The Shadow Hearts RPG series lives on, but not in a way that’s liable to make many fans happy: It’s been turned into a slot machine.
Slot Shadow Hearts II is being produced by Aruze, a Japanese pachinko and slot machine company that also published the original Shadow Hearts videogames in Japan. According to Siliconera, slot machines are Aruze’s primary revenue source, so this kind of crossover isn’t entirely surprising. It is, however, no doubt a disappointment for fans of the series who were hoping to see more of the real thing instead of just a cash-in that exploits the series name.
Unfortunately, the odds of another “real” Shadow Hearts game coming anytime soon are slim. The last title in the series, Shadow Hearts: From the New World, was published by Aruze in Japan in July 2005 and eventually reached North America in March 2006, but since then there’s been no indication of further development on the series. If you want to see what’s become of it since, a link to a trailer for the slot machine is available here, but as Siliconera points out, there’s not a lot going on; it’s mainly just cut scenes from Shadow Hearts II and a Slot Shadow Hearts II logo at the end.
