Arc System Works had a showcase on Wednesday, and while I didn’t tune in to watch the whole thing, one announcement really stood out to me.

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is a “tactical counter-timeline RPG” for the Switch, PS5, and PC, set in a world where reality is crumbling and “Aberrations” roam the streets.

It stars dual protagonists on a mission to uncover the truth behind what’s happening.

Combat is described as having a “timeline-driven gauge” that lets you plan out your attacks. It sounds like it’s more action than turn-based, but not a traditional sort of action system, either. Slowing down time and pausing seems to be a big part of it.

While the trailer doesn’t show the combat, the full showcase included an explanation of combat and some gameplay footage at around 13:06 (timestamped below).

I’m still not sure I have a good grasp on the combat system, but it seems interesting.

Now, it’s being developed by UnitePlus, which wasn’t a name that was familiar to me, but after looking around a little, I found out UnitePlus was the result of a merger between Aquria (The Caligula Effect, among others) and APlus (some of the Kunio-kun/River City games). It’s funny, when I read the timeline thing, the first thing I thought of was The Caligula Effect, which had you project future attacks and then let them play out in real time, so this feels like it has some similar ideas.

Overall, I’m really intrigued by this game. And not only does it look great, but it’s not too far away! It will be out on… September 24. Because of course it will.

What do you think about Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow?