Compile Heart announces Death end re;Quest for PlayStation 4

Previously we have reported about Compile Heart teasing a brand-new RPG codenamed 'derq' with glitches. As promised by Compile Heart, this week's Famitsu magazine has a reveal on that RPG, which is titled Death end re;Quest. This new RPG, which is confirmed coming to PlayStation 4, is said to be an intersection of game with reality.

UPDATE: Early details of the game are now just available, courtesy of Hachima. You can read the translations below.

UPDATE 2: We have obtained the Famitsu magazine, and found new characters that weren't covered in the early details. You can read them in the new Characters section below.

Storyline
The player will take control of the protagonist Arata Mizunashi, who works as a game programmer. One day he receives an email from Shiina Ninomiya, the game director who had been missing since a year ago. Arata finds out that Shiina is trapped and cannot log out from a VR MMORPG named World Odyssey, which was canceled during development, so he goes there to rescue her.
Shiina is the only player being logged into World Odyssey which is filled with bugs and glitches. Arata will have to play through the game; not only inside the game which has living NPCs but also outside the game while being assisted by his real-life coworkers.

The story will have branch scenarios, but the player might instantly fall into a bad ending on a wrong choice. 99% of the conclusions are bad endings, and only 1% of them will be the true ending.

Characters

• Arata Mizunashi: A programmer who had been developing a game together with Shiina. He found Shiina to be trapped inside the game, so in order to rescue her, he goes to alter the program and fix bugs in the real world. However, he would eventually get involved in numerous incidents.
• Shiina Ninomiya: A game director who suddenly went missing during the development of World Odyssey. Although Shiina wakes up inside the game, she has lost her memories of one year. She cannot log out of the game, and still cannot come back to the real world right now.
• Lily Hopes: An NPC who existed as the princess of a large country named Heartis in the game. She has emotions and conscience, and after looking at Shiina's power, she asks her father, the King of Heartis, to rescue her.
• Lucille Filarete: A half-elf NPC who has emotions and conscience. Elves are generally known to be wise, but Lucille is always seen dozing somewhere up above the sky.
• Ripuka: A girl who wields a greatsword that looks like a guillotine. A mysterious being that suddenly appeared in World Odyssey, her movements are all being thrust by the 'intent to kill'.

Gameplay Systems

• Turn-based command battle: The battle system uses turn-based commands. Characters can freely move within a specified range on the battle map.
• Knockback system: Some attacks can knock back enemies. This will be useful to alter enemy positions, or even knock an enemy to another to deal extra damage.
• Install Genre system: The player can install a game from the real world to add a new genre in the battle.
• Glitch style: Bodies and minds of the characters will be gradually contaminated when moving in the bug-ridden world. Once the contamination has reached a certain level, the characters will change their looks to a Glitch style which will also grant them a large attack power bonus.
• Fields: Since the world is full of bugs, the dungeons are filled with gimmicks like invisible floors and passable walls. Characters also have Bug Actions that will be useful in exploring fields.

Death end re;Quest is being produced by Norihisa Kochiwa, who also worked on Neptunia, Agarest, and Fairy Fencer F series. He also posted a comment about this game in the Famitsu article:

"Bugs are an existence that game developers are avoiding, but when players are faced with bugs, they may unexpectedly feel fun or scary. We're developing this game as a title that will cleverly draw out those emotions, and provide a new experience."

The main character designer of this title is Nanameda Kei, with huke also joining as a guest character designer. Yuji Kaida and Kia Asamiya will design the monsters, while Junya Ishigaki handles designs for Summon Insects. The scenario is being written by Makoto Kedouin who is also known for writing Corpse Party. The sound composers are Gesshokukaigi and Yuuki Sugiura; the former will also do the theme song, while the latter is also known for the soundtrack in Four Goddesses Online.

Death end re;Quest will be released only for PlayStation 4 in Japan. Development of the game is currently 51% done, and there is no release date specified yet.