In order to celebrate New Year’s, many developers are taking the time to thank their fans on social media; that being said, some of them are using the opportunity to tease or make announcements.Detroit: Become HumandeveloperQuantic DreamandSteamWorlddeveloperImage & Formhave taken the opportunity to tease announcements. Meanwhile, Kadokawa Games celebrated New Year’s by confirming that the previously teasedProject Stellafrom the team that createdFront Missionwill release in 2019.This information comes from a new Tweet that celebrates the new year before calling 2019 the year thatProject Stellawill be finished and released. The tweet also seems to feature the first screenshot of the title with a “HAPPY NEW YEAR” message plastered on it:

For those of you who may not be aware,Project Stellais being developed by the team that originally createdFront Missionfor SNES. Like that title,Project Stellais a mech-based strategy game for consoles, so it should satiate the appetites ofFront Mission fans who haven’t been catered to by series owner Square Enix in recent years. Kadokawa Games has previously worked on some sci-fi strategy games for mobile platforms, namelyStarly Girlsand the upcomingProject Europa.

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Project Stellamarks the team’s first foray into the console market with a sci-fi strategy game in a while. We still don’t know much aboutProject Stellaoutside of the fact that its story will serve as a prequel or “Episode 0” toStarly Girlsand that the developers are focusing on high-fidelity graphics.

In aninterview with DualShockersat Tokyo Game Show, Kadokawa Games' President Yoshimi Yasuda commented on the studio’s goal to create more accessible strategy RPGs with titles likeGod Wars 2andProject Stella. He refers toProject Stellaas “another project” in his statement as it was not announced yet at the time of the interview, but he’s almost definitely referring to it considering he is overseeing the game’s development:

“I’m trying to find a balance and to redefine the genre that in the west is defined strategy RPG, so that it would be in the middle between a simulation RPG and a tactical RPG. If you think about RPGs like for exampleÂDragon Quest, characters grow through fighting, and you also have a big map to explore. I’d like to keep that growth factor but then squeeze the world down to where only the battle matters for the progression of the characters.

This isn’t just aboutÂGod Wars 2,Âbut also another project that I’m working on. I’d like to create a new genre of simulation RPG that would be more accessible and an evolution.”

WhileFront Missionfans may have to turn to Kadokawa Games for a sci-fi mecha strategy RPG, Square Enix isn’t planning to abandon the world and it’s IP. In just over two months, or under two months if you are in Japan, Square Enix will be releasingLeft Alive,a third person shooter set in the world ofFront Mission.

While Left Alive will contain a “a properÂFront MissionÂstory,“ Producer Shinji Hashimoto explained toDualShockers in a recent interviewwhy Square Enix decided to not putFront Missionin the game’s title. The developers ofLeft Alivesettled on theFront Mission-less name because they believed it signified the “newness of the franchise” and genre change that is coming with this upcoming title:

“We thought it was a way to show the newness of the franchise, and it would help to have a different name to show that it’s a new direction. It’s still very much Front Mission. We know that some know and loveÂFront Mission. All the lore is still very much the Front Mission universe. The names, the Wanzers, the locations, the historical events in the series are all there. People who know Front Mission will get straight away that this is aÂFront Mission game.

The nameÂFront Mission is very closely tied to the idea of the traditional simulation strategy style of gameplay. To give that impression of a different genre of game, we changed the name.”

Whether you’re looking forward to seeing theFront Missionworld expanded upon withLeft Aliveor are waiting for something more traditional with Kadokawa Games’Project Stella,2019 looks like it will be a good year forFront Missionfans.Left Alivereleases on March 5 for PC and PS4 andcan be pre-ordered on Amazon. As forProject Stella,we still don’t know what platforms it will hit later this year but DualShockers will be sure to let you know when that information is shared.