Summary
Japanese developer and publisher FuRyu has made its main strategy clear in recent years - to release games involving renowned creators and developers that are heavily inspired by their previous works. Monark and The Caligula Effect both drew heavily fromShin Megami Tensei, while its latest release,Reynatis, wears its love forKingdom Heartson its sleeve.
From the moment Reynatis was first revealed, Kingdom Hearts fans were quick to point out how similar its characters, combat, music, and even world were to Sora’s adventures, withspecific fingers being pointed at how both feature their own version of Shibuya.
While I’m sure that some of those comparisons are thanks to how thirsty fans are for a fourth mainline game, it turns out that Reynatis aping Kingdom Hearts is very much by design.
Creative Producer Takumi On The Unmistakenable Kingdom Hearts Vibes
“There were several inspirations for Reynatis stemming from the games I encountered in my formative years, such as the Kingdom Hearts series”, creative producer Takumi Isobe tells me. “I’m also a big movie fan, so I’m sure there are inspirations from various films I’ve seen in there, as well.”
Takumi expected fans to pick up on the similarities given how obvious they were. But he notes that the “scale of the game” is completely different, stating that it’s more about capturing the atmosphere and “uniqueness” that Kingdom Hearts provided when it launched in 2002.
In Latin, the word “Renatus” means to be born again, or reborn. In Spanish, “rey, nato” means, roughly, “king, birth.” In other words, it’s a made-up word based on these meanings.
Kingdom Hearts isn’t the only Square Enix game that Reynatis has plenty of love for. One of the most surprising elements that has drawn in Square Enix fans is its crossover withThe World Ends With You. What started out as an April Fools joke centered around both games being set in their own version of the same location eventuallymorphed into an actual collaboration that sees Marin and Sari interacting with Rindo and Shoka.
How The World Ends With You Crossover Came To Be
Beyond the Kingdom Hearts comparisons, this put Reynatis on the map for a lot of fans who thought that The World Ends With You was never going to be seen again. The Shibuya setting kick-started the collaboration, but it ended up going even further.
“I saw that there was a certain level of similarity with The World Ends With You, since the setting was Shibuya, so I made plans to do a simple crossover”, Takumi says. “But after finding a way to get connected to the creators at Square Enix, I drew up a more detailed plan and was able to present it to them. The rest is history.”
Of course, I couldn’t ask about crossovers without seeing what Takumi thought of Marin and Sari potentially appearing in a Kingdom Hearts game. While I expected him to be nothing but on board with the idea, his answer surprised me as it seems he’d rather build Reynatis up as its own thing before the duo gets to meet Sora.
“That’s a very dangerous question”, Takumi says. “As you would all expect, naturally, I’m thinking about that, too. However, rather than Kingdom Hearts, I have a clear vision for something, and I’d like to bring that to fruition.”
Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima On Writing For A New Universe
Takumi’s love for Kingdom Hearts and his clear attempts to emulate what made it so successful is just the beginning, as several key figures from the long-running series are also involved in Reynatis’ development. One of these is Kazushige Nojima, a beloved scenario writer who has been involved in all of the mainline Kingdom Hearts entries alongside many of the biggestFinal Fantasygames, having most recently penned the narrative forFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Although Reynatis is a fantasy action game similar to many of the projects Nojima has worked on previously,it has a decidedly more modern feel to it as it specifically takes place in 2024, which influenced how Nojima wrote the scenario.
“The characters and I both share the same [real-world] history, and we also exist in the present day,” Nojima says. “For example, we share the same words and expressions, and know about the same things that have happened.”
Reynatis being set in 2024 isn’t the only thing that sets it apart from other RPGs that Nojima has worked on, though. It’s also the first of its potential series and acts as a complete introduction to its world, themes, and characters. As his long list of credits indicates, this is something of a rarity for Nojima.
“I have written a lot for settings that are in other worlds, so this was a fresh experience for me”, Nojima admits. “There were the male and female main characters. Suppression and Liberation. The existence of groups in opposition to each other. And there was Shibuya and another world. From my memory, these were the elements already in place.”
Writing A Modern Magic Adventure
When setting out to write the scenario for Reynatis, Nojima says that he relied a lot on his trademark combination of gravitas and humour, which is seen throughout the Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy games he’s been involved with. The main thing that he wanted to get across was how “fuzzy” the concept of justice is.
The same as always: gravitas and humour. I don’t think I’m able to change my style at this point.
The world of Reynatis is one where magic exists, but can only be used by certain people who are given permission by the organisation M.E.A. Players see both sides of that story through its two protagonists, Marin, a wizard-in-training, and Sari, a member of the M.E.A. Nojima hopes that by seeing both perspectives, players will see that justice isn’t black and white, something that was a result of his and Takumi’s own meetings and shared thoughts.
“For most of the previous games that I worked on, I rarely got to meet anyone on the project, Nojima says. “But for Reynatis, I was able to learn the creative producer Takumi’s personality and thoughts and incorporate those into the story. I’ve been in this line of work for a long time, so this felt very nostalgic to me. I think it matched my personality.”
Legendary Composer Yoko Shimomura On Reynatis' Orchestral OST
The final piece of the puzzle for Reynatis is its music, which comes from none other than Yoko Shimomura, the legendary composer responsible for much of the music heard in Kingdom Hearts, as well as Final Fantasy,Super Mario RPG, and a laundry list of other iconic games. If you’ve played an RPG over the last two decades, chances are you’ve heard Shimomura’s music.
Just like with Nojima, this is the first game in a completely new series with an undecided tone and direction that Shimomura has been involved in.
“It certainly is exciting to work on something for a brand new world,” Shimoura says. “It was very stimulating to see the fusion of Takumi’s favorite titles from the past with an all-new world.”
Reynatis might be an original story, but one that makes its Kingdom Hearts inspiration clear from the outset. If you’ve heard any of the tracks from Reynatis, they wouldn’t sound out of place in any of Sora’s adventures, which the legendary composer herself acknowledges.
“I wonder… I did hear that the creative producer, Takumi, liked those soundtracks, so I had that impression”, Shimomura says. “Perhaps that did influence me a bit.”
That being said, there are a number of differences between Reynatis’ music and Shimomura’s past work, with the focus being on creating a more dramatic and intense vibe. Its biggest trump card, though, is that all of the OST was composed with an orchestra, a rarity for RPGs due to how expensive it can be.
According to Shimomura, the use of an orchestra was creative producer Takumi’s “sole request” for her music, giving her a chance to create some unique music for Reynatis. Shimomura notes how expensive it is for any game to have that kind of treatment and says that it gave her a chance to try various new things, something that she’s happy to hear the results of.
I wanted the music to be dramatic. I paid attention to making sure the music stayed in the players' minds. - Yoko Shimomura
Beyond giving two industry legends the freedom to contribute to a brand-new universe, Reynatis has also offered some wish-fulfilment for creative producer Takumi, who speaks very highly of his time working with Nojima and Shimomura and says that it pushed him to go further with his craft and future games.
“Being in the position to work with them every day made me realize to my core just how amazing Mr Nojima and Ms Shimomura are, Takumi tells me. “It made me want to improve [my own craft]. Enjoying working with them everyday is an irreplaceable memory to me.”
