Villion:Code is an upcoming dark science-fiction RPG title by Compile Heart, developed by Atlus alumni Kouji Okada, written by Tadashi Satomi, and composed by Tsukasa Masuko, with character designs done by Ilya Kuvshinov. It was first announced on January 14, 2026 and formally revealed on January 29 of the same year.
Taking place 20 Minutes into the Future, where humanity is close to near-extinction, an advanced city called the "Adhvan Resilience Research Academy City" was created to protect humans with renewable energy, vast fuel sources, a striving healthcare, and utilities enhanced with AI. But one day, civilians are threatened by the presence of deformed and barbaric monsters known as GEM, forcing the government to seal the city in a dome. At the academy, six unlikely students are equipped with Manas Helix, earcuff lookalikes that provide wireless connection with an Araya (an AI assistant that controls the academy), as well as general accessibility to the school's technology. But without any escape measures, they alongside the rest of society have to face the burden of being trapped in a domed city, their personal baggage, and as the saviors of their dome town, as they uncover, they have special powers of their own....
It is set to release on June 25, 2026 for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Its website can be viewed here
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Previews: Announcement Video, Reveal Trailer
Tropes:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The reveal trailer opens with a text-only narration annotating that the world is set in the near future where humanity lives in a Tomorrowland with advanced technology and resources, which was later domed following the GEM attacks.
- Aerith and Bob: Of the main playable cast, Sushiro and Marika are the only characters with traditionally Japanese names while Oliver and Chloe are English names and Anastasia is a European name of Russian origin, along with the protagonist's Hello, [Insert Name Here] of choice.
- And Starring:
- The game made a name for itself upon the announcement that former staff members at Atlus would work on the game — those being Kouji Okada, the co-creator of the Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Digital Devil Saga series, Tadashi Satomi, a scenario writer credited for his involvement on early Persona titles as well as Digital Devil Saga, and Tsukasa Masuko, who composed a number of early SMT games until Soul Hackers.
- Russian illustrator Ilya Kuvshinov, best known for his work on Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 and The Wonderland as the lead character designer, was spotlighted as the lead character designer for this game.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: In the reveal trailer, playable characters can activate their Genome Arms, which mutates their arms into monstrous weapons. These weapons are defaulted in combat, as they are never scene in cutscenes.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The announcement and reveal trailers have a fish-eye view of the school's classroom before it turns red and splashes blood everywhere; it's followed-up with the perspective of a person's feet while a pool of blood spills toward them. This presents the game as one of Compile Heart's bloodier titles, alongside Mary Skelter and Death end re;Quest (especially Code Z).
- Darker and Edgier: The game pulls no punches showcasing its morbidly grim imagery, with the teaser trailer playing suspenseful techno music throughout videos of blood cells and DNA chains morphing, shots of blood splattering and pouring, a One-Eyed Shot of a red-eyed, pistol-pupiled individual seeing the GEM monsters coming towards them, with the eye intensely growing light blue veins, and ending it off with the students at the school undergoing horrific mutations, solidifying Villion: Code as one of Compile Heart's more darker and scarier games.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: The party revealed in the trailer, Team ADHVAN REBS, is composed of three males (Protagonist, Sushiro, and Oliver) and three females (Anastasia, Chloe, and Marika).
- One-Eyed Shot: In the promotional videos, an unnamed individual has a closeup of their eye (with the pupil shaped as the end of a gunshot pistol) as they watch the GEMs coming at them.
- Pocket Dimension: As seen in the reveal trailer, the Sankhara Spacetime dungeons are an alternate dimension in which each of the ten battlegrounds is an Anthropomorphic Personification of humanity's evil deeds. They are created once a student morphs into a GEM.
- Red Filter of Doom: In the promotional videos, a shot of the school's classroom suddenly turns red as splats of blood pop up. The announcement teaser in particular ends with the students at the cafeteria lounge spontaneously turn into GEMs using the same red filter from earlier.
- Turn-Based Combat: The reveal trailer denotes the battle system as a fusion of real-time speed action and a multitude of other tactics. Cooperation is utilized between the protagonist and the rest of the party members, with each having their own set of moves and skill abilities.
- Video Game Sliding: The reveal trailer showcase that characters can attach themselves in a dome and slide across it, which can circumvent enemy attacks within your vicinity.