It’s been almost 20 years since the last mainline entry in the Suikoden series, so the time feels right for a new game.

Suikoden Star Leap, announced during a glitzy livestream overnight, is in many ways exactly that – except there’s a big catch. As the publisher proudly proclaims, this is the “first title to be tailored for mobile”.

As a free-to-play outing, you can expect microtransactions, presumably in the form of a gacha system.

To be fair, though, this looks extremely stylish. The pixel art presentation is reminiscent of the original games, but it looks contemporary, similar perhaps to the HD-2D titles Square Enix has been making.

“The story begins just east to the giant Scarlet Moon Empire, at a village located on the shore of a lake,” the blurb reads. “One night, our hero, the village chief Hou’s son, comes back home successful from his first hunt. The village is filled with celebration and brimming with hope for the coming days, but an assault is launched, and the fate of the village is changed in an instant.”

There’s no release date for the game just yet, but the teaser trailer was uploaded to Konami’s western YouTube channel, so it looks like a worldwide release is planned.

It’s a shame there’s no console version in the works, because gacha games are now hugely successful on PS5, so we reckon this could work on Sony’s system.

Is it an experience you’re interested in to begin with, though? Star leap into the comments section below.

[source youtube.com, via gematsu.com]