Phantom Hellcat Isn't Nier 3, But It's Nier-ily Similar

We don't know when the third Nier game will release, as director Yoko Taro is a bit of an enigma, but now we do know of a Nier-inspired game that seems like the perfect thing to tide us over. Phantom Hellcat is the first game from Ironbird Creations--an internal development studio at All in! Games, and it uses Nier as the template for perspective-switching action.

Phantom Hellcat stars a young woman named Jolene who accidentally awakens a cursed theater's evil energy, resulting in her mother being kidnapped and "twisted stories of humanity" escaping into the world. To defeat them, Jolene will make use of different character masks that give her access to special hack-and-slash abilities.

Like with Nier, the camera will shift between 2D and 3D at certain points, focusing more heavily on platforming before going back to intense melee combat. The props in the theater and even the sets can be used as weapons "as well as opportunities for character growth," according to the official announcement.

According to creative director Norman Lenda, Phantom Hellcat was made both as a love letter to classic 2010s-era action games as well as a response to the growing number of Souls-inspired action games releasing today. We aren't complaining about those, as most of them are pretty awesome, but the age of character-focused stylish action games has certainly been neglected a bit over the last few years. All in! Games has done its part to help bring them back, with 2020's Ghostrunner mixing Dishonored-style combat and movement with extremely intense platforming challenges.

Phantom Hellcat doesn't have a release date yet, but the game will be coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.