We are diving more into the early games of Sting’s Dept. Heaven series as the Japanese developer has announced that Riviera: The Promised Land is getting an HD remaster. However, this news might be in its early days as no specific platform or release window was announced, according to Gematsu.
The Riviera: The Promised Land Remaster announcement was revealed during the game’s 21st anniversary, and a tweet from Stong gave us a look at the game’s Japanese logo. The remaster is set to feature an extended storyline with over 50 reworked cutscenes, improved graphics, fully voiced audio and dual-language functionality. Based on Norse mythology, the game’s story puts the player in the shoes of Ein who fights demons as he attempts to seal the Accursed with his familiar, Rose and Fia, Lina, Serene and Cierra joining him on his quest.
For those unaware, Riviera: The Promised Land is the first entry in the Dept. The Heaven series first came to the Japan-only handheld, the Wonderswan Colour, in 2002. Riviera: The Promised Land would later come to the Gameboy Advance in late 2004 for Japanese audiences, with a Western release coming a bit later in 2005 when the game became a cult classic to those who had their hands on it then.
The game would later get an enhanced PSP remake, adding new story elements, voice acting, and a better presentation when it launched in 2006 in Japan and later in 2007 for those in the West. Both western releases were handled by Atlus and 505 Games at the time.
As for now, we don’t have any details on where players anticipating the remaster’s release will be able to play it. Still, based on Sting’s most recent remasters, there is a strong chance we could see this iteration of Riviera: The Promised Land pop up on Nintendo Switch and mobile.
Even with the remaster’s dual-language functionality support, no Western release was confirmed and were not sure if it will as some of those remasters like Knights in the Nightmare Remaster and Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone never actually released outside of Japan, but here’s hoping that Sting capitalizes on the game’s audience in western territories
