Heaven's Door, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and Paprika. They're worth every penny just for the superb and timeless animations alone.
I like to think the girl on the left daftly positioned her arm like that to upheld her boobs, because otherwise they'd droop past her bellybuttom.
Exaggerated anatomy aside, great anime art.
If you don't like it, don't interact with it.
@PuppetMaster Yeah! I've got most of those in some capacity — although I have been meaning to nab a second-hand disc of Ninja Scroll on Blu Ray while I can (I believe it's out of print)
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@Frmknst If you don't like it don't play/buy it. The people that do like it don't affect you in anyway.
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@AhmadSumadi Low brow smut like that?
Of course it is!!
@Drnsnsr you don't have to be lonely or sexless ,to appreciate a pair of massive comedy breasts, sam fox and Katie price made a whole career out of such things 😁 this has been a thing for decades , I remember the advert for the game barbarian in the 80s ,Maria whitakers massive bazookas front and centre 😂
Lol these comments.
Who knew the convent had free wi-fi
@Drnsnsr men who like a bit of smut also have relationships with real life women , im gonna tell you something you may find shocking, women like a bit of smut also, women hate men on white chargers , they actually prefer men that are you know , men, you'll learn this as you get older.
Lol at the arguments over the bewbs. I like pretty ladies. I don't mind if they are scantily clad. When artists draw their chests like this though, it reminds me of Rob Liefeld's feet. They just look silly.
I won't play it because it will be a gatcha ridden hellscape, so it's all irrelevant anyway.
LMAO biggest disappointment of the year.
I really thought Project Witches would be their next AAA game after Stellar Blade. but that looks a lot like Genshin Impact. 😩
Wasnt this confirmed to be a pc, mobile, console game? I was hoping and still am hoping it's more console and pc game than mobile tho. And as usual people can't handle a bit of skimpy clothes on girls with big assets lol. Im all for it tho, assuming this is an actual console game. For every game we get like this, we get 10 more that wanna look like concord. But if it's a gacha, then it's dime a dozen. So guess we'll wait and see what this turns out to be
Why are some people here terrified of fictional tits ? Or people that like them? Its not like your existence is threatened by them.....right?
@LikelySatan
I just don't think you realize the blatant hypocrisy in this comment. You came into this article and called it embarrassing...all off of a single image? You know nothing about the game itself and you've already passed your judgement on it? And yet I'm the toxic one?
What you just did is the equivalent of passing by a hobby shop, seeing people playing cards inside and shouting "NERDS!" before walking off. It's just disrespectful and toxic and contributes nothing. We ALL need to do better.
@Drnsnsr Who hurt you bro?
And this will be another big seller while Western games depicting "realistic" ugly women are flopping again and again lol
@PuppetMaster you monster! Don’t recommend Grave of the Fireflies to anyone! I watched it once as a teenager and haven’t tried to watch it it since. Not sure I can handle it.
@UltimateOtaku91 Grave of the Fireflies is a masterpiece but… tears… big fat man tears will roll down your face and you will forever be changed.
@Kienda Challenge accepted! My misses said if I watched Clannad and Violet Evergarden I would be reduced to tears, it was close but I pushed through it 😅.
@Kienda I think if I had watched it as a teenager, I might've made it through ok. Instead, I accidentally waited until after I had a kid. That movie destroyed me for a week.
@Czar_Khastik
That's what happens when they hired more artists than models~
Devs, it's never too late to use the newly upgraded scanners, ... and put them Nikke artists back where they came from! 😏😂
@LifeGirl Well said.
@Kienda It's a great anime to disaproof ignorant people who keeps saying anime is creepy or anime is all about sexualized female characters with big melons.
@Andee Yeah Ninja Scroll bluray are out of prints. I've seen the steelcase edition a couple of years ago and unfortunately i didn't snatch it. sigh...
Let's hope it's quality in it's direction of gameplay, like many fan service games out there vary of quality.
Art seems fair for what is there though.
@UltimateOtaku91 perverts bro lol
I love forward to seeing some gameplay
Im much more interested in the gameplay details than how big a pair of cartoon titties can be drawn, but hopefully those details will be forthcoming soon. I guess the artwork shows they will certainly still cater to the hairy handed mob, but no point breaking a winning formulea eh?
Look forward to seeing the game eventually, but Id rather the titilation was dialled back a bit as its likely to add nothing but distraction to the game mechanics. Wont stop me playing though.
Wouldnt be the first title Id reach for to demonstrate to people that games have grown up a bit though, I find this level of titalation childish - but hell it sells!
@saffeqwe to be fair GTA has both
@PuppetMaster "And if you can find the bluray copy, i also would reccomend some titles like Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ninja Scroll, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on' Heaven's Door, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and Paprika"
Came here to say i loved Ninja scroll, VHD and Street fighter as a kid. I also loved the Crying freeman series. I had those on triple VHS.
@Pandalulz my daughter got given a tin of candy from Japan that is similar to the one in the movie. My brother pointed this out to me and it honestly made my stomach drop for a moment. Seeing my daughter innocent and happy, sharing her sweets with us from that tin and thinking of that movie.
@Kienda Oh no!
Im soaked already 😭😭😭 god damnit shift up
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