Sega today announced an original DS RPG entitled World Destruction. The project has reunited three key members of the Xenogears development team, as Sega secured the services of scenario writer Masato Kato, composer Yasunori Mitsuda, and character designer Kunihiko Tanaka. Drag-on Dragoon (Drakengard) character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka, Shin Nagasawa of Etrian Odyssey fame, and Grandia designer Masatoshi Azumi are also involved in the project. The entire development team consists of close to 50 members.

The developers are promising visuals that are pushing the hardware to its limits. World Destruction's protagonist is a young man named Kirie. He possesses powers capable of annihilating the entire world. He doesn't know why he has those powers, though. Kirie is not a very self-assertive person, but he still says what he thinks. One day, he is forced to join the so-called world destruction committee. As its name suggests, this organization is plotting to destroy the world. The game's female lead is called Morte. She has become a member of the organization because of her own tragic past. The young lady is very bold, but not very skilled when it comes to love affairs. Other characters include Naja (who is half-man), half-wolf, Morte's childhood friend Agan, and Lia. Lia may look like 15 or 16, but in fact she was born more than 300 years ago.

System-wise, World Destruction will offer turn-based battles incorporating fighting game elements. During battle, players will accumulate Battle Points (BP). BPs can be used to trigger techniques, special techniques and combination attacks. A well timed press of a button will result in enemies taking massive damage.

Will the end of Kirie's journey indeed mark the apocalypse or something else? We will find out the answer when World Destruction hits Japanese retail store shelves sometime later this year.

• Geemu Jouhou, Geemu no Hanashi