XSEED Announces Sumioni: Demon Arts

Aaaaaaand we're back with some excellent news! XSEED, our beloved publisher of titles like Trails in the Sky, Corpse Party and Fishing Resort officially announced its next localization today. This time it's all about "Sumioni: Demon Arts". Never heard of it? Well, that's not surprising, since it's a Playstation Vita title and isn't even out in Japan yet.
From the looks of it, Sumioni will be one of the launch titles for the western PSV release!

Sumioni presents the PSVita's new features, specifically what you can do with the touchscreen, and how it can benefit Games. This example featuring the Ink Demon (who looks pretty cool!) shows expertly how to involve touch controls in your games to create a unique feeling, rather than just adding them for the sake of it.
Sitting in the camp of "traditional" controls, I can't help but be excited about that game.
Thanks to XSEED it will eventually appear on my doorstep - in a language I can understand!

In Sumioni – which is literally translated from Japanese as “ink demon” – players take control of their own Sumioni ink demon who has been summoned to rid the land of evil, and are tasked with safely guiding him through 2D side-scrolling levels. Visuals are presented using a crisp, hand-painted traditional “sumi-e” ink style and a color palette that lends itself well to the game’s feudal Japanese setting. Throughout their journey, players will encounter enemy samurai, long-range bowmen and other obstacles that must be overcome using the unique controls of the PS Vita system.

While the Sumioni himself is controlled through traditional means, players can also manipulate the touchscreen itself to paint artistic brushstrokes across the playfield that their Sumioni can then jump on to traverse obstacles and avoid enemies. Each finger stroke is presented on screen as a paintbrush stroke over the background canvas of the game. This allows players to manipulate the game’s environment on-the-fly, creating solutions to problems as they arise. Various brushes can be used to create unique effects, and a scratch of the finger on the screen can set objects (and enemies) on fire, cast lightning down from the heavens or summon elemental beasts for massive, screen-filling attacks. By combining the use of several brushes on the screen simultaneously, players have a myriad of options with which to tackle obstacles and strike down foes.

Full Announcement
Official Facebook Page

UPDATE: Official Trailer by XSEED!

While it is kinda sad that the new XSEED Game won't be Trails in the Sky: Chapter 2, I certainly am looking forward to Sumioni. Time to test my luck with touch controls!

PS: XSEED just apologized via Twitter:

Apologies to everyone who hoped that we were publishing a space llama dango fighting game. Maybe next time. ^_-

This was, of course, meant as a comment to yesterday's clue regarding this announcement.