[Honey’s Anime Interview] Director/Producer Fuyuki Hayashi of CRYSTAR

9:54 PM April 1, 2019

Hello Everyone!

Honey’s Anime is back again with another interview opportunity we had recently with Spike Chunsoft’s first-time director/producer, Fuyuki Hayashi—and in partnership with FURYU Corp.—, about their new title, CRYSTAR. This is a whole new IP with an intricate system that immerses you into a world based on Catharsis. We sat down via Skype and talked a little bit about CRYSTAR and Hayahi-san's involvement with developing the game. The game really intrigues us as we feel this is going to be received well in the gaming community.

CRYSTAR’s story is very dark and deep, providing fantasy elements of action-packed battles in the afterworld. The protagonist works her way in purifying her repressed mind through methods of releasing her pent-up emotions. As the main character, Rei, you're forcefully dragged with your little sister into the afterworld of Purgatory. Upon arriving, they quickly search for a way to get back home when they are suddenly attacked by monsters. Rei discovers and unlocks newfound powers in an attempt to save herself and her little sister when she loses control and accidentally kills her… You now journey through Purgatory searching for a way to revive your little sister.

CRYSTAR has intrigued us from the beginning and what we like most about it is its dark and deep story. The developers have come up with a new and unique cry system that simulates tears and also acts as the gauge to build up powers through means of catharsis. The cry system also has amazing details around each character’s eyes and adds that extra experience while playing. You really feel for the characters.

There are two areas to enter: Your Room and Purgatory, which you can traverse from in order to progress through the story. There are 8 stages to complete, 4 playable characters and each has their own special skills and attributes such as Guardians. There is also torments you must purify in order to gain attach skills, which are also upgradeable, and there is additional content to experience via Memoirs of the Dead and your Diary. Learn about the characters and your enemies while playing the game.

Honey-Chan

Fuyuki Hayashi

CRYSTAR First-time Director/Producer Fuyuki Hayashi

(Translator: Hiro)

How were you approached for this role?

I always wanted to create an original game and the title I had been working on since I joined the company just happened to have finished up at the right time when they asked, it was good timing, and they requested I make my game.

Were there any challenges bringing the imagery to reality?

Sometimes when we want to show is that crying makes you stronger and the story is about Rei trying to protect what she holds dear to her and in order to work that system into the game itself, I wanted to depict it fundamentally into the game.

How long was the game in development up to the present day?

We’ve been in development for a little over a year.

The game states it is “Driven by Catharsis…”, what can we expect when experiencing the game knowing that it is influenced by Catharsis?

Ok, so even though the overall take may seem dark when you play it, I want the player to feel the positivity, energy, and causing them to move forward in the right direction.

What are Guardians and what are the monsters in the game? Are they spirits or angels?

So, the game takes place in Purgatory which is in the afterlife, and each characters true soul is shown while there. You can also see this with the enemies. Now, the Guardians are basically the essence of the true nature for each character.

The Cry system and the art details it showcases look great and I just wanted to mention that!

Thank you. I hope you look forward to the visual aspect of the game. I just wanted to add and let everyone else know is that the story and the characters in the game are very beautiful which is one of the special things about the game. There are also things like defeating enemies and when you do, you can see their past and what they were like essentially before becoming a monster. There are also animals like dogs that help you throughout the game so look forward to them as well!

And that is it for this interview as that was all the time we had with Hayashi-san. Honey’s Anime thanks him for taking the time to answer our questions. CRYSTAR will be available on August 27, 2019, for PlayStation 4 and Steam and their official website is here: http://spike-chunsoft.com/CRYSTAR/! It will also be releasing fully in the West with English subtitles and audio.

The standard edition will include the Summer Collection DLC and if you preorder and secure the Day 1 edition, you’ll also receive a mini-artbook of amazing illustrations from the character designers Riuichi and ntny! If you’d like to check out the timelapse illustration for Rei, check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpOPs_c4flU! There are more future plans for additional content releasing so stay tuned and make sure to visit the official page every once in a while!

Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this interview with Hayashi-san, as we very much enjoyed it ourselves. We look forward to this game when it releases, and hope you all fee the same way too. What do you all think about CRYSTAR? Let us know in the comments below!

Editor in Chief

Author: Alfonso "Fonzy" Ortiz

I'm a Geek, Nerd, Writer, and lover of all video games, anime, science, technology and the internet. I previously worked for STFUandPlay.com, a contributing writer as the Japanese Corespondent at TheKoalition.com and founded a website called Transcend-Gaming.com! I currently live in Japan as Editor in Chief of Honey's Anime and its very talented writers! I'm down for anything! What do you want to do?