Project Awakening Finally Springs Back to Life as Full Production Begins

Nearly 10 years after its reveal, Cygames confirms Project Awakening is entering full production with Unreal Engine 5 and a larger development team behind it.

Some games disappear for so long that fans eventually stop expecting them to return. Project Awakening was one of those games. First announced in 2016, the fantasy action RPG slowly faded from the conversation, leading many players to believe it had been quietly canceled. But it turns out the project has been alive all along—and now it's finally gaining real momentum.

According to the sources, Cygames has confirmed that Project Awakening is still in active development and has officially entered a stage where production is set to ramp up. After years of limited updates, the studio says work on the game is finally moving at full speed.

When the game was first revealed in August 2016, it was meant to be Cygames' first big step into the console gaming world. At the time, the developer was mostly known for its successful mobile titles. Since then, however, the firm has expanded its portfolio with major titles such as Granblue Fantasy: Versus and Granblue Fantasy: Relink, both of which helped the studio gain valuable experience in large-scale game development.

Now, that experience is being poured into Project Awakening.

According to the sources, the current development team includes members who have been working on the game since day one, as well as developers who recently wrapped up work on Granblue Fantasy: Relink. The project is also bringing together staff from both Cygames' Tokyo and Osaka studios, making it one of the company's biggest collaborative efforts to date.

One of the biggest changes is happening behind the scenes. The firm has decided to abandon its own in-house gaming engine and rewrite the project in Unreal Engine 5. That improvement is not simply better graphics; it also means the developers will be able to take advantage of contemporary tools that help them create larger, more detailed scenes and more realistic lighting.

The goal, according to the sources, is to deliver a world that looks as close to real life as possible while still keeping the fantasy atmosphere that first caught players' attention years ago. Combat is also getting special attention. Developers who worked on the fast-paced action system in Granblue Fantasy: Relink are now helping shape Project Awakening's gameplay.

They concentrate on making every attack, dodge, and button press seem immediate and enjoyable – something action RPG players really care about. It’s a good indicator,r but it also poses an interesting question. Project Awakening has been in production for nearly a decade now. Can it deliver on the hype it generated back in 2016?

Things have changed drastically in the gaming business since the game was initially revealed.

Consoles have evolved, player expectations have grown, and development technology has advanced at an incredible pace. Because of that, many now believe Project Awakening may no longer be targeting the PlayStation 4 as originally planned. While Cygames hasn't announced platforms or a release date, the game's long development cycle makes it feel more like a title built for the next generation of hardware than the one it started on. 

For longtime fans, though, the biggest takeaway is simple: Project Awakening is no longer just an old announcement collecting dust. It's a real project that is finally moving forward with a larger team, newer technology, and a clearer direction.

There’s still a lot of mystery around the game, me and users will have to wait for gameplay footage and an official release timetable. But after years of silence, Project Awakening finally feels real again. The long wait may not be over just yet—but could this forgotten fantasy RPG end up becoming one of Cygames' biggest surprises when it finally arrives?