Atlus' '98 Lineup

Friday, GameSpot News learned of Atlus' upcoming plans to release four new titles this spring and summer in Japan.

Of the four, the most promising is Dark Messiah. A title described by an Atlus representative as a first-person GoldenEye-type game mixed with a horror theme of a Resident Evil or House of the Dead. Not a bad mix. Even though the game is only 60 percent complete, the first-person engine features a Quake-type option where the player can be moving in one direction while looking in another. The story features one main monster chasing you throughout the game, but you can't shoot it or anything else for that matter. Instead you have to rely on your nonplayable sidekick, which is tagging along with you, to blast all of the monsters.

Atlus is shooting for a May/June release in Japan for the PlayStation and says it's not currently planing to release the game here in the States.

Atlus has a strategy RPG completed - and going through Sony approval - entitled Rebus. The title was explained as a user-friendly Final Fantasy Tactics, and from the screenshots it looks to be just that. Rebuse is planned to be released in Japan in March for the PlayStation and is being considered for release in the States as well.

Atlus also has Final Round, a boxing game for the PlayStation, slated for release in Japan. Although it's more of a coaching sim, since you don't actually get to throw any punches. Instead, you tell the guy in the ring to throw combinations and to stick and move.

Atlus says that the game probably won't ever be released in the US although it should be out in Japan around March.