Director Lim Jong-gyu: The absolute first thing we wanted to show is how the story hooks up with the combat. Since story and combat are the absolute beating heart of Astraea Oratio, we placed the transition between the two right at the very beginning of the demo build.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: It is all about fusing the tactical choices of turn-based battles with real-time tension. Players spend action points efficiently using skill combos, react to opposing moves, and maximize their gains through domain declarations. We are chasing the thrill of prediction and design rather than pure twitch reflexes.

We want to deliver that rush when your carefully laid-out strategies click into place, accompanied by the flashiest character animations possible. Rather than just watching a canned cinematic made by the devs, our goal is to let players stitch together their own cool moments right on their smartphones.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: For the combat design, we honestly wanted to recreate the tension of classic fighting games. We took inspiration from retro fighters like Tekken and Street Fighter. As for the turn-based side, rather than copying just one specific title, we looked broadly at the tactical depth of various games that utilize action points.

Art Director Kim In: On the visual front, since we picked keywords like modern occult and magic, we wanted to capture the exact vibe of creative works that immediately come to mind. Early 2000s light novels and Type-Moon titles are prime examples of our references.

Art Director Kim In: If you look at sub-culture visuals over the last decade, isekai and post-apocalyptic settings have completely dominated the space. We figured that market has gotten pretty saturated. We reckoned that the retro-flavored look of Astraea Oratio would offer a refreshing change of pace for players.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: From a gameplay perspective, there was also a strong desire to pass on the exact feelings we had playing our favorite games back in the day to a new wave of users. That generational sentiment naturally aligned with our development direction, landing us squarely in retro territory.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: We felt Tokyo was an absolute must-have ingredient for the modern occult genre. Just like the American wilderness naturally pops into your head when you think of westerns, certain genres just demand a signature backdrop. Since we are tackling modern occult, we decided to tackle Tokyo head-on rather than dodging it.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: Every single line of dialogue in the main story is fully voiced in Japanese. Even in the demo version, we made sure players can enjoy all the story character dialogue, monologues, and even vocal tracks.

Our golden rule for directing is to keep things low-key during everyday moments and then dial it up to eleven at the turning points. In modern occult stories, the more peaceful daily life looks, the harder the hidden reality hits later. So, most scenes play out quietly with text-heavy delivery, saving the fireworks for crucial highlights or domain declarations to crank up the immersion.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: Characters wear three distinct hats. Inside the scenario, they act as story characters whose presence shines through cut-ins and illustrations. In combat, they jump into 3D graphics to throw down and flex their charm with domain declarations. During free time, they take on a romanceable role, showing off their everyday routines in Tokyo.

Art Director Kim In: Just to add, we really want everyone to focus on the dynamic movement and acting of the characters centered around 3D combat during the upcoming test.

Art Director Kim In: That comes down to intentional narrative choices within the scenario. On top of that, if this IP is going to branch out beyond just a game into various media formats down the line, we figured having a clearly defined protagonist design makes long-term expansion a whole lot easier.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: We are aiming for around 30 characters at official launch. There will be about 10 playable factions, though the actual number of factions existing within the lore will be way bigger.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: Like I mentioned before, we care deeply about the harmony between game systems, characters, and story. We wanted to make sure players fully soaked in the worldview and character charm before throwing heavy combat systems at them.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: We will announce the exact test dates officially in the very near future. We are packing it with a complete gameplay loop spanning combat, story, and management, giving players roughly three to five days worth of content to chew on.

We hope players pay close attention to how smoothly the charming worldview, characters, story, and combat loop into each other. We want you to check if all this content runs cleanly on smartphones and send us all your active feedback. We plan to take those opinions straight into the official launch to build a game together.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: It is tough to name exact smartphone models right now, but we are optimizing it to run smoothly on devices from about five to six years ago. Since we are reinterpreting 2000s aesthetics with modern visuals, it will deliver an optimized experience tailored perfectly to phone screen sizes.

Since Astraea Oratio is built from the ground up as a smartphone game, the closed beta test will strictly feature the mobile version. Games designed specifically for smartphones offer the most authentic experience when played on mobile. That said, a PC build does exist in-house, and we definitely plan to support a PC version in the long run.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: Since our game targets the entire gaming culture sphere of the 90s and early 2000s, we view South Korea, Japan, North America, Europe, and every region that vibes with that culture as our target market. Because live service elements matter a ton to us, we are planning a simultaneous worldwide release. As for the past dispute, we built this completely from scratch with a brand-new model, so it had zero impact on the project timeline.

Director Lim Jong-gyu: We are thrilled to finally show off Astraea Oratio through the Tokyo Game Show. Starting with this demo, we hope you will stick around to watch Astraea Oratio grow like an episodic series.

Art Director Kim In: Astraea Oratio is a title meant to be serviced for a long, long time. The beauty of live service is that rush of anticipation when the next piece of content and story drops, and we are just so happy to share that experience with the players. From this TGS to the upcoming closed tests and the official launch, we will keep working hard to craft a game deserving of your love.