Penny Blood, billed as the spiritual successor to the iconic Shadow Hearts series, still seems like it's quite a ways out, judging from recent updates from developers Studio Wildrose and Yukikaze. Along with Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness, the dual-game pitch blew up on Kickstarter in 2022, reaching the stretch goal for PS5 ports (even roping in Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu), but it seems the state of the industry has conspired against fans of dark fantasy JRPGs.
Noisy Pixel has been monitoring the project, which posts monthly updates. Penny Blood director Matsuzo Machida affirmed that the team was still searching for a publisher in May 2024. In the July update, Machida said the search continues and that the studio has started work on another attempt "to try and increase the value of the Penny Blood IP".
Since the Kickstarter, Studio Wildrose developed and released Penny Blood: Hellhound into Steam's Early Access in March 2024, an action roguelike that, in full honesty, we had no idea was even a thing. It looks pretty good, actually, and is set in the same world, serving as a prequel of sorts.
Interestingly, the success of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on Kickstarter was part of the impetus for Wildrose's own crowdfunding push, and Rabbit & Bear Studios similarly released its own smaller game, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising.