Haruki Murakami-inspired game is hipster awesome

I am a huge fan of the works of Haruki Murakami. While Norwegian Wood was my first, Kafka on the Shore might be my favorite, although 1Q84 was also genius. Murakami creates strange and wonderful worlds with bizarre characters. And cats. And jazz. But this new game takes it to a new level.

Y2K is an American developed JRPG. So, a J-inspired WRPG? I’m not really too sure we can call it a JRPG if it’s not developed in Japan, but anyway, it features what they see as the staples of the genre: ” A gripping narrative, an expansive world, memorable characters, and an emotionally moving score.” It has randomly generated dungeons, story-based dungeons, and even Pandas.

The game contains action and platforming elements, as well as meticulously designed story-based dungeons. In addition to these story-based dungeons, Y2K will feature randomly generated dungeons called “The Mind Dungeon“ that contain puzzles, story elements, and opportunities for the characters to level up beyond the standard leveling experience that is expected from battle. In combat, the player and enemies can use magic to change the conditions of the battle. One of the spells featured in our PAX demo “Panda-barrier” allows the player to summon a magical stuffed panda that will absorb the enemies’ blows and protect the player for four turns. Since the game will feature enemies significantly more powerful than the characters, the player must strategize and choose spells that will strengthen the characters or weaken the enemies to level the playing field. Other spells can limit the way the characters attack, heal the characters, increase their health, or temporarily grant them special abilities. Different spells can also be combined to make the characters even stronger. One of the spells currently in development will force the enemy or the player to use one elemental-based magic for a set number of turns. This spell can be paired with other spells to increase the character’s health when attacked. The player can also use ”Trap Spells” that activate in very specific situations.

And it just keeps getting weirder – just look at this pre-Alpha footage.

While I love the works of Murakami, I’m not sure how well they will translate into a game. You know, something fun to play and all that. But still, there are beards and cats and records. It could just be all things hipster and wonderful. Maybe.

It’s coming at some point (no release date yet) to PC, Mac, Linux and PlayStation devices and may or may not lead you into an alternate reality.

Last Updated: December 11, 2014