One of my personally most anticipated games of the year has an official release date. Cosmic Star Heroine is launching digitally on April 11 for PC and PlayStation 4, with a price of $14.99. It’s also coming to PlayStation Vita, though not at launch.
“We’re super excited to finally be releasing Cosmic Star Heroine and hope everyone enjoys the finished game,” states the latest Kickstarter update. “This is by far the biggest, most sophisticated game we’ve ever released so we hope it meets the high expectations many of you have for it.”
Two-person indie developer Zeboyd Games specializes in retro RPGs. Games like Cthulhu Saves the World and the third and fourth Penny Arcade games pull together many of the best elements of 90s JRPGs while infusing humorous writing and solid battle systems.
It’s with this track record that Zeboyd Games launched a Kickstarter campaign for Cosmic Star Heroine in 2013. The campaign was successful, generating over $130,000 from over 6,000 backers – including me.
Cosmic Star Heroine was developed as a nostalgic call-back to classic 90s 16-bit JRPGs like Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger is one of the most beloved games of all time and Cosmic Star Heroine inspired much of its style and battle system from that classic 1995 RPG.
The story stars Alyssa L’Salle, an intergalactic secret agent who uncovers a startling conspiracy. Alyssa can recruit ten different companions with their own personalities and power sets.
Cosmic Star Heroine has been in beta since last Fall, using high-tier Kickstarter backers to help iron out bugs. You can order the official soundtrack from HyperDuck Soundworks on Bandcamp. A physical release of CSH is also planned, but will arrive later.
