Bandai Namco has set a timer on its next game reveal for one week from today. Armed with just a hashtag and that countdown clock set to April 20, the publisher uploaded an animated teaser to its YouTube channel — and although first impressions can be deceiving, we’re really feeling this one.
The teaser asks viewers to “prepare to dine,” which is the hashtag that Bandai Namco is promoting this with. From the video’s onset, it sure looks like this crew of gorgeously rendered, slightly demonic guys and girls are hungry for something. That something is almost definitely blood.
We’re hoping that whatever this project is holds onto this teaser’s aesthetic, if nothing else. It’s got a clean, graphic novel-style flatness going, with characters whose outlines have been erased grasping objects drawn with much thicker, boldly defined lines.
Some early guesses call the #PrepareToDine project Bandai Namco’s next stab at making something Dark Souls-esque. The hashtag is an obvious allusion to the series, which regularly uses the phrase “Prepare to die” in its own branding. The first Dark Souls game’s PC version is even called the Prepare to Die Edition; it’s as if Bandai Namco wants people to make that Dark Souls comparison.
Dark Souls 3’s final DLC launched earlier this month, and it’s set to close the book on the FromSoftware franchise for awhile. Without reason to believe that FromSoftware is involved with the new project, though, we can’t say yet if this is directly Souls-related or just draws inspiration from it. We’ll see if there are any vestiges of the beloved, brutal action RPG games when the publisher unveils this new project for real next Thursday.