Square Enix to open its own theme park

Square Enix will be opening its first large-scale theme park next year. Dubbed Ninja Tower Tokyo, it’ll find its home in Tokyo Tower. The previous April saw Square Enix establish a “Live Interactive Works” division for such digital projects for parks, shopping malls, and event-type spaces. Ninja Tower Tokyo is the first of its kind from the company and its new division. Apart from being a “ninja entertainment experience”, no further details were available, as reported by Kotaku.

At Leisure Japan Theme Park Expo, two Live Interactive Works projects from Square Enix were shown off. While they exhibit what the division can do, these were standalone experiences and are unlikely to be part of Ninja Tower Tokyo. Crystal Story is one of the division’s new projects, which received a teaser trailer.

Players will walk through an enclosed booth with a lantern, where there will be glowing crystals and digital projections. Use the lamp and listen to dialogue to discover where to go next. This is supposedly the first of Square Enix’s “night walk series”. It would seem reminiscent of an escape room from the five minute demo. There are plans to make the experience extend over an hour, so large numbers of players could be tackling the night walk at the same time.

Yokero is another Live Interactive Works project. This one is more active, as players jump and dodge digital floor projections.

Other fantasy-themed and kid-friendly projects were also announced. This includes a Sherlock Holmes-style sleuth adventure, and a kaiju game where kids can destroy buildings. These experiences are planned for installation at various Japan theme parks. Would you go to a Square Enix theme park?