A leak stemming from the official North American support site forSquare Enixappears to have confirmed the development of a classic PlayStation JRPG’s re-release.Star Ocean 2: The Second Storywas first released in 1998 on the original PlayStation, and localized for North America in 1999. Its received multiple re-releases in the years since, first for the PlayStation Portable and more recently for PS3, PS4, and PlayStation Vita. The continued popularity ofStar Ocean 2may have been enough to persuadeSquare Enixto update the game for modern platforms.
Star Ocean: The Second Storyis an action-RPG developed by tri-Ace, the studio best known for not just theStar Oceanfranchise but also otherJRPGs includingValkyrie Profile,Infinite Undiscovery, andFinal Fantasy 13-2.Star Oceanstands out among JRPGs due to its unique mix of science fiction and fantasy content, mixing spaceflight with medieval settings.Star Ocean 2is especially beloved in the franchise, and is often referred to as the defining release of the six.
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The leak stems from the official North America support website for Square Enix. A banner image was uploaded to the site featuring a logo forStar Ocean: The Second Story R, though it has since been removed. It isn’t entirely clear how the banner was discovered, as it doesn’t appear to have been displayed or used on the website. Nevertheless, the logo’s existence at all implies that aStar Ocean 2remake is currently in development.
One notable detail worth calling attention to is the game’s name.Star Ocean: The Second Storyis the title of theoriginal PlayStation release. It was then updated and re-released in 2008 with the nameStar Ocean: Second Evolution. That the leaked remake is namedStar Ocean: The Second Story Rcould mean it’s reverting to the original release and not using the improvements and new content found inSecond Evolution.
Additional content included inStar Ocean: Second Evolutionincludes a new playable character, 13 additional endings, expanded and added cutscenes, expanded voice acting to make the game fully voiced, and more. There was also a robust overhaul of the game’s combat. Fans will likely be hoping most of these improvements will carry over intoStar Ocean: The Second Story R.
Square Enix already released anupdated version of the firstStar Oceangame in 2019, for PlayStation 4 and Switch. A remake ofStar Ocean 2makes perfect sense. That first remake notably made relatively little changes to the version ofStar Ocean: First Departureit updated. As for when aStar Ocean: The Second Story Rannouncement could be made, it’s unclear. It’s perhaps not a big enough release to be included in the summer’s biggest gaming events, so Square Enix may drop the announcement as a surprise at any time.
Star Ocean: The Second Story Rappears to be in development.
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