As a mobile game fan its an uphill battle fighting the genres reputation for derivative designs, and Enigma of Sepia isn’t making it any easier.
While not a direct rip-off, Enigma of Sepia is making the rounds of social media for its novel approach: gender bent versions of some of the most popular anime characters.
The game, which is available for pre registration now ahead of its release on February 14th, has been putting out art for its various characters- members of the Anti Sepia Alliance- complete with slightly altered quotes from the characters they’re inspired by.
These aren’t even deep-dive quotes, either: Satoria, who is totally not Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen, is featured alongside the Buddha quote lifted by the anime boy.
It also looks like Enigma of Sepia is really hitting all the big targets- its 3D intro trailer even shows gender bends of Deku from My Hero Academia and Tanjiro from Demon Slayer.
It should be noted that reimagined designs in gacha games aren’t inherently bad- Twisted Wonderland has a massive following in Japan because it dared to ask if Jack Skellington would still have been shot down if he was a bishie.
The key difference in that, though, was that the project was made in collaboration with Disney- and as of right now it looks like Unicorn Whale Technology, the game’s publisher, hasn’t made any public comments about their characters likeness.
Enigma of Sepia Gameplay
While at first glance you’d think the game was back to the card-based FGO clones of the late 2010s, the game’s website shows 3D RPG mechanics where you line up your waifus to fight monsters.
While we don’t know the specifics of how gameplay works, the page also shows another key mechanic: being able to take any character to SSR rarity with enough upgrades.
Interestingly enough it also features PVP, letting you take your squads to pit against other players for ranking on the leaderboard.
