ONION GAMES

Yoshiro Kimura’s move into indie games nine years ago felt inevitable. Look through his back catalogue and it reads like that of an indie developer who’s been covertly operating within the publisher system for decades. Since his work on Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 for Square, Kimura’s work has been thrillingly esoteric. Having left the publisher to join Kenichi Nishi’s Love-de-Lic, the Kimura-designed Moon: Remix RPG Adventure thumbed its nose at JRPG conventions, while 2000’s strange, ambitious life sim LOL: Lack Of Love is considered one of the cult classics of the Dreamcast era. Despite a mixed reaction from critics, the likes of Chulip and the controversial PS2 horror Rule Of Rose (which caused such an outcry among the British tabloid press that its UK release was cancelled) only enhanced Kimura’s status as a maverick. Then in 2009 came what many would argue was his crowning glory: RTS RPG Little King’s Story.

But the enthusiastic reviews it received didn’t translate into strong sales, and while he teamed up with Suda 51 for production roles on the likes of and , Kimura needed a new