Exist Archive

 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Spike Chunsoft, with assistance from tri-Ace, for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 video game consoles. It was released in Japan in December 2015 and worldwide in October 2016.
Gameplay.
The game is a side scrolling Japanese role-playing video game, similar to tri-Ace's previous "Valkyrie Profile" series of games. Many journalists considered it a spiritual sequel to "Valkyrie Profile".
Story.
The game involves the player following twelve youths who are killed by an explosion in modern-day Tokyo. After their deaths, they find themselves on the fantasy-like planet of "Protolexa". There are three different endings, based on the players actions over the course of the game, and some actions affect the game's new game plus mode as well.
Development.
The game was first announced in July 2015, as a collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and tri-Ace in a fourteen-page article in "Weekly Famitsu". The game will be developed by much of the same tri-Ace staff that had worked on the first "Valkyrie Profile" game, with assistance from Spike Chunsoft staff as well. Other key staff for the game include character designer Mino Taro of Konamis "Love Plus" series, and music composer Motoi Sakuraba, composer for tri-Ace's "Valkyrie Profile" and "Star Ocean" series. A trailer for the game was shown at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2015. Trailers for each of the game's characters were released over time through "Famitsu"s YouTube channel. The game was first announced to be released on November 26, 2015, before being delayed to its final release date, December 17, 2015. Shortly after the game's Japanese release, Spike Chunsoft announced that there would be downloadable content collaborations some of tri-Ace's other games, including "Valkyrie Profile" and "Star Ocean 5" games. The collaborations, released in March 2016, consisted of character costumes based on character's from the two aforementioned titles, along with a costume to dress up as Monokuma, the primary antagonist from Spike Chunsoft's "Danganronpa" series of video games.
Until April 2016, no information had been announced in regards to an English language release of the game. NIS America, a frequent publisher for Spike Chunsoft games in English ("Danganronpa 1", "Danganronpa 2", "Danganronpa Another Episode"), gave a "no comment" response when asked about localizing the title. On April 25, 2016, Aksys Games announced that they would be localizing "Exist Archive" for release in North America on October 18, 2016. On September 8, Aksys Games confirmed that it would be released in Europe on the same day as a digital-only release.
Reception.
"Famitsu" gave both the Vita and PS4 versions of the game a 33/40 rating, with the four reviewers giving the title scores of 8/8/8/9. The game sold 37,398 copies in its opening week in Japan, with 17,414 copies sold for PlayStation 4 and 19,984 copies sold for PlayStation Vita.