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Lufia Returns in 2027 with Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga

by on September 20, 2026
An island floating high in a sunset sky in Lufia I & II The Sinistrals Saga

And here I thought Clear River Games was doing enough in 2027 by giving us Terranigma! Announced today during the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, the publisher just revealed they are working with Taito to also bring two more beloved SNES RPGs to modern platforms, with Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga. Here’s the debut trailer:

Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga Reveal Trailer

If you aren’t familiar with the Lufia series (Estpolis in Japan), it’s no wonder: its most recent entry was 2010’s Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, itself a new take on the second game in the series. It’s the first two games that retro RPG fans still hold dear to this day: Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (1993) and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (1995). So if someone wanted to revitalize interest in the series, these are the ones you’d want to re-introduce to players, and that’s exactly what we have here!

Taito has a (very) brief summary of both games on the newly published Steam page:

A collection of two of the fondest remembered JRPGs of the 1990s, whose moving storylines and memorable soundtracks touched the hearts of players around the world.

Ported lovingly and enhanced for modern play, Lufia returns!

Lufia & the Fortress of Doom

The first game tells the tale of a young man—the descendant of a legendary hero—and a young woman, burdened by the weight of destiny.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

The prequel tells the story of Maxim—a young man who would later be hailed as a hero of legend—and his companions and their battle against destiny.

As you can see in the teaser trailer and screenshots below, this looks to be a clean, pixel-accurate release of these two gems. Based on Clear River Games’ work on Terranigma, it seems likely we will see things like optional CRT filters or other quality-of-life additions. The Lufia I & II trailer clearly shows some CRT scanlines, but we don’t yet know if that’s a visual effect for the trailer or in-game options.

Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga Screenshots

Maxim and an old man in a cave, launching an arrow at a Red Jelly in Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga
Maxim learning from an older man in Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga
Maxim and crew confront the Sinistrals.
Maxim battles a Red Jelly in Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga
The party confronts Daos in Lufia I & II The Sinistrals Saga

In any case, this is an exciting announcement for fans of classic RPGs. Whether you loved the originals or this would be your first time, Taito and Clear River Games are making some killer choices in revitalizing beloved games from the 16-bit era.

Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga is coming sometime in 2027 to PS5, Switch 1 & 2, and PC via Steam. We will share more when we know more!

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Mike Salbato

Mike has been with RPGFan nearly since its inception, and in that time has worn a surprising number of hats for someone who doesn't own a hatstand. Today he balances his Creative Director role with his Editor-in-Chief status. Despite the amount of coffee in his veins, he bleeds emerald green.

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2 Responses to Lufia Returns in 2027 with Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga

Seeker

"It’s the first two games that retro RPG fans still hold dear to this day" -- I feel like it's mostly the second game, specifically? (Though a quick check of retro reviews shows that's definitely not a unanimous opinion, so maybe take my stance with a grain of salt -- in particular those who enjoy old-school challenge or dislike puzzle dungeons seem to be fonder of Lufia 1) Lufia 1 feels like a decent but not amazing mix of fantasy drama and old-school RPG grind that came out after the first SNES Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest entries, but isn't serious competition for either. Its music and vibes feel a bit like they're trying to poach Falcom's musical style, but neither the music nor the art are great. Lufia 2, on the other hand, has a much smoother play experience, much better art, a heaping handful of weird gameplay innovations (train-able monsters that act as a bonus party member! Enemies visible on the map rather than random encounters! A Mystery Dungeon-style hundred floor optional dungeon that starts your characters from level 1!) and leans into well-designed puzzle dungeons as a core element of the game. Most every dungeon has a unique puzzle mechanic, and usually one extra-hard optional bonus puzzle for an interesting and powerful reward. I feel like the Golden Sun games (and maybe also the first few Wild Arms?) were all hearkening back to Lufia 2 as a major inspiration.

Mike Salbato

I suppose that's accurate! I definitely hear more of that praise for the second game specifically, though given the ways they're connected, I'm still glad they're bundling them together in this package. Maybe this release would be a way to address or update some of the gameplay in the first game, if they wanted to do an optional "Arrange" mode like Terranigma is getting. I know only certain kinds of things can be updated/addressed in this way, so we'll see!

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