Three visions of a perfect society unfold across a war-torn realm where arcane power, sacrifice, and morals shape the fate of kingdoms.
Monterrey, Mexico (Jan. 23, 2026) — Mana Core Game Studios, an emerging new independent game developer founded by two brothers passionate about narrative-driven experiences, today unveiled their debut title, Utopia: Birth of the Heroes, a medieval fantasy visual novel coming to Steam for PC in 2026.
Fans looking to support the developer can visit the game’s Steam store page to Wishlist the title and get immediate access to Chapters 0-2 via Steam Playtest. This early slice of the story gives players a first look at the world, characters, and moral choices at the heart of the experience, while also providing a meaningful way to support development and help shape the final release.
“We wanted to build a world players can immerse themselves in, where they can agree or disagree with the characters but still feel like they are a part of their world,” says Dante Arjona, co-founder of Mana Core Game Studios. “Every choice in Utopia feels personal because it mirrors something bigger than just the character. It reflects a world players care about and believe in based on their morals and values.”
About Utopia: Birth of the Heroes
Developed by brothers Dante and Daniel Arjona from their Monterrey-based studio, Utopia: Birth of the Heroes is a visual novel set in a medieval fantasy realm ravaged by war and ambition. The story revolves around three distinct protagonists, each driven by a different vision of a perfect society. As players explore their unique backgrounds and motivations, they’ll navigate hardship, political tension, and morally charged choices that ripple across kingdoms and nations.
Through multiple perspectives and narrative paths, Utopia challenges players to weigh the cost of their ideals and consider the consequences of each decision. Every choice shapes not only the characters’ relationships and personal journeys but also the fate of the world they hope to change. The result is a deeply immersive experience where the pursuit of utopia reveals just how fragile that dream can be.
Key Features
An Arcane Fantasy World – Utopia is set in a war-torn medieval fantasy world, filled with arcane magic and rich lore that enhances storytelling and immerses players in the game world. Character-Driven Narrative – Deep character arcs for three distinct protagonists, allowing players to immerse themselves in each character’s perspective and motivations. Emotional Engagement and Moral Themes – The story’s focus on idealism and the struggles of creating Utopia evokes a deep emotional response. As the player grapples with complex moral dilemmas and political decisions, their in-game choices will not only shape their character’s journey but also the world around them. Multiple Outcomes – With various outcomes based on player decisions, Utopia provides strong replay value and encourages the exploration of all possible story outcomes. Composed for Player Connection – An evocative and emotionally driven musical score by Scarlet Moon’s Peter Reid Jones that enhances the story and draws the player deeper into the world of Utopia, with more composers to be confirmed!
See all of these elements brought to life in the Utopia Announcement Trailer:
Fans can Wishlist and Follow the game on Steam to stay informed on launch updates and future playable opportunities. They can also follow Mana Core’s development journey on Twitter and Instagram via @ManaCoreGS.
We’re excited to have the opportunity to speak with electronic duo mojera once again, after speaking with them last year about their then-new release, arika EP. This time, they have a new album titled Sequential, and we wanted to speak with them about the album, their annual Christmas single, and more. Game music fans should be particularly interested in the work of mojera as the duo is comprised of composer Mitsuto Suzuki and performer Non. Their works in games are highly regarded, and I’ve been a longtime fan of their collaborations as well as Suzuki-san’s past game and original album works.
Let’s dive in to learn more about Sequential and more.
We had such a blast making our first game music holiday gift guide last year that we thought we’d make it a regular thing! Not only will you find some amazing physical game music items for the game music fan on your shopping list, or for you, but we’ve also included a special discount for Scarlet Moon’s Bandcamp catalog if you make it down to the bottom. Vinyl is always a great gift for under the tree, but our CD offerings are perfect stocking stuffers. Let’s dive in!
Scarlet Moon is pleased to announce that we’ve teamed up with Selecta Play to make composer Cody Carpenter available to score the main theme to Terrifier: The ARTcade Game. This collaboration was just announced as a part of The Indie Horror Showcase last week, and we’ve asked Cody for a few moments of his time to answer some questions for fans.
On Being Asked to Contribute to Terrifier: The ARTcade Game
Being a fan of the beat-em-up genre, I was excited to work on the project that was a modern IP, but in a more old-school genre that I really enjoy. The screenshots and videos I saw all looked fun and vibrant.
On His Experience with the Terrifier Franchise
I was unfamiliar with the Terrifier series before, having not seen or heard of the films. After doing research for the project, I was interested to see the stylistic choices and musical direction that the movies, (more specifically the first movie), went in. The parallels between Terrifier and Halloween were also interesting to discover.
I think the franchise stands on its own merits as a modern horror property, taking influence from the past but also doing its own unique thing.
On His Process and Tools Used for the Main Theme
My first task was to familiarize myself with the Terrifier property, particularly the music and the main themes that were used. I was given direction as to what sort of feel and influences the theme should have. Things like Splatterhouse, Tales From the Crypt, Danny Elfman, Grant Kirkhope’s spooky tunes from the N64 Rare games, and of course the Terrifier themes themselves being among the various inspirations. I fleshed out the main theme/riff and worked out slightly different versions with different sounds, using a mish-mash of different plug-ins.
__
Terrifier: The ARTcase Game is planned for release on November 21, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Steam. It is developed by RELEVO and produced and published by Selecta Play.
Hitoshi Sakimoto is celebrating his 40th career anniversary next year. To kick things off, Bassicape Records released 46 Sakimoto and Basiscape works up on streaming. We’ve compiled this handy aggregator to quickly find them, including three soundtracks that are being released for the first time. I start with this because one of the releases is the Unicorn Overlord Orchestral Album, which was released on CD last month in Japan. It includes a recording of a live performance, spanning two discs, and features amazing arrangements, including some by Scarlet Moon’s Osamu Kubota, as well as beautiful artwork of characters from the game and commentary in Japanese. It’s definitely a CD worth owning if you want a little more than what streaming can offer.
And the music? We wrote about the original soundtrack and acoustic album, so this is a wonderful new spin on familiar melodies. We can’t get enough of the main theme, which is weaved throughout and starts the album off with big horns and percussion in a grandiose and adventurous manner. There’s a lot of driving music with rolling snares and sweeping strings that highlight the game’s combat sections, all with brilliant melodies and orchestration, but it’s the variety of moods and sounds that struck me. From the sparse and melancholy swells of “Prologue -Dark Clouds- ~ -Beginning- Medley,” the regal fanfare of “Stage Clear,” and the incredible acoustic guitar and light strings of the reflective “Peaceful-Memory Medley” to the bustling and exotic “Drakenhold Stage -Drakenhold -Heir to the Dragonlands- Medley” and the twinkling waltz “Elheim Overworld (Day) – Elheim’s Theme Medley,” you really get a great taste of the world of Unicorn Overlord despite distilling four discs of OST material into two discs of orchestral performance. I love the ponderous “Galerius’ Theme – Baltro’s Theme Medley-,” the uplifting and sweet “Liveliness at the Dining Table,” the contemplative “Alain’s Theme” which drips with emotion, and the climactic and intense series of final battle themes that come towards the end of the album. The album closes with the healing choral elements of “Farde mal diavolo -Destroy Evil, then Come—, the reflective and stirring “Haades -Enthronement—” featuring a solo vocalist, and the uplifting and triumphant restatement of the main theme as heard in “Isle of Palevia.”
Scarlet Moon recently partnered with composer Eric Benaim on the incredible Elsie Original Game Soundtrack. It features a blend of genres drawing on everything from Japanese fusion to Latin influences from Benaim’s native Venezuela. We were able to ask Eric questions about his direction, the tools used, and some of his favorite moments to share with listeners as they jam out to this amazing score.
Scarlet Moon released the Mineko’s Night Market soundtrack featuring a beautiful traditional Japanese-style score by Daniel Simmons. Given the wide array of live performers and a guest arrangement from Hiroki Kikuta, we wanted to have a chat with Daniel about the creative process that went into crafting the soundtrack. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the soundtrack including some of Daniel’s struggles and how writing this music helped him through a difficult time.
We recently had the pleasure of working with arranger David Peacock on the piano realms: azure album, a piano arrangement project paying tribute to water and water levels from across videogames. We wanted to take the opportunity to ask David a few questions about the album and his work in the videogame piano arrangement space. Feel free to listen to and learn more about piano realms: azurehere.
On Which Tracks to Include and Potential Future Volumes
It was important to include tracks from games that I had already experienced and not try to force ones in just because they fit the concept, so there are probably a lot of water levels I didn’t consider or ignored because I had never played their game. I also had to be a little selective to not including too many pieces from specific composers (two tracks by Yasunori Mitsuda and three by Koji Kondo made it on the album as it is!) so maybe a Vol. 2 would be a great chance to add some of those, haha.
On Surprises Encountered While Arranging the Album
There’s always some sort of surprise translating what I imagine in my head onto the page because it never comes out exactly the way I think. There were some arrangements where I had an idea that I wanted to execute—and did get there eventually, but it took a lot more effort than I imagined it would. For instance, “Delfino Plaza” was quickly finished as a concept but required a lot of detail, making it feel as if meticulously drawing individual grains of sand. For “Cascades,” I knew I wanted to contrast this delicate, tiny voice with a huge, constant wall of sound that doesn’t decay the way a piano typically would, and that took a bit of reworking to get right.
On the Beloved “Aquatic Ambience”
Starting on this track, it was more freeing knowing that it had been arranged and covered so many different ways before; I’ve even arranged it for other instruments myself before! In this case, I explored a few different emotions and moods using the melodies to figure out how I wanted to transform the music; like as if being dragged through a rushing current, or laying on the water’s surface under the moonlight. Taking some of the most memorable parts and exploring how they can be reinterpreted helped solidify the sound and arrangement as it is now. I do think the videogame music police would have come for me if I had not included “Aquatic Ambience.”
On Arranging Game Music for Piano
I think if you love game music and the piano and you enjoy expressing it that way, then try it! There is such a range of style and approach within the game music piano scene from those who perform exact recreations, to genre-bending variations and mashups. For me, it definitely started from a place of passion as I had grown up experiencing game music, and then the early days of arrangements of game music, and seeing how the musicians creatively reinterpreted the original themes—occasionally noticing when elements of classical piano repertoire were deliberately injected into the arrangement, seeing this as an homage or sendup. I am fortunate that in the art form of games there is a long history of celebrating the music through arrangement and live performances, that I’m excited to continue to contribute to.
__
About David Peacock
David Peacock is a composer, arranger, and pianist specializing in video game music. His work bridges classical and contemporary styles, reimagining iconic game soundtracks with depth and artistry.
He has collaborated with renowned composers including Lena Raine, Jason Graves, Berlinist, Austin Wintory, Gareth Coker, and Disasterpeace, and his arrangements for HollowKnight Piano Collections, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Undertale Piano Collections have been performed worldwide. His music has been featured by the London Philharmonia, Video Games Live, Videri String Quartet, and WDR Funkhausorchester, among others.
Based in Seattle, David continues to explore the intersection of interactive and orchestral music, crafting compelling arrangements and original works that resonate with both musicians and fans alike.
Battle Champs is the English title for Cygames’s Little Noah, a new mobile RPG centered around leveling up your champ, building a base, and defeating your opponents. Hitoshi Sakimoto has taken up music duties, providing the iconic high fantasy sound he has become known for, and Basiscape Records has released the soundtrack on digital platforms. What sets Battle Champs apart in the context of Sakimoto’s past works are its playful nature and ethnic flair, which fits nicely with its vibrant visual style. Even the battle themes are upbeat and playful!
Right from the whimsical bells and harp and sweeping strings of “Introducing: Battle Champs,” you know that you’re hearing the music of Hitoshi Sakimoto. Listeners can consider “The Airship” to be a key theme, always contemplative, but growing more mature in its arrangement over the course of “Level 1,” “Level 2,” and “Level 3.” The battle themes also stand out for not being your typical RPG battle theme… instead, they are energetic and fun, sporting exotic instrumentation and percussion as in “Destroy it All!,” and my favorite track, “Now, Everybody!” with its ascending build and high-energy percussion. Your typical RPG trappings do appear with the adventurous rolling march, “Guild Battle,” the uplifting fanfare, “Now That’s What I Call a Victory!,” the epic and tumultuous “Winborne Dragon,” the stirring and emotional “Ooh, I Can’t Believe It!,” the solemn and deliberate, “Let’s Talk Strategy,” and the melancholy and somber “Oof, Ouch… Pull it Together!” The album ends with a series of moodier tracks, touching on everything from lumbering danger and outright terror to a searing desert theme to close things out.
If you want to hear Hitoshi Sakimoto’s latest, check out the Battle Champs Original Soundtrack on iTunes.
Are you familiar with legendary composer Shinji Hosoe and his studio, SuperSweep? Hosoe-san has worked on key franchises across his decades of experience, making a name for himself as a master of electronic music and shmup titles in the early days, and establishing the sounds for franchises such as Zero Escape, Ridge Racer, and Street Fighter EX. He’s a sought after arranger, having worked on arrange albums for Nintendo (Dr. Mario, Metroid Fusion), Mega Man, Ragnarok Online, Phantasy Star, and more. He also serves the game music community through SuperSweep Records, continuing to publish game music on CD format in Japan.
Read his full biography, credits list, and hear some sample music on his Scarlet Moon Artists page. Check below for an interview with Hosoe-san about his style, inspirations, and collaboration with Scarlet Moon.
