Ludography
67/100
Critics10 reviews

Where to get it

Exist Archive cover

2015 · Spike Chunsoft · Role-playing

Exist Archive

PlayStation exclusive

The game is set within modern day Tokyo, Japan, alongside a world on another planet, called “Protolexa.” There are a dozen young protagonists, all of whom are evil, soul-collecting gods who have become embroiled in the issues of all gods. The main focus of the game is dungeon crawling. You’ll be able to explore dungeons from a side-view perspective, while the characters are presented in a 3D, chibi-sized style. The characters can use various skills like jumping, dashing, and more to solve puzzles. The enemies are not randomized, they are presented on screen prior to battle.

Released
17 December 2015
Platforms
PlayStation 4PlayStation Vita
Genres
Role-playing
Developers
Spike Chunsofttri-Ace
Publishers
Aksys Games
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Fantasy
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CERO BGRAC 12+ESRB TPEGI 12ACB PG
Composers
Motoi Sakuraba

About

Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky is a role-playing video game developed and published by Spike Chunsoft, with assistance from tri-Ace, for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 video game consoles. It was released in Japan in December 2015 and worldwide in October 2016.

›Story

Twelve young people living in modern-day Tokyo are caught in a sudden, deadly explosion, only to awaken with their souls bound to a mysterious fantasy world called Protolexa. Cast onto this strange planet on "the other side of the sky," the group discovers they have been drawn into a struggle far greater than themselves. Together they must survive, uncover the truth behind their deaths and their new existence, and find a way through the perils of Protolexa, with the bonds they form along the way shaping their fate.

Keywords

  • jrpg
  • party-based combat
  • roaming encounters
  • turn-based combat

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is a side scrolling role-playing video game. Many journalists considered it a spiritual sequel to the Valkyrie Profile series of games also by tri-Ace.

Story

The player follows twelve youths who are killed by an explosion in modern-day Tokyo and find themselves on the fantasy-like planet of Protolexa. There are three different endings, based on the player's actions over the course of the game, and some actions affect the game's new game plus mode.

Development

The game was first announced in July 2015, as a collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and tri-Ace in a fourteen-page article in Weekly Famitsu. The game was developed by much of the same tri-Ace staff that had worked on the first Valkyrie Profile game, with assistance from Spike Chunsoft staff as well. Other key staff for the game include character designer Mino Taro of Konami's Love Plus series, and music composer Motoi Sakuraba, composer for tri-Ace's Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean series. Although it was originally scheduled for release on November 26, 2015, the game was delayed to its final release date, December 17.

Shortly after the game's Japanese release, Spike Chunsoft began downloadable content collaborations with some of tri-Ace's other games, including Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean 5 games. The collaborations, released in March 2016, consisted of character costumes based on character's from the two aforementioned titles, along with a costume to dress up as Monokuma, the primary antagonist from Spike Chunsoft's Danganronpa series of video games.

Reception

Famitsu gave both the Vita and PS4 versions of the game a 33/40 rating, with the four reviewers giving the title scores of 8/8/8/9. The game sold 37,398 copies in its opening week in Japan, with 17,414 copies sold for PlayStation 4 and 19,984 copies sold for PlayStation Vita.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
PlayStation Vita17 December 2015Japan · Worldwide 18 October 2016
PlayStation 417 December 2015Japan · Europe 18 October 2016 · Worldwide 18 October 2016 · North America 18 October 2016

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.