Imagine a world where the simplest human wish, that things get better, is treated like a crime. The hero of a brand-new RPG has to live with that rule, and his answer is to start walking through time, pulling old memories out of forgotten objects, and borrowing the powers of people who died centuries ago. It is a big idea to hand a single game, but it is the kind of idea that makes people sit up and pay attention.
Marvelous made the announcement first. On September 9, 2026, during a Nintendo Direct, Marvelous USA joined its Japan and Europe teams to unveil Eternal Anima, a new time-travel RPG built on turn-based combat with a twist. The game is a standalone project rather than a sequel, and it is scheduled to launch worldwide on March 4, 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC through Steam. The same Direct also shared an extended trailer with a closer look at the world and the fights, and the reveal leaned on a simple tagline: "To free the present, one must save the past."
A project that has been in the works for a while
This is not a surprise out of nowhere. Marvelous first teased the game back in 2023 under the working title PROJECT LIFE is RPG, so the team has had years to shape it. Now that it has a real name, a date, and a trailer, it is easier to talk about what is actually confirmed and what is still a promise on paper.
Part of the reason the reveal got attention is the company and the people behind it. Marvelous is the publisher behind long-running series like STORY OF SEASONS and Rune Factory, so a brand-new flagship RPG from that team is a notable step. The company names real people on the project, including director Katsuhisa Higuchi, story concept writer Keisuke Makino, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima. If those names sound familiar to JRPG fans, there is a reason to lean in. The team says the game is meant to capture the feel of the late 1990s and early 2000s JRPG era while using modern visuals and a few strategic changes to traditional turn-based play. Retro spirit with current polish is the pitch in one sentence.
The story, in plain words
At its core, Eternal Anima follows a character named Wade in a kingdom called Urvis Ael, where people are not supposed to long for a better future. When Wade questions that rule, he ends up on the run with a group of unlikely allies. His job is to travel back in time, save past civilizations from their own disasters, and dig up the hidden history his society does not want anyone to know. The story moves across multiple continents with distinct cultures, and you can team up with characters who are ancestors or descendants of the people you meet, so the same bloodline shows up in more than one era.
The way he does it leans on a power called Psychometry. In the game, Wade can read the memories held inside objects, and those memories let him take on the abilities and classes of heroes from earlier eras. Think of it as collecting combat styles from the past and mixing them into your own playstyle, one artifact at a time. The publisher also says your actions in the past ripple into the present, so the choices you make while traveling around have consequences that carry forward.
The whole pitch, in the publisher's own words, is to save the past so that the present can be free.
How the battles work
The combat is turn-based, which means you and the enemy take turns acting, and you get to think before each move. The twist is a system called Future Sight. Before your turn, the game shows you what the enemy is about to do and what will likely happen, so you can plan around it instead of guessing. Your commands can delay an enemy move, or even cancel it entirely, which means you can change the future Wade predicted rather than just reacting to it.
Here is a concrete example of what that looks like in practice. Say the forecast says the enemy boss is about to unleash a heavy attack on your weakest character next turn. With Future Sight you can see that coming, so you might use a move that delays the attack by a turn, giving your healer time to step in. Or you might cancel it outright and turn the round around. For players who enjoy reading a fight a few turns ahead, that forecast-and-respond loop is the core idea. It adds a planning layer on top of the classic turn-based structure without throwing that structure away.
What you can pre-order
Physical pre-orders are coming through participating retailers and the Marvelous USA online store, for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. On Switch 2, the full game comes on a single cartridge, which is a detail that matters if you want a physical copy you can resell or lend out later. The options currently listed are:
- Standard edition: $49.99 on PlayStation 5 and $59.99 on Nintendo Switch 2.
- Limited edition: $79.99 on PlayStation 5 and $89.99 on Nintendo Switch 2, which adds a two-disc soundtrack, nine character art cards with a display stand, and an art book.
Digital edition details have not been shared yet, so if you want a specific digital bundle, that part is still pending. Xbox Series X|S and Steam players will almost certainly be covered by a digital edition, but Marvelous has not put numbers on that yet, so the safe move is to wait for the confirmation before pre-ordering on those platforms.
Who it is for, and what to watch
On paper, Eternal Anima is aimed at JRPG fans who want something that respects the old golden era of the genre while adding its own time-travel spin and a tactical layer on top of turn-based fights. If you are the kind of player who likes to plan a fight a few moves ahead, collect different character builds, and follow a story that connects generations, this is the shape of game for you. If you want a fast, action-heavy combat loop where you are mashing buttons, the turn-based core is something to factor in before committing a pre-order.
A few things are still unresolved. The game has not been rated by the ESRB yet, and digital edition pricing has not been announced. Those two details are the ones worth tracking between now and the March 2027 launch, along with any further gameplay that Marvelous shows. Until then, what is confirmed is the date, the platforms, the veteran team, and the time-travel premise that drives the whole thing.
If that sounds like your kind of adventure, the official site is where pre-orders and updates will live. For everyone else, the easy move is to keep it on your radar and see what the team reveals as launch day gets closer.
