Shift Up reveals details on Project Spirits, its upcoming anime fantasy game

Shift Up, the developer of Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade, has revealed details on the in-development game previously codenamed Project Witches. Now dubbed Project Spirits, it’ll follow a “subculture cross-platform title” with an “Eastern Fantasy” theme.

The ‘subculture’ moniker is often used by Korean developers to describe what Chinese studios call ‘ACGN’ and Japanese devs simply call ‘anime’ or ‘otaku’ — put simply: It’s an anime-style game. Shift Up previously described its own gacha hit, Nikke, as a subculture title as well. It’s not guaranteed that Project Spirits will contain gacha mechanics, but given Shift Up’s success inside that category it’s not a possibility that can be discounted.

The first released artwork for the game shows two well-endowed women wearing spiced up traditional clothing in front of a pagoda-style temple. The art itself is very reminiscent of Shift Up’s Destiny Child, another gacha game.

“[Project Spirits] is Shift Up’s new flagship project, a subculture cross-platform title that embraces the concept of ‘Eastern Fantasy.’ As a new IP following ‘Stellar Blade’ and Nikke,’ it is currently in development as a top-tier quality game for the industry, building on Shift Up’s proven track record and expertise in IP creation demonstrated through previous projects,” the official website stated.

Alongside revealing the project, Shift Up listed several jobs related to the game — it’s seeking everything from artists and designers to writers. Naturally, Shift Up wants people who’ve done anime-style games before, but it’s also looking for those with Unreal Engine 5 experience. The studio additionally needs people capable of creating dungeons and open-world environments.

In its latest earnings report, Shift Up announced a Stellar Blade sequel that’s set to be released ahead of 2027. In the same document, the studio revealed that Project Spirits is targeting 2027 as a launch window. First, though, Stellar Blade is coming to PC to continue its success there and return some momentum to Shift Up following recent controversies in Nikke.

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