Sequel to Critically Acclaimed Role-Playing Adventure, Shadow Hearts, Scheduled For Release This Fall Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY, news), a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer, announced today that Shadow Hearts: Covenant, the sequel to the critically acclaimed, fantasy-style role-playing game (RPG) Shadow Hearts, is scheduled to be published this fall in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. With a mix of turn-based strategy and RPG elements, Shadow Hearts: Covenant provides players with an even greater magical quest than its predecessor. Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, known as Shadow Hearts 2 in Japan, were created and published in Japan by Aruze Corporation.
"We are very excited to be bringing a role-playing adventure of this magnitude to the North American and European markets," said Mark Beaumont, senior vice president entertainment, Midway. "With its considerable production value and two DVDs of story driven gameplay, Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a massive RPG experience."
The story unfolds via amazingly detailed cutscenes which bring the enthralling and complex characters, powerful battle sequences and unique gameplay to life. Shadow Hearts: Covenant also brings back the innovative combat system, the Judgment Ring, which not only allows players to choose which characters to bring to battle, but also determines the final outcome of the battle based on the players’ speed and accuracy. New to the Shadow Hearts sequel, are enhancements to the Judgment Ring which allow team-based combo attacks.
Set during World War I in a fantastical world of magic and creatures, the game takes place six months after the original Shadow Hearts ended. Yuri, the main character is back, and he embarks on a new expedition with friends Gepetto, a puppet master, and Kallen, a German female soldier. Yuri’s morphing abilities have been weakened because he has been cursed by Nicholas, a member of a secret society taking advantage of the war to fulfill their evil ambitions of ruling the world. Yuri and his companions must journey to find a cure for his curse and defeat the malevolent cult.
Midway Games Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment software. Midway videogames are available for play on all major videogame platforms including the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance.