Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a role-playing video game developed by Nautilus (Sacnoth) for the PlayStation 2. It was published in Japan by Aruze in 2005, in North America by Xseed Games in 2006, and in Europe by Ghostlight in 2007. From The New World is the third and final game in the Shadow Hearts series, acting as both a continuation of the series narrative and a spin-off featuring new characters.
Set in an alternate version of the Americas during the Prohibition era, the story follows amnesiac private investigator Johnny Garland, who travels with the Native American Shania in pursuit of a malevolent being known as Lady. During gameplay, the player controls a group led by Johnny exploring various locations across the Americas. During battle, a party of up to four characters can be controlled, with actions in battle relying on a timing-based system dubbed the Judgement Ring. The game's worldview combines alternate history with elements of Lovecraftian horror.
From the New World was produced on a tight schedule, with several staff members returning from Shadow Hearts: Covenant; Covenant art director Takamusa Ohsawa acted as director and producer, while Miyako Kato and Yoshitaka Hirota returned respectively as character designer and lead composer. It was treated as a fresh start for the team due to its setting and characters. The development team focused on refining the mechanics introduced in Covenant. Debuting to low sales, the game was generally well received by critics. Despite plans to continue the Shadow Hearts series, From the New World was the last game development by Nautilus before their absorption into Aruze and departure from game development. Some team members including Kato, Hirota and series creator Matsuzo Machida began work on a spiritual successor titled Penny Blood in 2019.
Gameplay
Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a role-playing video game (RPG) where players take control of a party led by main protagonist Johnny Garland as they progress through the game; progress is split between a linear story-driven first half and a second half which allows greater exploration and access to optional areas. During gameplay, the party explores a number of town and country areas across the Americas from a fixed-camera third-person perspective, collecting and buying items and equipment, talking to non-playable characters who act as quest givers and merchants, solving environmental puzzles, and completing both story-centered quests and side quests.
The turn-based battles are triggered through both random and scripted encounters. Each player character has hit points (health), skill points (magic), and sanity points (SP). SP ordinarily decrease once per turn, and when a character runs out of SP they go berserk and cannot be controlled by the player. Each character has two basic attack types; single attacks which range from normal attacks to powerful "Hard Hit", and double attacks which allow one character to take two actions in a single turn.
Characters, including enemy groups, can use combos with two or more characters. Characters link up to perform a succession of compatible attacks. There are two combo types; standard combos and double combos, which are mechanically similar to double attacks. Double attacks and all combos draw from a "Stock" gauge which is filled by attacking or being attacked. After each battle, the party gains experience points which raise their level, permanently raising health, magic and SP. Greater experience and more valuable items are awarded for good battle performance. New skills are attained by each character through story-driven side quests.
Central to combat is the Judgement Ring. Represented as a disc with colored areas on its surface, the player's aim is to hit those areas as a pointer passes over them. If the player fails to hit an area, the attack can either be shortened or cancelled altogether. Small red-colored "Strike" areas boost the power of an action, while magic attacks have increasingly dark hues near the end of a hit area, with hits in those areas making the spell more powerful. The Judgement Ring is used for every battle action, from standard attacks and special abilities to using items. Players can choose to automate the Judgement Ring, but this removes the Strike option and decreases action power. During combos, missing a hit area on the Judgement Ring breaks the rest of the combo and removes any subsequent character's turns. After a certain point in the game, the Judgement Ring can be customised for each character, potentially easing the difficulty. The Judgement Ring is also used in other gameplay areas, such as gaining discounts from shops and in some mini-games.