Reef Entertainment kindly invited NookGaming and some other outlets to check out some upcoming NIS America games down in London. Along with that, they brought a special guest: Sohei Niikawa, the former CEO of Nippon Ichi Software, key figure behind the creation of Disgaea, and producer and writer of the upcoming Etrange Overlord. We had the chance to spend an hour with him in an interview about his upcoming game, which you can read here.
Before we dive into it, a brief disclaimer: We could only play a small slice of each game, and these were not the final builds. Some titles were more structured experiences, such as the start of a game, while others were more along the lines of loading a save partway through and figuring things out.
The demos available were:
- Etrange Overlord
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon
- Ys X: Proud Nordics
- R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos
- STARBITES
- Disgaea 7 Complete
Etrange Overlord
Etrange Overlord was the star of the show for me. Despite very different gameplay, it has that same mix of comedy and quirkiness as Disgaea.
The game follows Étrange, a duke’s daughter who has been unjustly executed and cast down to hell after being falsely accused of assassinating the king. She refuses to take any punishment, instead rebelling and using her dark magic to take on hell itself, forcing others to submit to her rule along the way.
It’s a spin on the villainess genre of light novels/anime, setting her up in a similar way, but taking a very different direction. She is incredibly unrepentant about doing whatever she wants or fulfilling her desires (especially for sweets), which ends up being constantly comedic. There are even breaks for musical scenes with songs.
My time with the game so far has primarily been story scenes with battles between them. The battles have you running around small areas, firing off melee or short-range attacks, and switching between characters (including a cat) on the go to take down enemies. The unique spin is that levels have a revolving lane mechanic, where power-ups, weapons, special attacks, and so on move around on conveyor belts in the level. What I played were the early levels where they’d only started to introduce the mechanics, but one fight started introducing ideas like having to knock a boss into an obstacle on its own conveyor belt, and it was mentioned in our interview with the producer that there was a focus on avoiding making battles repetitive.
While I only got to play about an hour of the game, after what I’ve seen, I’m really looking forward to Etrange Overlord. The gameplay has been fun so far, but the story and characters more than anything make it seem like it’ll be a fun ride.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon follows Trails Through Daybreak and Trails Through Daybreak II as the next part of the Calvard arc, itself the fourth arc of the wider Trails series. While there are a number of potential places to jump in on this series (including the recent remake of the first title Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter), this is probably not one of them, with previous protagonists Van Arkride, Rean Schwarzer, and Kevin Graham from different arcs of Trails all starring here.
The small slice of the game I played starred Van and his small group, but I’d run into at least a dozen characters by the end of it. I enjoyed exploring the city, talking to students and townspeople for a while, then set out on a mission to back up some bracers.
If you enjoyed the previous titles, particularly Trails Through Daybreak and Daybreak II, I imagine you’ll already be on board. If not, we’ve recommended or highly recommended every Trails game we’ve reviewed so far. It’s time to check them out.
Ys X: Proud Nordics
I only managed to play Ys X: Proud Nordics for a short time, but I came away wanting to play more. What stood out was particularly fun combat with two characters working together, who you could switch between on the fly.
Isaiah highly recommended the original version, so you might want to take a look at that for now. Proud Nordics seems like the definitive version however, with what sounds like a significant new area added, extra features, and bonus content compared to the original version. One of the extra features is the Mana Hold, where you can pick up objects and move them around. I did have some fun hurling things at enemies with that.
R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos
R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos contains revamped versions of both of the space strategy games. In these, you move ships side-to-side in turn-based combat.
The small slice of the game I played had me send out a number of ships, showing features like attaching ships together to unlock attacks, uncovering hidden enemies who try to ambush you, and trying to keep my small fleet healthy and supplied. It looks rather simple on the face of it, but there do seem to be a few things to explore here.
STARBITES
STARBITES is a Korean RPG, set on a devastated planet where you play as a debris collector who collects spaceship parts and ride mechas into battle. It’s said to be story-driven and the characters and setting do seem very interesting, but in the demo I played, I only explored some rooms and participated in some battles.
The battles were quite fun. They’re turn-based combat and making sure to take advantage of weaknesses and choosing the right skills appear to be quite important. There seems to be a level of strategy in charging and using gauges to power up too.
It feels very much like a classic JRPG (which I’m told were an inspiration for STARBITES) in terms of battles, but at least in the situation I was in during the demo, actually making full use of the available systems seemed more important than in most. Just powering through would’ve taken a long time, if not put my character in danger.
While I didn’t get to see as much of it as I’d like, it’s certainly one I’m interested in seeing more of.
Disgaea 7 Complete
Disgaea 7 Complete was also on show at the NIS America Showcase 2025. This one is a recent rerelease, with Disgaea 7 Complete including both the base game and the previously released DLC. The Complete edition has also come to the Nintendo Switch 2.
While I didn’t get a chance to check it out, you can check out our review of the base game for Disgaea 7 here for more thoughts on the game.
If you’d like to see more JRPGs, why not check out our review of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero or Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian.
Thank you to Sohei Niikawa from SuperNiche for taking the time to speak with us, as well as NIS America and Reef Entertainment for interpreting the interview and inviting us to the event. As a disclaimer, Reef Entertainment provided a train ticket, refreshments, and access to the closed press event.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
