New Action RPG Looks Like a Wild Fusion of Anime Girls and Sherlock

There are plenty of video games out there that embrace the anime girl visual aesthetic for all sorts of games. Everything from active-driven brawlers and light-hearted visual novels to hardcore horror games or horse-racing-inspired sims has used the standard anime look as a surface-level appeal for their games. At first glance, though, Silver Palace is doing enough original things to ensure it stands out from the competition.

While Silver Palace‘s character design shares a lot of common DNA with other games, the vivid setting and gameplay fusion speak to a different experience. In fact, the very concept of a Victorian-set anime narrative means that one of the classic genres of the former — detective stories — is going to be running into a type of action-RPG that most gamers are very familiar with. Set for a PC and console release, Silver Palace may sound bizarre, but it looks like a lot of fun.

Silver Palace Brings Anime Girls To Victorian England

Developed by Silver Studio and published by Elementa, Silver Palace is an open-world action RPG that takes more than a few cues from the likes of Sherlock Holmes than one might expect from the heavily anime-inspired visual aesthetic. The open-world game puts players into the role of the Detective, an investigator living in the city of Silvernia. While the culture and worldbuilding have been heavily influenced by Victorian England, the characters are all brought to life in a style that should feel familiar to anyone who loves anime. There are some clever fusions of the two genres in the character design, such as a maid who manages to retain a certain British spark even while the cabling of her torch gun is used to create the illusion of a cat girl.

Alongside a host of other citizens (like a dour doctor named Firtho and a gun-toting maid known as Alf), the player will explore the city and investigate several mysteries. This seemingly includes uncovering criminals and discovering conspiracies along the way, potentially drawing in the attention of the mysterious Queen Feliana. It’s an intriguing premise, especially given the natural room it leaves for palace intrigue and underworld manipulations. The gameplay is where Silver Palace‘s unique tonal fusion becomes more apparent, however, as it suggests a surprising blend of influences.

Murder Mysteries Meet Action RPG

The gameplay trailers released so far for Silver Palace suggest that the game will have an emphasis on combat, with the typical action-RPG leveling up system unlocking new capabilities for characters. Players will be able to hop between different members of their team for fast-paced battles against fantastical forces, with the action leaning heavily into counters, dodging, and well-placed bursts of damage. The different characters all come with their own unique approach to combat, ranging from standard genre conventions like a rapier to more idiosyncratic tools like flamethrowers and boomerangs.

The boss battles teased in the trailer are massive and flashy affairs, with the Victorian DNA remaining crucial to the art design, such as with a fire-infused version of a horse-drawn carriage being used as a massive blow against the Detective. Taking cues from Souls-like games, the action moves at a crisp pace in the trailers, teasing some pretty massive battles. However, the more intriguing element of the gameplay can be found in the smaller character-driven moments where the Detective must converse with potential suspects.

These scenes seem to rely on the player utilizing their analytic abilities, conversing with suspects, and investigating their accoutrements for clues about their motivations and actions. This element of the gameplay feels more in line with the Victorian-inspired setting, suggesting the game’s narrative takes as many cues from the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie as it does from popular anime. It’s an intriguing genre fusion for a game, potentially offering players a welcome reprieve from combat and keeping the growing mystery of the narrative central to the actual gameplay. The result is that Silver Palace, at least at first glance, appears to be a uniquely charming and potentially deeply engrossing title that feels wholly unique even while pulling from clear inspirations.