A cult classic JRPG first released in the west on the Game Boy Advance is being remastered in HD, making Riviera: The Promised Land available to a new generation of potential fans. The Game Boy Advance RPG was first released in 2005, followed by a PlayStation Portable launch in 2008. That means that Riviera: The Promised Land has largely been unavailable to play on modern platforms for years. Now Riviera: The Promised Land's original developer, Sting Entertainment, is bringing it back -- though there could be a catch.Riviera: The Promised Land is not only a classic fantasy RPG with turn-based combat, it also mixes in some dating sim gameplay, too. The main character, Ein, will be able to develop relationships with other characters in the game, which can also change Riviera: The Promised Land's ending. Riviera: The Promised Land is part of a series of fantasy RPGs from Sting Entertainment named Dept. Heaven. Riviera: The Promised Land is the first game in that series. In a message shared on Twitter, Sting Entertainment confirmed that an HD remaster of Riviera: The Promised Land is currently being made. Today is the 21st anniversary of when Riviera: The Promised Land was first released in Japan for the WonderSwan Color handheld console. Further details regarding the remaster have yet to be confirmed, including Riviera: The Promised Land's release window or supported platforms.
The catch, at least for now, is that the announcement of Riviera: The Promised Land was made solely in Japanese and doesn't make mention of a worldwide release. As such, it can't be confirmed at this moment whether there will be a localization or not. The good news is that a previous Sting Entertainment remaster for the second Dept. Heaven game, Yggdra Union, was released worldwide in early access earlier this year. That localization has only been released for PC, however, with the Switch version exclusive to Japan.
The hope is that Riviera: The Promised Land will, at the very least, also be released with an English localization on PC. Broader hopes include a release on Switch down the line, or perhaps PlayStation as well. There's no indication of that at this time, however. Sting Entertainment is simply working its hardest to release these Dept. Heaven remasters as it's able.
At the very least, today's Riviera: The Promised Land announcement should instill hope that a classic JRPG game that's now largely unavailable will soon be put out on a modern platform. Even if it's not localized, fans could make their own translations on PC. And if the cult classic Game Boy Advance JRPG builds up enough of a modern following, it could encourage Sting Entertainment to bring the entirety of the Dept. Heaven series to multiple modern platforms down the line.
Riviera: The Promised Land Remastered is in development.