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Preliminary details on The Last Remnant have appeared in this month's issue of GameInformer magazine. NeoGAF poster Sallokin has uploaded the first scans of the title, which depict Rush, the protagonist, battling an army of armored knights. The game will make use of the Unreal Engine 3, which Square Enix announced it had licensed several months back. The game will be released in the U.S. and Japan, simultaneously. Says director Hiroshi Takai, "From the conceptual stage of this project, we kept a global market in mind, placing a special emphasis on North America." In particular, the design of the dramatis personae is an attempt to bridge the gap between the two gaming cultures. The characters revealed thus far, Rush and the Conqueror, were an attempt to appeal to the tastes of Japanese and Western players, respectively.

"Rush is the main character of this game," says the director in the magazine article. "He was designed with the traditional Square Enix RPG style in mind. But the player's impression of him will change while advancing through the game. Expect him to be involved in a lot of plot twists." The director goes on to mention that the game's supporting character has been tailored to the tastes of Western gamers. "The Conqueror is a type of dark hero which is a first for a Square Enix RPG," he says. "As you can see from his costume, which once was white but now is stained red with blood, The Conqueror's ruthlessness will be a thematic element of the story. The first plot details reveal that Rush's story begins on the island of Eulam, where he resides with his sister, Irina. Tragedy ensues when Irina is kidnapped by a powerful organization, whose destructive power is tied to ancient relics called "Remnants."

Gameplay in The Last Remnant will attempt a delicate balance of action and turn-based RPG elements. The camera will move dynamically upon encountering enemies, selecting cinematic angles to give a realistic flow to the combat. After choosing an action, the player may be required to perform a series of timed button presses in mid-attack, which will lead either to a critical hit, or a less damaging blow, depending on the accuracy of the user input. The real-time movie director for the game will be Kouzi Kobayashi, who helped design the opening and closing FMV sequences of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. He was also involved in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Final Flight of the Osiris from The Animatrix. The Last Remnant is expected to appear on the Playstation 3 and XBox 360, in Japan and North America, in Spring of 2008. For more information from the GameInformer article, check For the Reunion.

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